Micro Living in Denver

A new housing trend is getting big in Denver: tiny living. Buildings made entirely or mostly of apartment units smaller than 500 square feet are proliferating.

For renters who value location more than square footage, micro studio apartment buildings offer extra communal space, little if any parking, and rents priced for tenants earning the local median income or slightly less. The Mile High City is joining the ranks of coastal cities in the so-called micro-apartment movement, where the average unit size in those markets average between 250 and 350 square feet, The Denver Post reports.

Front Range developers like McWhinney, the owner and operator of the Ride at RiNo “micro-studio” apartment building that opened at 3609 Wynkoop St. in late November, see big demand for micro in the future.

Ride sits on about three quarters of an acre just across the pedestrian bridge from RTD’s 38th and Blake Station rail stop. Its five stories house 84 apartments ranging from 369 square feet to 849-square-foot “live-work” studios. Rents start at $1,189 per month for the smallest floorplans.

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