(New) Housing bloat/McMansionization

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Originally uploaded by inked78

These modular construction rowhouses are being constructed at 12th and K Street NE. They are huge. The property listing doesn't list the amount of square footage but does say five bedrooms, five baths, and an unfinished basement.

The price is $1,295,000.

What I find amazing about this is how big the houses are, probably triple the average house size in the area.

But the typical household in DC has fewer than 3 residents.

Why build something so big?

This is a form of inward suburbanization or McMansionizing in the city.

For an interesting take on this, see "This New House" from Mother Jones magazine.

I understand this is all about maximizing the profit potential of the land. There is a similar thing on the 1100 block of 5th Street NE, but it is set up to be four two-floor condominiums.

There is clearly room for a different type of housing arrangement/ housing type in the city.

I might have done this as Montreal-style plexes. Make one of these buildings wider and into 6 or 8 units. It's amazing to think of this much house taken up by 2 to 4 people when in roughly the same amount of space many more households could be accommodated.

Montreal plex. Photo by Christopher DeWolf, from Maisonneuve Magazine.

See "Getting to Know the Plex: An Urban Housing Solution that's invigorating neighborhoods from Chicago to Montreal" from Maisonneuve Magazine for more about this type of housing. (Note that registration will be required for access to the article.)

(Original Flickr photo by Inked78.)