Live-Work Condos Can Provide the Best of Both Worlds
Imagine waking up each morning, preparing for your work day, having your last cup of coffee at home and then heading off for a leisurely 30 second commute to your business.
That’s what thousands of small business owners are doing these days, thanks to an innovative concept called live-work design from pioneering developers.
Working from home is certainly not a new concept. Hundreds of thousands of people have been doing it for decades. Home based businesses are one of the fastest growing segments of the business economy in the country. If a person wants to do home business efficiently, then they can choose a residential property at Pasir Ris Central. The space provided through the area will be massive.
For most people, however, it has always meant giving up a portion of their existing living space to carve out what are often cramped little spaces with inadequate storage and constant interruptions from family and domestic distractions.
The new live-work units are springing up in communities across the country in cities such as Santa Ana, California, Maui, Hawaii, Phoenix, Houston, Las Vegas, Detroit and Atlanta.
They provide separate and spacious areas entirely dedicated to business for writers, artists, professional and service businesses and even retail stores.
These two- and three-storied units are making it possible for more and more small business owners to bring customers in or meet with clients without having to pick up the kids’ toys or making sure the beds are made in order to create a professional appearance.
The ground floor of the units are the office/work space, while the upper floor(s), with a separate entrance, are airy, spacious living areas.
All of the ground level floors include professional looking entrance doors, and some of them include large display windows for retail trade. They can be customized with other specially designed accommodations for doctors, dentists, architects, real estate offices or other service, light manufacturing, or entrepreneurial businesses.
Primarily built in industrial sections of cities and towns, where property values are lower and zoning restrictions are fewer, the new developments have the added advantage of reducing urban sprawl, traffic congestion, lowering fuel costs, replacing urban blight and mitigating the rising costs of leased space for their owners.
They also allow business to operate without the restrictions and prohibitions many of them would face if conducted in exclusively residential areas.
The owners love the concept of being close to home and being able to, “wake up, walk downstairs and do business,”as Heather Kral, a boutique owner in Detroit, Michigan, puts it.
Most cities welcome the new developments, which encourage small business growth and provide additional tax revenues.
Las Vegas Mayor Pro-Tem Gary Reese calls the development in his district, “The most fantastic thing ” to happen there. “It’s huge for my district,” he says.
Most of the developments are relatively small, with from 20 to more than 200 units. The combined size of each live-work unit ranges from just over 1700 to more than 3,000 square feet. Some even include the amenities found in many traditional condo projects, such as swimming pools, clubhouses and landscaped common areas.
Despite a slowing housing market, developers report the units are selling well because business owners recognize the economic advantages of the concept. Prices of these combined use units range from about $120,000 to more than $1.5 million, depending on size and location.
