Would you consider downsizing and moving to
the mall?
Do you live to shop?
Then Providence, Rhode Island, might be calling your name. Because it’s there,
in the Littlest State’s capital city, that you can reside in the country’s
oldest indoor shopping mall.
Originally opened in
1828, the Arcade
Providence made history as America’s first enclosed shopping
mall. And the building’s grand exterior and architectural details
— including Greek Revival columns and granite steps and walls
— quickly became a defining element of Providence’s downtown architectural
aesthetic.
But when trips to the
mall began to be replaced by visits to Amazon and eBay, and brick-and-mortar
businesses began transitioning to online storefronts, the Arcade started to
feel a bit like a relic from the past. So the city came up with an idea:
transform part of the mall into residential dwellings.
Think small
With the help of the
creative giants at Northeast
Collaborative Architects, the big idea became to think small and
turn the mall’s top two floors into 48 micro-loft apartments, which range in
size from 225 to 800 square feet, while keeping the ground floor a space for
equally teeny retail shops (with no chain stores allowed).
The redesigned space
officially welcomed its first residents in 2015, with rents starting as low as
$500 per month. Over time, and due to popular demand, those rents have risen to
between $800 and $1800 per month. (Though the bulk of the apartments are
studios or one-bedrooms, there is one two-bedroom and one three-bedroom loft.)
While 225 square feet may be half the size of some people’s walk-in closet, the
streamlined spaces make use of every inch, built-in cabinetry and drawers
underneath the platform beds.
The project has been
a boon to individuals who want to be in the city, but who would have otherwise
been driven out by rising rents and real estate prices — including some of
the first-floor shop owners.
“There’s a real sense
of community here,” Robin Dionne, Arcade Providence’s director of outreach and
client relations, told TODAY
shortly after the residences opened. “We have people in all stages of life.
Young graduate students like it because there are smaller apartments where
furniture is built in, and I think they’re looking for something affordable.
Then you have those who are retired and keep this as a second or third
apartment — it’s a smaller commitment than home ownership. We’ve also got
emergency room doctors, firefighters.”
Waiting list
Perhaps
unsurprisingly, nabbing yourself one of these perfectly situated pads isn’t
always easy. Since its opening, occupancy has been at 100% — with a
waiting list of more than 4,000 names. But Dionne swears that apartments do
open up and scoring one isn’t as impossible as it might seem. “When an
apartment opens up, we send an email to every person on that list and take it
from there on order of responses,” she told TODAY, noting that they generally
have responses in the hour.
So if you want
to get in there,
you’d better be willing to act fast. Even if the sweet smells of Cinnabon are
long gone.
* * *
Your 12-week checklist for selling your home
Week 1: Start clearing
clutter
You knew this would
be first, right? Go through room by room and sort out the things you’re going
to take, sell, donate, or toss.
“Decluttering for a
move is different than decluttering to spark joy,” says Ali Wenzke, founder of
the blog, The Art of Happy
Moving, and author of The Art of Happy Moving: How
to Declutter, Pack, and Start Over While Maintaining Your Sanity and Finding
Happiness. “Weight and size matter. Moving can be expensive and you
don’t want to move, pack, and unpack unnecessary items, especially if they are
large and bulky.”
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete