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Bobby Fijan

@bobbyfijan.bsky.social

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Building Housing for Families

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Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1h

*new apartments

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1h

Then you're just not familiar with the basic layouts of US apartments. It is a feature in >95% of them

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2h

It's a small apartment. These layouts are for people who want to live in high demand dense areas.

Obviously a mcmansion doesn't have to deal with the issue you describe ... but that's a fundamentally cheaper land area.

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2h

Here's a gift link to the @inquirer.com article on how building Baby Maybe apartments can BOTH make financial sense for developers ... and how it can be good for the City

share.inquirer.com/OhE3rL

Developers should build more apartments for families, study argues

Developers should experiment with different kinds of layouts to attract families at various life stages, the authors argue.

share.inquirer.com

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3h

If a "Baby Maybe" apartment (a unit with a Den/Office/Nursery) can nudge a couple to feel comfortable to "pull the goalie" even if they don't HAVE the baby while living in that unit ... it will undoubtedly have succeeded as a family friendly apartment

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3h

Here’s a link to the full study, if you want to read all 40 pages and see the data for yourself

t.co/HTkXORETf1

https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-part-2

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3h

This means Developers don’t need to have altruistic desire to build “family friendly” units. They can simply build units that are under supplied in the market. To make more money

Hopefully it DOES lead to more people feeling comfortable to have a baby in an apartment. But that’s a happy byproduct

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3h

And what’s even more interesting … is that even people who don’t want kids STILL prefer the Den layout

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 3h

But in order to pencil, changes need to be within building types that developers already build

That’s why in our 6000 person survey, we tested people’s preferences for things like a 750sf units with/without a Den

Turns out, people who want kids prefer the Den/Nursery floorplans

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4h

Important to acknowledge, as Lyman says, that the rise in new construction Studio & 1BRs apartments was driven by demand.

Young, ambitious people with higher incomes moving into the City. That's a good thing!

But now it makes sense to add different kinds of units as they think about having kids

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4h

The @inquirer.com covered the study Lyman Stone & I did ... showing that families put HIGHEST value on an *extra* room in apartments. Even a Den

“Family friendly” can be confusing. How many kids? What age?

We advance the argument that “Baby Maybe” apartments are good AND pencil

t.co/P4SZnB3csx

Developers should build more apartments for families, study argues

Developers should experiment with different kinds of layouts to attract families at various life stages, the authors argue.

www.inquirer.com

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4h

Yes that sounds right

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16h

Fires in new homes are just so rare. I don’t want anything to add more “fuel to be fire” of the marshals so to speak

It’s not like if they required sprinklers in SFH that we’d get better fire truck rules

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 16h

I agree it’s incredibly biased against apartments … I just don’t think trying to raise standards on SFH is going to be successful or good even

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 17h

I think that’s dangerous ground to give up. The whole thing is too risk averse and seems to play into the fire marshals hands too much. The standards are crazy.

Better just to stay on the single stair being totally safe.

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote a real estate investor focused essay in Thesis Driven on the in-depth applications of the Institute for Family Studies paper I did with Lyman Stone

How family friendly" apartment projects can actually make sense financially ... and a few examples

www.thesisdriven.com/letters/can-...

Can Building "Family Friendly" Apartments Make Financial Sense?

A study of the importance - and feasibility - of family-friendly units

www.thesisdriven.com

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2d

I think it’s more the minimum size. 8’ in each dimension.

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 2d

With all the Office to Residential conversions in NYC *and* the Bedroom requirements … the floorplans have hilarious names

“Studio + 2 Home Office/2BA”

$8200/month

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4d

No special ones. Just pursuit of maximizing profit

The specific developer had been pushing for this for a long time. And had several business white papers.

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4d

• Stroller parking in bike room and corridors
• Flip-down toilet seats designed for kids
• Climbing structure, sandbox, playhouse, trikes and riding loop.
• Large indoor playroom with activity areas and playhouse
• Parent seating areas to supervise children while working from home

And a lot more ..

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 4d

Earlier this year ... I toured an apartment project under construction that has been designed for families in Redmond, Washington

AMLI Redmond Way

126 Units, average size >1100 SF. 1BR+Den, 2BR+Den and 3BR units.

Amenities:

Bobby Fijan @bobbyfijan.bsky.social · 5d

t.co/HTkXORETf1

https://ifstudies.org/report-brief/homes-for-young-families-part-2