Most people can recall squishing themselves into campus housing and small apartments, made even smaller by financially obligatory roommates. But there’s a new trend in domicile design. Micro apartments have popped up all over the globe, in places like San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Toronto and Beijing.

Imagine living in a single room, with all of your essentials within arm’s reach: a living room with a kitchen up against one wall, a bathroom off to the side, and a bedroom tucked away. Better yet, consider having all of the necessities and not having to share the space with roommates and their surprise guests. Then step into a micro apartment.

Micro apartments are what they sound like. Take an apartment and make it compact, make it tiny, make it micro. It promises easy maintenance, as long as renters don’t have too much in the way of material possessions. And in 2017 Modern Boutique Living is expected to open a micro apartment in St. John’s, at 12 Water Street.

Chris Galea is the president of Modern Boutique Living, and already has two other micro apartments opened in Antigonish and Wolfville, NS. Galea says there are many reasons that people might be drawn to micro apartments.

For instance, they “allow people to live downtown in the heart of the city at substantially lower rental rates.” As well, the apartment might be smaller, but it’s expertly furnished. The rental terms are flexible too, people can rent a night, a weekly, four to eight months, and by year.

From the description on the website, Micro Boutique Living has gotten a lot off fixtures to fit into a small space. Both one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments come with a three-piece bath, flatscreen tv, fireplace, kitchen, queen bed, wifi, and AC. Really, all the luxuries people would expect in a modern apartment. They’ll also have stunning views of the St. John’s harbour.

Renting in the city

Renting in the city can be a nightmare, Matt Power knows. He moved to St. John’s in 2006 and since then, he’s rented in seven different locations. He’s had his share of struggles in finding a place to live and says St. John’s has a rental housing problem. There have been times desperate enough where he’s agreed to rent places sight-unseen, having a trusted friend check it out for him.

“If you see an apartment that looks more than tolerable… you need to decide within a half hour of leaving that apartment whether you want that apartment or not,” or it will be snatched up by someone else. So he welcomes the news that more housing is going up in the downtown area.