The Cellar - Aug 16th, 2018: Berkeley Prefabs

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- - Aug 16th, 2018: Berkeley Prefabs (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=33673)

Aug 16th, 2018: Berkeley Prefabs

A four story apartment building built in four days.

http://cellar.org/2017/berkeley1.jpg

Quote:

This new 22-unit project from local developer Patrick Kennedy (Panoramic Interests) is the first in the nation to be constructed of prefabricated all-steel modular units made in China. Each module, which looks a little like sleekly designed shipping containers with picture windows on one end, is stacked on another like giant Legos.
The project, initially approved by the city in 2010 as a hotel, then re-approved in 2015 as studio apartments, will be leased to UC Berkeley for graduate student housing. Called Shattuck Studios, it’s slated to be open for move-in for the fall semester.

http://cellar.org/2017/berkeley3.jpg

Quote:

The modules were shipped to Oakland then trucked to the site. Kennedy notes that the cost of trucking to Berkeley from the port of Oakland was more expensive than the cost of shipping from Hong Kong.
The modules are effectively ready-to-go 310-square-feet studio apartments with a bathroom, closets, a front entry area, and a main room with a kitchenette and sofa that converts to a queen-size bed. They come with flat-screen TVs and coffee makers.

http://cellar.org/2017/berkeley2.jpg

Quote:

In lieu of providing affordable units on site, Kennedy will pay a fee to the city of Berkeley’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, as required under the city’s affordable housing laws. The amount is around $500,000, he said.
The units will rent for $2,180 monthly for single-occupancy, said Kyle Gibson, director of communications for UC Berkeley Capital Strategies. One unit is reserved for a residential assistant (RA). UC has a three-year lease with Kennedy’s firm.

link

$2,180 a month for 310 square feet. The mind boggles.

I like the concept, but wonder about rents in our increasingly urban society. The prices are madness.

Prefab lets you erect structures quickly and efficiently, but what happens in 20 years when this is falling apart? It doesn't look like it is really designed to be maintained. Do you just throw the whole thing away as if it was an old motorhome?

I was thinking the toilet could be a foot closer to the sink in the bathroom and you would gain a foot in the kitchen, but then realized it must be some ADA compliant thing to let a wheelchair maneuver in there.

That folding bed is going to break in the first 10 years and the apartment will be rented unfurnished. Tenants will build loft beds.

The thought of making up the queen size bed every night and then folding it into a couch in the day will get old quick.

Yeah. You would leave it as a bed and only fold it up if company is coming over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 1013491)

$2,180 a month for 310 square feet. The mind boggles.

Way back in the mid '70s a guy I worked with sold his house in the Philly burbs for $65k and bought a smaller house in Sunnyvale, CA, for $110k. It would have been worse but he had a connection through his 7th Day Adventist Church for a better deal.

$2,180 per month is "wow that's terrible" money to me. Although it looks like $630 per month is for Berkeley’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Even without it, still that would be $1,550 per month for 310 square feet. :eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble (Post 1013491)

$2,180 a month for 310 square feet. The mind boggles.

Welcome to California housing costs.

I used to live about 12 miles south of Berkeley. In 1998, I bought a 1286 sq condo for $115k. Six years later, I sold it for $350k. Yeah, I painted the whole thing, put in a ceiling fan, and installed a new heat/AC unit, but a nearly $40k increase in value per year is just nuts. (According to Zillow, that condo is worth $500k today, and the HOA charge is now $500/mo. Jeez.)

What's more nuts is, after I sold it, I couldn't find a fucking shack for less than $400k (unless I wanted a 1.5 hour commute to work every day).

Which is why I live where I do now. ;)

High property prices are great if they go up just before you plan to move somewhere cheaper. Otherwise, they only mean you pay more in property tax. And that's if you already own. If you don't own, then they just mean you are screwed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 1013665)

High property prices are great if they go up just before you plan to move somewhere cheaper. Otherwise, they only mean you pay more in property tax. And that's if you already own. If you don't own, then they just mean you are screwed.

Yeppers. Ya gotta know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em.

I sold my condo just before the CA housing bubble went completely tits up. Four years later, it was listed at $150k. :eek: A month after that, it was foreclosed to the lender for $111k.

Yay me!

It took another 11 years for the value to return to where it was when I sold it. And now, it's worth even more. The California housing market is nucking FUTZ!

You're smarter then the average Bearess. :D