Dive Brief:
- Hawaii developer Bento Box, LLC, is planning a $5 million micro-unit apartment building in Oahu, scheduled for completion in early 2017, Pacific Business News reported.
- Bento Box told the News that the four-story building, which will have 54 rental units, all 300 square feet and fully furnished, is their attempt to help address the affordable housing issue in Hawaii, and will target military, elderly and other area residents with rental rates between $1,400 and $1,600 per month.
- Cities like New York, Seattle and Portland, where rents are prohibitively expensive, have also seen a rise in the micro-apartment’s popularity.
Dive Insight:
According to a report by the Urban Land institute, the move toward a smaller living space and the number of rental apartment communities offering micro units are a growing trend and have renewed developer and renter focus on efficiency and innovative design. In addition, a micro-apartment allows renters to live in a "hot," urban area without paying the high rents that go along with it.
Bento Box, according to Justin Koziol, principal designer and development manager of the Oahu project, wants to do similar projects in Brooklyn, NY and Nashville, TN, in addition to additional properties in Hawaii.
"We are trying to get some land in town for our next project," Koziol told the News. "We need to find some of the big landowners, such as Kamehameha Schools to find something to do a deal. To do our business model in Hawaii, we need someone to partner with."
