Is Looking to Create Communal Spaces for Multifamily a Good Idea?

Question

Small lots, zoning craziness and insane rents and housing prices has lead developers and investors to some super creative stuff here in the Portland area. One example given and do keep in mind, I will for sure get the exact numbers wrong but it was interesting either way. Soo imagine a singe family home on a lot zoned r2. Apparently that means that because of the sq footage of the lot you could build 3 units +.5. In Portland, apparently we round up so that now means 4 separate houses. Yes, it seems like some loop holes were found for sure. But stay with me. They are keeping the single family home and on each of the 3 surrounding homes sites they are building a 7 bed room "home"essentially en room suites, with a shared kitchen. This will amount to a total living space of 7 units x4 houses=28 suites with shared kitchens in each home. The large house, the original will not be torn down and will offer a larger shared kitchen living area where everyone from all four houses could technically gather. Square footage is prioritized in the shared spaces and each suite will be under 200 sq ft of actual living space. This will be done in partnership with Open Door.

More about that the partnership. The developer is leasing the entire property to Open Door for a promised floor of revenue or rents received. A minimum of rents received was established between the developer and Open Door to ensure units were actually being leased up. Units are to be rented for about 900 a month.

Good news since lots are pretty expensive you do get to keep and use the existing house as part of the overall plan. This should save some money although I swear after taking a 1890's home down to the studs I do think it can be cheaper to scrape.

This left me with a ton of questions...... Coming from the commercial side of things where everyone thought open offices would be amazing idea I wonder about how space will actually be used? I wonder about the overall effects on parking? I wonder what will need to be done for noise dampening? Most of all, I wonder is PDX BECOMING THE TOKYO OF OLD? POD HOUSING, in the Pacific Northwest, who's in?

Paige Kelsey · Answer

@Jeff Kehl Yes, the marketing is for adults!! I had the same thoughts. It is absolutely like open office. It looks amazing but how things appear and how they function can be a very different animal. We will see how this goes I also wonder that in some places I believe that you can not have more than x amount of people who are not related living under the same roof. I think the number tends to be like 5 ish! Bottom line though is that when a studio is going for 1400 a month and these are 900 to 1000, people need a place to live. I just wonder overall how this will work and wonder how this will pencil out for the builder developer. Interesting either way.

Jeff Kehl · Answer

@Paige Kelsey this sounds like student housing... Are they marketing it to adults? Who is their target market? I think these kinds of developments may work as long as there are enough people in their target demographic and the housing market is tight.

I mean, let's say you are a 35 year old rising professional. Would you really live in a communal space like this versus an efficiency apartment? Which one would impress/embarass dates more?

I think the developers of 'sharing' spaces like this forget a basic human truth that generally most unrelated people don't get along and the older they get the less likely they are to get along.

It reminds me of the 'open office' concept. It's all the rage among office developers but ask anyone who has ever worked in one and they all hate it.

Is Looking to Create Communal Spaces for Multifamily a Good Idea?

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