Micro apartments make the most from little space as developers pitch high-end units at lower rents

That moment you realize there's something different about The Rhythm's new studio apartments comes when the dining room table converts to a bed.

"This is the new generation," said developer Tim Gokhman as he demonstrated the switch, done by pulling down a queen-sized mattress — hidden in the furniture's cabinetry — onto the dining table's top.

The apartment's space-saving features are part of a national trend toward creating smaller studio units that give young renters more affordable options to live in hip urban neighborhoods, including Milwaukee's east side, downtown, Walker's Point and Bay View.

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They're called "micro" apartments. And, while priced below larger one-bedroom units, these upscale apartments aren't cheap.

The smallest studio apartments at The Rhythm, which is opening this month at 1620 N. Water St.,  have monthly rents starting at $1,175 for 405 square feet. Trio Mke, which opened last summer at 1030 S. 2nd St., in Walker's Point, charges that same monthly rent for studio units with 540 square feet.

Both buildings were developed by Gokhman's firm, New Land Enterprises LLP, and Wiechmann Enterprises.

A handful of micro units will be part of Vue, developed by Dermond Property Investments LLC, when that apartment building opens this fall at 2200 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., in Bay View.

Also, Royal Capital Group LLC's apartment building that will be developed next to the new Milwaukee Bucks arena parking structure, north of W. Juneau Ave. and east of N. 6th St., will include micro units.

There is no official definition of a micro unit, according to the Urban Land Institute.

The Washington, D.C.-based trade group says a micro unit has its own kitchen and bathroom but typically is less than 350 square feet. Others say micro units can be as large as 400 or even 500 square feet.

A tour of The Rhythm shows how a micro apartment can be designed to appeal to millennials, sometimes defined as people born from 1980 through 2000.

Of the six-story building's 140 apartments, 60 are micro studios with 405 square feet each, along with 50 larger studios with 540 square feet. The remaining are one-bedroom units with 620 to 660 square feet.

All the studios feature the dining table which converts to a bed. Gokhman said that solves the main problem with higher-end studio units: how to elegantly and efficiently combine dining and living room space with a bedroom.

"If you're eating, you're not sleeping," Gokhman said.

Other space-saving features include a kitchen with an 18-inch-wide dishwasher, instead of a standard 24-inch-wide unit; clothes washers and dryers housed in cabinets, instead of a utility room; additional cabinets, instead of a closet, to store clothing and shoes, and radiant floor heating systems that eliminate the need for individual furnaces and ducts.

The result, Gokhman said, is a new, high-end apartment within walking distance of downtown and east side restaurants, taverns and other attractions that rents for less than $1,200 — as long as people are willing to forgo  a separate bedroom.

The Rhythm is making a much bigger commitment to smaller studio units compared to Trio Mke, where 32 of that project's 120 apartments have 540 square feet.

At that size, Trio Mke's studio apartments are on the small side, but wouldn't generally be considered micro units. They do have the dining tables that convert to beds and other space-saving features found at The Rhythm.

Alexa Nagy began renting a studio at Trio Mke last fall.

Nagy, a Marquette University law student who clerks part-time at a local firm, wanted a new apartment she could afford without a roommate. The lower rent appealed to her, and the size is fine for someone who doesn't own a lot of stuff.

She also likes the convenience of a bed that is out of the way except when it's needed.

"At night, you just pull it down," Nagy said.

Dermond Property Investments expects to attract millennials like Nagy to its 69-unit Vue building in Bay View, which will include four micro apartments, said Nora Pecor, chief financial officer.

Those 410-square-foot units are designed to "test the waters" for small apartments, she said. Renters might include people who would otherwise double up with a roommate to afford a larger apartment, Pecor said.

The building, which will mainly feature one-bedroom apartments, will include seven additional studio units, with 514 square feet each. Rents haven't yet been determined.

The apartments to be developed next to the Bucks arena parking structure will include roughly 15 studio units with around 450 to 525 square feet, said Kevin Newell, Royal Capital Group president.

"We're listening to the market and their appetite for quality units within well-located developments, while balancing the checkbook," Newell said.

More micro units are being developed throughout the country, according to an Urban Land Institute 2014 report. The appeal "is largely about economics," it said.

Most renters who are interested in micro units will consider them in exchange for a monthly rent that is typically 20% to 30% below a conventional apartment's rent.

The target market is young professional singles, typically under 30 years old, with most under 27 years old, the study said.

However, micro units aren't for everyone.

In 2013, urban designer Kai Bates and his girlfriend rented a 260-square-foot micro apartment in a new building in downtown Portland, Ore. The small studio provided an affordable option to live in the cool Pearl District, with Bates looking for work after earning his master's degree and his girlfriend still a doctoral student.

Their apartment had a tiny kitchen, bathroom and living space with room for a couch. The couple propped their mattress against the wall behind the couch, and put it on the floor each night at bedtime.

"It was a really tight squeeze," said Bates, who now works at Streetsense, a Bethesda, Md.-based firm.

They moved out after a year.

"We basically came to the conclusion we shouldn't live in anything less than 500 square feet," Bates said.

Along with its micro units and other apartments, The Rhythm hopes to attract residents with its lobby and other street-level common areas, Gokhman said.

Those spaces are designed to promote activity, featuring a retro tabletop electronic gaming console, coffee bar, ping-pong table, and outdoor lounge. Those types of intimate gathering spaces allow micro unit residents to "experience community" outside their apartments, according to the Urban Land Institute study.

"The idea is you create an environment that people actually want to be in," said Gokhman, whose building was designed by Kindness Architecture and Planning, a firm later sold to Eppstein Uhen Architects.

Tom Daykin can be reached attdaykin@jrn.com