Inside the 77 sq ft Greenwich Village apartment with no bathroom for $2,350/month

Sep 27, 2023

Published Jun 2, 2023

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Published Jun 2, 2023

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An empty third-floor apartment on West 11th Street in Greenwich Village keeps going viral on social media — and it could be yours for $2,350 a month.

That's a lot less than the Manhattan median rent of around $4,100 a month and about half of the asking price for one-bedroom apartments in the exclusive Greenwich Village neighborhood. You’ll just have to get used to the size: less than 7 feet wide and 11 feet long. Knicks 6’8" all-star Julius Randle could stand in the center of the room, stretch out his arms and easily touch the walls on either side.

Then there's the bathroom situation: There isn't one.

Instead, you’ll have to visit the shared toilet and shower in the hallway. As for a kitchen? There isn't really one of those either. There's no oven or stove and you’ll have to make do with a mini-fridge under the counter.

But you’ll get to live in a true content factory.

A Reddit user posted a video of the vacant apartment over the past weekend, which generated thousands of upvotes and comments. (Examples include "my shed is bigger than that," "claustrophobic" and "the fact that this is even legal is disgusting. Rents are out of control.")

The online response to the teensy weensy apartment in the swanky neighborhood reflects a certain fascination with how some New Yorkers live, either by choice or necessity, said Casey Roberts, a home trends expert at StreetEasy. It's also a vestige of a time when hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers laid their heads in dorm-style single-room occupancy units — albeit ones priced well below $28,200 a year.

Broker Omer Labock posted a video of the apartment on TikTok in December, along with another from a nearly identical unit in the building back in January, earning about 310,000 likes. He said most of the building's 26 apartments have the same configuration..

"They’re tiny, man," Labock told Gothamist. "The smallest units I’ve ever shown."

The narrow apartment is just wide enough to fit a queen-sized bed.

Still, that hasn't stopped people from gunning for the apartment.

When Gothamist visited for a viewing on Wednesday, a Pace University junior was standing outside and set to place a bid on the minuscule unit. He asked that his name not be used in a story because he didn't want to jeopardize his chances of landing a spot in the elite ZIP code.

"If you want to be on a prime block of the city, it's like, you can't have everything," he said.

The building is part of the Goldman family real estate empire and is run by their management company, which did not return a phone call seeking comment. The real estate tool Who Owns What indicates that 25 of the building's 26 units are rent-stabilized, which would prevent drastic price hikes. But rental history on StreetEasy shows the apartment was listed at $1,300 in 2020, making it unclear whether the $2,350 price tag is legal.

Whatever the case, the apartment is indeed tiny. It's about the width of a parking spot, with a mini-fridge, a pint-sized sink and three slender cabinets. You could fit a queen-sized bed in there and you wouldn't have to worry about rolling off. A smoke alarm hangs above what might be considered the kitchen, while a sprinkler pipe that could serve as a clothing rack stretches from the door to the center of the room.

On the bright side, there's a window — and no broker's fee.

The apartment doesn't have its own bathroom. Instead residents share a toilet and shower located in the hallway.

A spokesperson for the city's Department of Buildings confirmed that the apartment is a legal single-room occupancy unit dating back to at least 1937. The city outlawed new dorm-style units in the 1950s, and many of the old ones were torn down or converted to luxury residences. Others live on as supportive housing.

One tenant showed off their own apartment in the building, on the condition that they not be named. The resident said they had lived in the unit since 1997, when they moved to New York City for acting work, and decided to stick around because the rent was reasonable. It's now $1,100 a month.

The room had a loft bed, with storage below, and bookshelves along one wall next to a desk that unfolds Murphy-style. Various appliances were stacked on the small counter, with a rotund air fryer tucked beneath a dresser.

"It's always interesting to see how people set up their living spaces and get creative to make them work," said Roberts from StreetEasy. "We see a lot of interest in apartments in the city coming from all over the country."

New Yorkers also seem to be turning to small accommodations because they want to live alone — or because it's all they can get for their money, she said.

"I think there might also be added interest in these spaces right now given the affordability challenges the city is facing as rents continue to increase and inventory remains low," Roberts said.

The tight quarters aren't all that uncommon for low-income New Yorkers, especially newly arrived immigrants sharing small spaces with several others because of eye-popping prices.

The median rent for a Manhattan studio was $3,000 a month in April, according to StreetEasy.

Roberts said that would require a tenant to earn $120,000 a year to pay no more than 30% of their income on rent, a threshold recommended by federal housing officials.

That's about four times the median income for New York City residents, according to census data.

But you can go a lot bigger, or at least have your own bathroom, for $2,350. That's less than the median price for a one-bedroom in Sunnyside and Sunset Park these days, StreetEasy listings data shows.

The minuscule apartment on West 11th Street raises the question of who would choose to live a stripped-down existence, and what trade-offs people are willing to make to get a foothold in a hot neighborhood.

"Maybe you have somebody who, they want to be in a nice location and enjoy certain neighborhood amenities," said real estate agent Nikki Thomas. "That could be part of it, but it could be that they just would much rather live in a teeny, tiny apartment and have to kind of pare down their living."

She recalled showing apartments with a single sink for washing dishes and brushing teeth earlier in her career, but never something as small as the place on West 11th Street. She understands the curiosity.

"It could almost be viewed as the tiny house version of being in New York City," she said. "It blows a lot of people's minds."

We want to hear from you! Have you found any tiny apartment listings or listings that have shocked you to the core? Email [email protected] and share your stories!

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David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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