In urban L.A., developers are building trendy homes on tiny lots | Bedford Corners NY Homes
Just north of downtown Los Angeles, skinny homes on tiny lots are sprouting from the hillsides — a building boom of miniature proportions.
The rectangular structures come in clusters of six or 15, or even 70, and developers are racing to build them in trendy Silver Lake and Echo Park. They're eyeing younger home buyers who crave hip cafes and proximity to work but don't want a sky-high condo or a Craftsman bungalow.
The so-called small-lot homes speak to a growing desire for a more compact and walkable Los Angeles, while still clinging to the single-family ideal that spread outward from downtown over the last century. The homes often have a small patio or roof deck but no backyard. The buyer owns little land beyond what sits beneath the house, a tiny footprint that cuts the cost in pricey neighborhoods.
"It's sort of the iPhone or Prius of homes," said Christian Návar, co-founder of L.A. architecture firm Modative, which designs the projects and hired five more employees this year to handle the boom.
In the next 18 months, builders will break ground on roughly 250 small-lot homes in Silver Lake, Echo Park and northeast L.A., said Chris Gomez-Ortigoza, a land broker specializing in the deals. And the trend is spreading to other neighborhoods including Studio City, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake. The homes typically fetch between $500,000 and $800,000.
Robert Kim is among the buyers whom developers are looking to attract. The 35-year-old had grown tired of his 16-mile commute from Brentwood to his job at the historic Park Plaza Hotel, across from MacArthur Park. So Kim began looking for a new home, finally settling on an airy, modern Echo Park three-bedroom for $669,000 instead of a "fixer-upper."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-fi-small-lot-homes-20130714,0,6179837.story
The so-called small-lot homes speak to a growing desire for a more compact and walkable Los Angeles, while still clinging to the single-family ideal that spread outward from downtown over the last century. The homes often have a small patio or roof deck but no backyard. The buyer owns little land beyond what sits beneath the house, a tiny footprint that cuts the cost in pricey neighborhoods.
"It's sort of the iPhone or Prius of homes," said Christian Návar, co-founder of L.A. architecture firm Modative, which designs the projects and hired five more employees this year to handle the boom.
In the next 18 months, builders will break ground on roughly 250 small-lot homes in Silver Lake, Echo Park and northeast L.A., said Chris Gomez-Ortigoza, a land broker specializing in the deals. And the trend is spreading to other neighborhoods including Studio City, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake. The homes typically fetch between $500,000 and $800,000.
Robert Kim is among the buyers whom developers are looking to attract. The 35-year-old had grown tired of his 16-mile commute from Brentwood to his job at the historic Park Plaza Hotel, across from MacArthur Park. So Kim began looking for a new home, finally settling on an airy, modern Echo Park three-bedroom for $669,000 instead of a "fixer-upper."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-fi-small-lot-homes-20130714,0,6179837.story
Comments