free4now
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2005
- Messages
- 1,228
I've always had a fantasy of living in a city loft. Not a redeveloped "loftominium" that costs more than an apartment. I'm thinking about how in the 60's and 70's artists would inhabit old factory spaces to have a cheap "live/work" space. Someplace where I'd have enough unfinished room to build fun things and generally make messes. Maybe being near other artists providing inspiration. I figured that dream was never going to happen since all lofts I see on the market these days are "luxury lofts" with granite countertops and platinum prices.
But the other day I met someone who is basically living that way today. He is living in an industrial park in Los Angeles, in a commercial space. It is basically a big warehouse type rectangular room, approx 20' wide, 40' long, and 25' high, with a big rolltop door entrance. Cinder block walls, cement floor, and skylights in the rafter ceilings.
He has built a loft above about half of it that encloses a bedroom and utility room, out of the steel supports normally used for warehouse shelving. It's incredibly solid and when he moves he can sell the supports used for about what he paid for them. He was a contractor in a former life, so he installed a bathtub, hot water heater, and kitchen sink. The space has an existing toilet and sink.
About half the space is still unfinished with the high ceilings and he has a photography studio there. He has tarps that cover the bedrooms above so even with the rolltop door open it looks like a normal commercial space.
He says that although this violates zoning laws, that his landlord knows about it and is not concerned. What's more, he says there are at least two other guys living in other units in this industrial park.
The kicker is the cost: He's paying rent of 50 cents a square foot of warehouse space, and because of the loft space he built it's really less than that. In Los Angeles (although admittedly a fairly rundown part of town). That sounds like an awfully good deal when I'm paying over $2 per square foot for my fancy finished San Francisco apartment.
Anyone living this way or considered it? Because it's illegal it requires keeping a low profile and probably makes socializing difficult. But it seems to me pretty much of a victimless crime as long as you are careful to make all modifications safe and to code. And you would have to live there for a while to recoup the investments in modifications.
But the other day I met someone who is basically living that way today. He is living in an industrial park in Los Angeles, in a commercial space. It is basically a big warehouse type rectangular room, approx 20' wide, 40' long, and 25' high, with a big rolltop door entrance. Cinder block walls, cement floor, and skylights in the rafter ceilings.
He has built a loft above about half of it that encloses a bedroom and utility room, out of the steel supports normally used for warehouse shelving. It's incredibly solid and when he moves he can sell the supports used for about what he paid for them. He was a contractor in a former life, so he installed a bathtub, hot water heater, and kitchen sink. The space has an existing toilet and sink.
About half the space is still unfinished with the high ceilings and he has a photography studio there. He has tarps that cover the bedrooms above so even with the rolltop door open it looks like a normal commercial space.
He says that although this violates zoning laws, that his landlord knows about it and is not concerned. What's more, he says there are at least two other guys living in other units in this industrial park.
The kicker is the cost: He's paying rent of 50 cents a square foot of warehouse space, and because of the loft space he built it's really less than that. In Los Angeles (although admittedly a fairly rundown part of town). That sounds like an awfully good deal when I'm paying over $2 per square foot for my fancy finished San Francisco apartment.
Anyone living this way or considered it? Because it's illegal it requires keeping a low profile and probably makes socializing difficult. But it seems to me pretty much of a victimless crime as long as you are careful to make all modifications safe and to code. And you would have to live there for a while to recoup the investments in modifications.