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Contemporary Rental Housing

civitas

By civitas
in Grand Rapids

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GRCentro Hamlet

GRCentro

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One of the coolest new contemporary housing projects I have seen is the new student housing designed by Murphy Jahn at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. It is literally steps away from the El, but the area is suprisingly quiet thanks to a giant glass sheild on the building's rear. The courtyards and rooftop patios are great.

1.jpg

http://www.murphyjahn.com/english/frameset_intro.htm

Given a reasonable choice, I think most local students would gladly choose contemporary housing over the standard Kentwood fare.

Rather than new construction, though, I would personally prefer to live in a retrofitted warehouse apartment: old, gritty, no frills, plain ugly even; a place where there are no rules against being creative and throwing paint on the walls, changing light fixtures, or knocking out interior walls. To borrow Stewart Brand's words from How Buildings Learn: "Low Road buildings are low-visibilty, low-rent, no-style, high-turnover."

I've always thought the "cell tower" building on Front would be perfect for new life as flexible student housing. It's already old and can't get much uglier, so let the kids use it!

Not everyone needs stainless steel appliances, new carpet, or granite countertops...at least not until we finish our graduate degrees. ;)

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michaelskis Hamlet

michaelskis

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If it looks like the first examples, Heck No, they look horse stable! If the look like the last few examples then yes, and they would get good rates too.

If done right they can make a fortune. In Denver, a developer took a step up and you can order industrial looking structures such as canneries, fire houses, or similar buildings, yet they are brand new single family housing.

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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If done right they can make a fortune. In Denver, a developer took a step up and you can order industrial looking structures such as canneries, fire houses, or similar buildings, yet they are brand new single family housing.

That's interesting. Any links?

I'll take the fish cannery please, hold the smell.............

Edit: Nevermind, I found one. How about this? Linky

Had I known about this three weeks ago, I so would have driven out to find this. Very cool and very scary all at the same time.

Edit 2: I am just fasinated with this development at the moment. Here's another link with pictures of the lofts. Linky 2

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starrfish Whistle-Stop

starrfish

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Reminds me of Europe. These are very representative of what can be done on the cheap, given a good location I definitley think they would fly. Think of it this way - people would gladly live in a new/clean place for a reasonable rent than an old/run down place for the same rent. I do like this type of design for the core city much better than the what you'd see out in Kentwood or what has sprouted along Alpine over the years.

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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Here's an affordable apartment complex, with exposed concrete ceilings throughout the entire place:

I walked past this one on my exploration of LODO. It made me jealous that I made more then their income requirements.

I was so impressed with what was happening in Denver, I almost didn't want to leave. Great urban infill design going on all around.

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GRGridGirl Hamlet

GRGridGirl

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I walked past this one on my exploration of LODO. It made me jealous that I made more then their income requirements.

I was so impressed with what was happening in Denver, I almost didn't want to leave. Great urban infill design going on all around.

"LoDo" not LODO....

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PBJ Burg

PBJ

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This is how Icon on Bond should have looked. But that is for another thread. Anyway. At up to $1680 dollars a month to lease a unit in the complex, shown in this thread's original post, is kind of pricey. I can think of many nice houses in Forest Hills, EGR, Cascade, etc. I could easily get into for that kind of monthly payment. So I say if one is planning to pay more than $750 a month and stay in the area for more than 2 to three years, buy a house.

Couple of things. What makes the ground floor blank wall of this concept more acceptable than Icons fire and brimstone blank wall? Is it because it has some texture to it, and that makes it ok?

As for the $1680, that was for a 4 bedroom, which isn't that far off from American Seating or Boardwalk for a 4 bedroom and they don't have that difficult of a time renting as far as I know. I paid $600 there for a 600sq ft studio. I think compared to other (especially larger) Metro areas $1680 for a 4 bedroom is crazy cheap. Sure that could you could a bigger place in the burbs, or a nice house someplace, but the burbs aren't downtown. :D

As for the idea in general, I love it and would love to see something "Contemporary" in or near downtown (west side of 131 between say Hall and Wealthy someplace across from the warehouses for instance). You're starting to see this in major metro areas such as Chicago and Dallas (was just there this weekend) and they seem to work very well.

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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When I lived on GVSU's downtown campus our 4 bedroom 2 bath apartment was a bit over $1600 as well. It's not terrible for students who aren't in a position to buy and need to split rent, but you can do much better off campus. It did include all utilities however, which did make up for some of the cost.

-nb

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ccbarnes Unincorporated Area

ccbarnes

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To the original question...yes. I have many landlord friends in the area and they have areally tough time keeping some of the students past one winter. Heritage Hill is the primary mid/upper rental neighborhood in the DT area, but the number one complaint is heating costs. Many of the landlords refuse proper insulation in some of the large ancient homes and have many problems splitting some of the old innards equally. Lack of parking isn't really a problem as the majority of the area are able-bodied young'ens.

As long as a contemporary rental housing project has above average efficiency, I thin it would be a smash hit amongst early adults and others.

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Beavis Whistle-Stop

Beavis

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I guess I should count my blessings that my Heritage Hill landlord includes heat in the rent! The first example in this thread looks like a cow shed - no thanks!

I have a deep love of architecture and appreciate the joys of a well-designed contemporary home as much as living in a historic one. I've had a unique opportunity to experience contemporary architecture first-hand in the past year. I live in a Heritage Hill apartment but visit my Mom often for weekends. My mother sold her beautiful Victorian in Byron Center last spring and bought a fabulous example of Organic Architecture in Midland, Michigan. The home was the 2nd built by Alden Dow, who was the son of the Dow Chemical founders and a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Alden is architect laureate in the state of Michigan. The house was built in the early 1930's but was very much ahead of it's time. It is constructed entirely out of what he called "unit blocks" which he made from recycled cinder materials from the factory. It is extremely energy efficient - the blocks keep in the cool from the ground in the summer and help hold in the heat from the furnace in winter. Each room feels like you're as much outside as inside, as he liked to say "the garden never ends and the house never begins".

For any interested architecture geeks such as myself, here's the link to his home and studio site: http://www.abdow.org/

I don't have any exterior shots at the moment, but here's one of her living room:

CyndisMotherinnewDowHouse20062.jpg

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CK1 Whistle-Stop

CK1

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It's hard for me to appreciate the contemporary 'look.' I probably wouldn't choose to live in this kind of development. Maybe its the color or material :dontknow: .

I like the design, but the asthetics (materials / colors / etc ) would be up for debate depending on the neighborhood. Also, would be nice to see some other way to arrange parking around the building - not sure how to make different and still keep same amount of spaces available, but 1/4 building 3/4 asphalt wouldn't be the most desireable ratio.

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