Arcade leaves no room for clutter

COMPACT LIVING: Corey Towner in her micro-loft located on the second floor of the Arcade Providence. Demand for the Arcade apartments resulted in a 2,000-name waiting list in 2014. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
COMPACT LIVING: Corey Towner in her micro-loft located on the second floor of the Arcade Providence. Demand for the Arcade apartments resulted in a 2,000-name waiting list in 2014. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

When your living space is 300 square feet, paring is just the beginning.

Every possession has to be evaluated for purpose. Some objects need to become multifunctional.

Residents of the Arcade Providence micro-lofts have become resourceful in finding ways to adapt to their small spaces.

Because her kitchen has no unclaimed counter space, Corey Towner has found that a cutting board, when placed over the sink, also serves as a food-prep area. The Arcade is surrounded by restaurants in downtown Providence, but eating out all the time is impractical. With a hot plate and a toaster oven substituting for a stove and oven, Towner cooks as often as she wants.

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She moved into her one-bedroom unit in May 2014, and previously paid more to share a larger apartment with two roommates. That apartment also was located in downtown Providence. Towner, 27, literally walked across a street to move into the Arcade.

“I don’t want a bigger space,” she said in a recent interview. “It’s perfect for one person.”

She had lived across the street for 18 months, and watched as workers renovated the Arcade for retail and living spaces. Its 48 micro-lofts opened for the first tenants in December 2013. The retail space, on the first floor, opened in October 2013.

When Towner learned the newly renovated space would include individual loft apartments, she signed up. She pays $800 a month, plus utilities, but they haven’t amounted to much because all of the systems are energy efficient, she said.

She doesn’t feel cramped. The small space requires order and neatness, which is fine with her. Clutter doesn’t work in a micro-loft. “I like being able to have a place for everything,” she said.

Demand for the Arcade apartments, which resulted in a 2,000-name waiting list in 2014, has only increased since the first residents moved in.

The waiting list has actually doubled in size, said Robin Dionne, director of outreach and client relations for the Arcade. But that can be misleading because the apartments are not leased on a first-come, first-served basis. With only two employees, it would be impossible to organize the list, she said.

Instead, as openings come up, the people who respond to Dionne’s emailed announcements are scheduled for interviews. They are selected as their applications are approved, she said.

Last month, Dionne announced three of the apartments would become available, beginning in February. Two were quickly rented, she said.

So far, turnover seems rare, she said. People are happy at the Arcade, she says, have made friends among the fellow tenants, and have turned common areas and restaurants into group gathering spots.

The Arcade coffee shop, New Harvest Coffee & Spirits, is a frequent meeting space, serving as the location for the building’s book club, for example.

The 48 micro-lofts range in size from 225 square feet to 850 square feet. Some of the larger units have two or three bedrooms. Most of the apartments fall in the 225- to 300-square-foot range.

Many of the tenants are in the first five or six years of their careers, Dionne said. Others are older. All want to live downtown and enjoy the range of arts and cultural offerings within walking distance. This is the market that is fueling demand for micro-apartments across the country. Recent research from the Urban Land Institute found micro-units are filling a niche in high-cost cities as an affordable alternative. The study, based on a survey of 400 rental communities, found the micro-unit residents were willing to trade off space for convenience.

What’s interesting at the Arcade Providence, Towner said, is that as she has gotten to know her neighbors, she’s seen how they take space identical to other units and make it their own.

But some things just won’t work in the space.

Christmas trees are out, rejected as a potential fire hazard. And pets aren’t allowed either, and that includes lizards, caged birds and fish.

The Arcade website spells out the particular rules at a building with an unusual history.

Built in 1828, the Arcade was the first enclosed retail mall in the United States. Its renovation into apartments and retail stores, completed in 2013, was a $7 million project. The building is registered as a national historic landmark.

When the micro-lofts were first made available, Dionne said, the property managers weren’t sure what to expect. But the demand was immediate and has continued through the first year of its occupancy.

The location has proven to be a winner. Towner loves being within walking distance of coffee shops, restaurants, art galleries and performance spaces.

She works in Warwick, and the only challenge has been the car. She pays extra for a space in a garage nearby.

For Towner, life at the Arcade has reinforced her own views about materialism. The small space requires that she not accumulate clutter.

“It’s liberating just to not have stuff,” she said. “I don’t buy stuff I don’t need. There’s no room for it.” •

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