The 250 Sq. Ft. Condo

Posted by: Irvin Dawid

25 August 2008 - 10:00am

Technically these are SROs- Single Room Occupancy units, but it's a spanking new building, cafe below, in the vibrant SoMa district, starting at only $279,000. The catch: some units are only 250 sq.ft.

"A San Francisco design and development firm has begun marketing 98 tiny condominiums - ranging from 250 to 350 square feet - at the Cubix Yerba Buena building in SoMa.

The asymmetrical modernist facade of the eight-story building at Harrison and Fourth streets, a few steps from Whole Foods, is a Rubik's Cube of muted reds, browns and tans. Metal-framed windows of varying shapes and sizes break up the blocks of color.

The kitchen area includes a mini sink, two-burner electric cooktop, half fridge and microwave-convection oven...There isn't room for a bed and a sofa, so each studio is staged with a sofa-bed. They come with a wardrobe but no closets.

The units cost $279,000 to $330,000. (Monthly homeowners' association dues are around $270.) By comparison, the median price for all homes in San Francisco was $749,000 in July...

The project in the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Project Area was designed as a single-residence occupancy building, which gave Hauser Architecture greater flexibility in the number of units it could build on the site, as well as the amount of parking spaces it didn't have to provide."

Full Story: Home, small home: 250 square feet in SoMa / New condo development targets young first-time buyers without too much stuff

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, August 24, 2008

SPUR Policy Paper on 'Affordable by Design'

Submitted by Irvin Dawid on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 20:02.

The San Francisco Urban Research (SPUR) Association offers 6 recommendations in this short policy paper that will help San Francisco (and other cities) to retain middle class residents by providing affordable yet market rate housing.
A proposal to create middle income housing in San Francisco

Irvin Dawid, Palo Alto, CA