Carter's Review

This 9-story building at 335 East 27^th Street in Kips Bay was erected in 2015 and contains 55 “micro” apartments that range in size from 260 to 360 square feet. 22 of the units are “affordable” and the remainder rent for $3,000 a month.

It was designed by Narchitects, of which Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang are principals, and built by Monadnock Development LLC and Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation.  The modular units are being built by Capsys Construction.

Their proposal, entitled “My Micro NY,” or “Carmel Place,” was one of 33 submitted to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation that sponsored the plans to permit smaller housing units.

It was winning entry in the city’s adAPT micro-apartment design competition and was featured in the “Making Room: New Models for Housing New Yorkers” exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York and the Citizens Housing & Planning Council in 2013.

The modular units were manufactured at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and stacked and bolted together at the Kips Bay site along with stairs, an elevator and other shared spaces.

An article by John McIlwain in the October 12, 2012 edition of Urban Land, the magazine of the Urban Land Institute, maintained that “interests in the municipal government’s request for proposals spread far beyond the city,” noting that it has “been downloading more than 1,600 times over the past two months from cities across the United States and around the world, including Athens, Bangalore, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Innsbruck, Jerusalem, Lima, Melbourne, Milan, Montreal, Paris, Quebec, Rotterdam, Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei and Zurich.”

Bottom Line

A mid-rise slab building of receding dimensions in an attractive area near Kips Bay in Midtown South with small units but good amenities.

Description

The slab building is stepped upward to the north and in plan to the east.

Amenities

The building has a gym, a community room, a bicycle room, storage, a garden, a roof terrace and lounges and some shared kitchenettes on each floor.

Apartments

Apartments have 9-foot-8-inch ceilings, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, and Juliet balconies with glass guardrails.

The units will have beds that can be folded up and stall showers rather than tubs.

Kitchens have fold-down tables/counters, pull-out pantries, an 18-inch dishwasher, and full-size refrigerators.

Each apartment has a 16-foot-long overhead loft storage space.