On The Outskirts Of New York City, A New Housing Model Aimed At Millennials
What's Inside a Neighborhood in a Box?
JUL 20, 2017
By DAN GLASS
Read More: https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/...-a-box/534024/
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The peaked wooden eave jutting from the facade of the charcoal glass tower is trying to tell you something. So is the neon sign over the entranceway that says “home sweet home.” But it takes a beat to realize that the light-box sign reading Urby is not for an upmarket extended-stay hotel. You’re supposed to live here.
- The new mixed-use residential development on Staten Island’s crane-studded north shore is the first in a proposed chain of apartment projects from New Jersey-based Ironstate Development, which has a record of building large luxury developments on the “Gold Coast” of the New Jersey waterfront. --- Other locations in the works include Jersey City (one of three towers completed), Harrison, New Jersey (now renting), and Stamford, Connecticut (underway). Each complex comprises ultramodern living units, ground-level retail, amenities such as heated outdoor pools, fitness centers, and keyless entry via phone app.
- But Urby’s marketing emphasis is on common areas intended to facilitate interaction between tenants, like the coffee shops integrated into the lobbies and communal kitchens that host wine pairings and cooking demos. Ironstate has dubbed their model Urban Ready Life, or URL—“an all-encompassing living experience for today’s urbanite.” --- “The idea for the concept came about from what I would call a spatial exploration,” says Ironstate CEO David Barry. "It’s expensive to create space. I don't want to shoehorn [people] into places, but with all the on-demand services that exist today, you just need less storage and less space in general."
- For design inspiration, Barry looked to the dense urbanization patterns of Europe and the Dutch architectural and design identity firm Concrete, which has a roster of luxury hotel, restaurant, and retail clients in Europe and abroad. They built mockups in warehouses to study how to make a small space feel bigger, and decide what the primarily Millennial market would and wouldn’t do without. The collaboration resulted in sleek apartments of somewhat Tokyo-esque proportions, making clever use of pocket doors, station-like kitchens and baths, and closets with built-in shelving. Nonessential furniture and decor and extra room to entertain were jettisoned.
- So was parking: Urby sites are located almost within Frisbee-throwing distance of commuter rail stations, and include common bike rooms. The developments adhere to New Urbanist principles—emphasizing dense, mixed-use, and walkable neighborhoods with access to public transportation. --- Barry says that at least 80 percent of Urby tenants are under 39, don't have children, and expect to stay for perhaps three years or so; he calls them “starter apartments.” At $5,190 for a two-bedroom in Jersey City, or a Staten Island studio that starts at $1,995, they’re not for the stereotypical basement-dwelling young adult just leaving the nest.
- Ironstate sharpened its appeal to Millennial renters not only by using common areas as a living space, but by filling those spaces with “human programming,” Barry says. “You can’t just take a space and throw people in there and expect that they’re going to figure out how to have their own wine tasting or cooking class or that they’re going to connect with each other." --- So Urby employs a cultural director with a nightclub and hospitality background and deputies to organize activities for residents. There might be stump-the-chef or other paid event in the kitchen, standup comedy in the cafe, and flower arranging in a workshop room. “It’s a boost,” Barry says, “to help people in this demographic connect to each other—and make them feel more emotionally connected to the brand."
- Each location has a different programming focus: Jersey City Urby has a scientist-in-residence, and Harrison will have a resident jazz musician. Staten Island’s farmer-in-residence works a 4,500-square-foot urban farm, selling produce at weekend markets and to tenants who can enjoy locally grown kale smoothies. --- This isn’t an exercise in co-living, however, where apartment-sharing companies like Common seek to fill a niche for those willing to have roommates or share bathrooms. Barry says that approach is too aggressive for his audience, which seeks a faster commute but with a higher standard of comfort than they can afford in the city. This may indicate a perhaps less-than-trendy trend: that many of them don't actually want to live in a city, with all of its expenses and eccentricities, but they want the amenities.
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Urby Staten Island, a new 900-unit housing complex, offers a curated city-living experience. Kind of. Ironstate Development
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