Renting an apartment or house is one of the necessary evils for an estimated 35% of American adults in the United States who rent their living space. You spend thousands of dollars annually and in the end you’re left with virtually nothing to show for it. On the other hand, apartment living does provide you with a roof over your head and renters save an average of $560 every month just by choosing to rent over buying a house. And they don?t risk investing in a depreciating asset.
In part because of reasons like that, many people financially in the middle and lower class look for the best apartments at the most affordable prices. Renting does allow an individual to enjoy a luxurious, high quality living space for a more affordable price than buying. A new complex in Grand Rapids, MI is setting the bar even higher by allowing low-income residents to rent a loft at well under the market value, according to the Michigan local news site Mlive.com.
“I’ve wanted to live in a loft like this for a long time,” said Riley Speers, one of the fortune few to rent a loft in the new Klingman Lofts project, which overlooks the trendy Downtown Market section of the city.
Speers lives in the loft with his girlfriend, Serena Miller. They pay $469 a month for a one-bedroom unit in the income-restricted development that was completed this fall. Speers said they paid $700 for a studio apartment the size of a “closet” compared to their new digs, which also come with exposed brick walls and granite counters.
The building has 83 apartment rentals and all of them are currently filled. It was Mike Jacobson, principal of LC Companies, LLC that brought the project to life with a $24 million investment into reviving the 118-year-old former Klingman’s Furniture Warehouse.
“It’s a great old ship, back in shape,” Jacobson said. “These buildings are real treasures. If you can figure out a way to do it, it knits the community together with its history.”
He should know as Jacobson’s company has developed more than 20 affordable housing developments in Michigan over the past 17 years.
