Ultra-Efficient Units Proposed To Meet Apartment Demand In San Francisco

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Ultra-Efficient Units Proposed To Meet Apartment Demand In San Francisco

Partnership for Sustainable Communities
August 9th, 2012

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With the rental housing markets booming throughout the country, there is only one answer that can “solve” the problem of increased demand—create more supply. While there are a lot of considerations that go into this solution, the simple idea of creating enough supply to meet current demand can manifest itself in many different and often interesting ways.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing solutions is that being proposed by Patrick Kennedy, a developer based in Berkeley, CA. His recent proposal to the City of San Francisco Planning Department is to develop 160 new micro-rental units which range in ultra-efficient sizes starting at a mere 220 square feet.

According to a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, apartments in the urban core rent for roughly $4.21 per square foot. In Kennedy’s proposed project, he will attain a rental premium, with projected rents coming in at $5.91 to $6.82, and at the same time be offering renters alike a way to live in the City for a much lower rental rate than that of the traditionally sized, somewhat inefficient layouts. Seeing as 41 percent of San Franciscans live alone, these unit sizes could work and if implemented could represent a rare win-win between developers and their subservient communities.

With such tight floor plans, efficient living in these units is key. From a design perspective this means that nearly every surface must be multifunctional. With a bed/dining table coupled with a multiuse couch/storage bin, the space may seem small, but it affords all the necessities that are needed when you couple the unit amenities with those offered by the dense, livable city that beckons outside the building entrance.

Kennedy believes that, “there is a large and unmet need for entry-level, car-free housing in a transit rich and culturally rich city like San Francisco. A smaller unit size makes meeting this need more feasible and gives people a choice not available now.”

With increasing urban populations, housing options are sure to change and be reinvented and while efficiency is a huge plus, the market for an apartment that is roughly the size of a single car garage may not be terrifically marketable just yet.

This story originally appeared at Partnership for Sustainable Communities