If you scan articles on the once-trendy topic of micro apartments, you’ll encounter the notion that 275 to 300 square foot spaces are “crazy huge.” One article scoffed at 350 square foot Boston units as “practically a palace.” In Seattle, where micro units ranged as low as 90 square feet, a recently-adopted ordinance requires a minimum of 220 square feet.
In that context Chicago Real Estate Daily‘s opening paragraphs on the sale of the landmark Bush Temple of Music building on Chicago Ave, several blocks south of the Gold Coast, make for an amusing read.
A Chicago developer paid $12.5 million for the historic Bush Temple of Music building in the Gold Coast, which it plans to convert into tiny apartments.
Cedar Street Cos. plans to build out “micro” apartments between 350 and 450 square feet in the Bush Temple property at 800 N. Clark St., said Alex Samoylovich, who confirmed the sale price.
Chicago has 1,000s of sub-350 square foot studios, and many more that come in under 450 square feet. I’d venture a guess that the average size of a Chicago studio in older buildings is less than 450 square feet, and I’m puzzled by why anyone would call a studio that size “tiny” or “micro.”