Apartments above stores? Not a new idea, but one that may need to be re-implemented in cities

[Attilatheblond]

Saw this, but I'm a 'show-me' kind of girl, so I checked. Seems to be in the works. Again, thank you, COSTCO for remembering we are not all extremely wealthy.

Remember apartments above stores? They're coming back.

At a time when real estate prices in cities price too many out of housing, this is an idea worth exploring.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/hundreds-of-apartments-are-being-built-on-top-of-a-costco/485190]

A first-of-its-kind Costco with 800 apartment units above it is coming to Baldwin Hills, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles that Census Reporter finds has a poverty rate 25% higher than the national average.

The complex includes 184 apartments for low-income households, with the rest of the units offered as a mix of unsubsidized, affordable, and workforce housing. It will also have a rooftop pool and fitness center.

The Costco downstairs will have 185,000 square feet of space and two levels of underground parking. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the average size of a Costco in the U.S. is 146,000 square feet, placing this Costco above average.

Real estate developer Thrive Living is preparing to start constructing the apartment-Costco property in early 2025, according to a report published earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal. When constructed, the complex will be the first residential development in the country with a Costco right downstairs.

[Attilatheblond]

1. Hoping we don't revert to the 'company store' form of living, but I tend to trust COSTCO

Thinking this could be a big help for people in some parts of LA, where the daily commute must eat up a lot of workers' daily bread.

[GenThePerservering]

2. Most of the apartment buildings being built here

are over stores.

[BonnieJW]

20. I've lived in an apartment over stores

For five years. It's great.

[Midnight Writer]

22. So did I. Furnished, two bedrooms, utilities included in rent, huge living room, high ceilings, $60 per month.

I'll never see a deal like that again.

[musette_sf]

3. My family lived over a steakhouse in Brooklyn

Apartments over retail never left NYC

[greatauntoftriplets]

13. Or Chicago.

There's an apartment over a barber shop kitty-corner from me.

[MineralMan]

4. That was one of my long-time, unfulfilled dreams.

I and my wife were always self-employed as freelance magazine writers. That meant we could live anywhere and do our work. So, I often dreamed about buying a small retail-below/living space above buildings in a downtown area in a smaller community. We'd have our offices downstairs and live above them.

We went as far as looking around for such a thing. It turned out that there were many such places all over the country in small to mid-sized towns. And, best of all, most of those buildings were selling for less than we had paid for the house we were living in. We rented office space in the same town, too, just to have some separation from life and work.

Somehow, inertia kept us from buying such a building, although I kept looking at them and talking about the idea. Now, we're retired, so there's no point to it any longer. But, I still sort of wish we had followed through with that.

[bhikkhu]

8. I tried to do that when I moved to my current city

There were a couple good locations I could have afforded. But - the loan I qualified for was for a residential property, and the qualification process for a commercial property was a whole different kind of application, all kinds of paperwork. So I dropped the idea and bought a house in the suburbs. Later a commercial property right on main street became available, which had a huge ground-floor lobby, and several units upstairs. It needed work but it was overall pretty solid, and it was affordable so I bought it. I whittled away at the cosmetics and beefed up the structural integrity as needed, and my plan was to rent out the ground floor and have that pay for the upstairs renovations, and I figured I could retire early and move in and just get it done at some point.

But - at some point the city just stopped allowing permits. THey changed the process to where no one could apply themselves, but had to go through contractors. Which was ok, I know a lot of contractors and engineers, and finally I ran the whole project by the biggest engineering firm in town and they thought it all looked good, and they could get me permits for the first couple steps toward making it work. In six months they were unable to get any kind of permit for anything and just dropped out; they even gave me my money back. I still don't know why. I corresponded with the city guy in charge for awhile and never got a straight answer either. Anyway, it looked like nothing was ever going to be allowed to happen and my pockets weren't deep enough to fight it, so I sold the building. I got a good price, but it's just a shame to see it still sitting empty and unused, and deteriorating.

[MineralMan]

10. Ah, city rules. That's always a potential problem.

I never got close enough to check on whether I could live there and have offices below. In a lot of small towns, they welcome that arrangement. that's what those buildings were designed to be, anyhow. Oh, well.

[JanMichael]

5. Costco is a fantastic corporation. I wish more were like them

Or billionaires like Makenzie Scott.

[underpants]

6. Agreed. 👍

[Meowmee]

7. It would make shopping very convenient

We once lived in a building near some restaurants in 4th arrondissement/ Beaubourg area, it was a beautiful old apartment, however it was very noisy at night due to drunken patrons etc. I had a lot of trouble sleeping. It was better in my dorm in Montparnasse which had the rooms interior on a courtyard. However there was a school there which was very noisy early am. I have never been a morning person. I used to put my yogurt out on the window ledge overnight because no fridge etc. Best yogurt in the world there. And we ate a lot of baguette and mustard at dinner in the cafe because it was free- that mustard was very strong 😁 😹 🔥

We had a smoke fire in that apartment due to the combo washer/dryer. I saved me and my mother, I was home sick and we were both asleep. I woke up in time, called the pompiers and we got out. What a mess, we cleaned it all up ourselves.

[GulfofMexico]

9. I've suggested Costco and Walmart do this for years; it makes so much sense for everyone

Why shouldn't Walmart and Costco customers, like my wife and me, be able to live where we shop? It makes SO MUCH SENSE, especially for the low-income and elderly, many of whom can't drive. Virtually everything you need is an elevator away. Do it. Do it everywhere. Do it now.

[Hekate]

17. Walmart doesn't have the same business ethos as Costco, which is a notably good employer

Walmart’s employees are paid so poorly that they are advised at hiring on how to apply for food stamps. Costco’s employees get a living wage with benefits.

Based on reputation, I would never, ever trust Walmart as a place to work, much less as a place to both work and live. To be free, there must be a separation, as has been shown many times over centuries.

Costco’s plan doesn’t seem to be for employees per se, but for the community at large, iirc.

[Ursus Rex]

11. That's been the standard in new development in ATL for 20 years.

All the new developments seem to be 4-or 5-over-1, ie, 4-5 floors of apts over retail or dining.

[obamanut2012]

14. It is the norm where my wife and I live

In Sacramento

[peggysue2]

15. My grandmother, great aunt and one renter lived above the family store/business

Never seemed odd or unusual to me either. However, they didn't have a pool or fitness center.

[chowder66]

16. These are all over L.A.

[madville]

18. It's common here in Florida

Many of the new shopping malls are “town centers”, they have 2 or 3 stories of apartments above the ground floor stores. Also doing it with the new student housing I’ve seen built, 1st floor is commercial space, then 5+ floors of residential above it.

[CoopersDad]

19. Hoorah! Sadly, Americans cling to the suburban model but it's relatively new and unsustainable.

Looking at cities here 100 years ago, one finds that commercial on the ground floor with businesses above was the norm, not the exception.

[forgotmylogin]

21. I visited a "stacked" strip mall once and thought it was cool.

The bottom floor was a Target, on the second floor was a Best Buy and a Michael's craft store, and there was a coffee shop and a Walgreens. Floors 3-5 were parking and all the store carts were designed to go up specialized escalators alongside people so you could get a full cart upstairs without crowding an elevator.

I could see adding a couple floors of apartments above that. Built-in shopping for the residents or potentially no-commute residence for employees.

[Cosmocat]

23. Its been a thing for s while

Mixed use developments.

[intelpug]

24. Apartments over retail

This sort of thing really never left at all. Apartments over bars are also common where I live. I don't know anymore but forty years ago there were a lot of old men who lived above the bars where I live on social security, Some of them actually just turned over their whole check to the bar owners who took the rent out and parceled out money the rest of the month to them, I never heard of any blatant dishonesty on the owners part. most of these guy's were known for years by the owners anyway and the logic was unfortunately for the most part correct, These guy's had no family anyway and by letting the owners keep the money for them it prevented them from drinking it up all in one big spree and kept them somewhat solvent for the remainder of the month till their next check came

[ananda]

25. My mother and her family lived above a little grocery store..

in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. Her parents
were running the store which was owned by her father's
mother.

They were very poor of course, but there was housing,
food, and a little money.

Her father would give away food to anyone who needed
it.

That's why they were always good Democrats, and all their
direct descendants as well, including me and all my siblings.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. We have them

All down our Main Street.

[MuseRider]

27. When I was a kid my dads

printing shop had residents upstairs. When my cousins were in town and we were there we were allowed only to go one block from his shop and NEVER EVER to go upstairs under threat of a beating like we had never seen before. Well.......we were pretty young but we had seen some of the women going in and out and how they were kind of dressed some of the time and we saw a LOT of men going in and out. We behaved until we were a little older and we snuck upstairs when our older cousin was there. He told us to go put our ear on the door and when we did he banged on the door really loud and ran. We did get out of there but word got to our dad. We never went up there again. Blocks of businesses had people living above. Surely not all were like my dads renters. My father kept out of all of that. He would never have had anything to do with them. He was shy and had a lot of pride in how he managed his business.. He died before I was old enough to ask about all that.

Oops I forgot we DID go back but it was to play bang on the door and run downstairs. It wasn't much fun as everyone knew what was going on so.......

[Tree Lady]

28. I am so proud of my store

And community garden, pool and free membership. I bet knowing them they won't overcharge either.