It is hard to argue that this isn't a beautiful building:

Designed by Morris Adjmi Architects and located at the corner of Grand and Mulberry in New York City, it is exactly the kind of building that many of us would like to see more of in our cities. It has retail at grade and it's, you know, modest in scale at only 7 stories, 20 units, and 35,765 square feet.

Looking inside, here are some of the floor plans:

Overall, I would say that these layouts are more generous than what you would typically find in new builds here in Toronto. For new condominiums, 686 sf would be considered large for a one bedroom. Many/most sales teams/departments would tell you to turn this into a two bedroom.

But this doesn't mean that developers in NYC are simply being more generous with their square feet. It all costs money. And according to StreetEasy, the average sale price in this building is US$1,979,210 and the average price per square foot is US$2,384 (19 most recent sales).

This is another reminder that modest and beautiful can often equal expensive. It's how you make the math work, or at least hope to.

Yesterday, I asked this on Twitter:

And then I learned that Victoria-based Aryze is already doing it:

I was a little surprised by some of the numbers here, namely municipal fees. But that is not the point here. The point is that this is a great idea and that, judging from the comments on Twitter, many people seem to want this.

The obvious benefit is that it allows consumers to better understand where their money is going. But I also think that by showing people all of the costs that get levied on new housing, it could benefit the overall development industry.

What do you think? Should developers in Toronto adopt a similar approach? Let me know in the comments below.