mini apartment tour

These 10 Tiny Apartments in New York City Embrace Compact Living

In these examples, homeowners and renters alike have found clever solutions to less-than-ideal square footage, carving out comfortable, hardworking digs in the most unlikely spaces.

1. A Family of Four With Under 700 Square Feet

Living small is par for the course in New York City, but accommodating a family of four in under 700-square-feet rarely looks as effortless as in this storage-smart renovation. Scott Oliver and Margarita McGrath of Noroof Architects created many clever built-ins and transformable furniture in this apartment.  

2. Jon Handley's Concealed Table Design

In Manhattan, where space is the ultimate luxury, a clever design workaround makes a dining table disappear after supper. Like a Murphy bed, the dining table tucks into the wall when not in use.

3. Crafty Woodwork by Tim Seggerman

Visiting a Manhattan apartment designed by Tim Seggerman is like sitting inside one of Nakashima’s cabinets, a metaphor realized most fully in an ingenious "library"—really just a glorified cubby with a banded maple ceiling, conjured from a free space that's adjacent to the loft bed.

4. A Hidden Bed Trick in the West Village

"I think of the bed as intimate space," Hughston says, "and putting the bed away—having it out of sight when not in use—is satisfying." The custom-designed Murphy bed, concealed by day behind the gold curtain is well built; it's ergonomically easy to lower and has a firm sleeping surface.

5.  Secret Compartments Galore

 For a nine-year-old who loves pirates and science fiction, Jonah Finger thinks of his family’s apartment as make-believe come true. He has secret compartments under the floor to fill with toys and his own Murphy bed hiding in the wall behind his dad’s desk.

6. 400-Square-Foot Upper East Side Apartment

James Davison and his wife, Fanny Abbes, left lucrative careers in finance to start a company, the New Project Group, that rents out designed, furnished apartments in New York City. A parallelogram-shaped window pane, rescued from an architectural salvage yard, was outfitted with steel edges and casters, and repurposed as a coffee table.

7. A Growing Family's Park Slope Rental

A growing family in Brooklyn downsized their living space while expanding their collective quality of life. A seamless sliding door by CS For Doors—accented by Mockett hardware—separates the master bedroom from the living room and doubles as a backdrop for a projector.

8. A Greenwich Village Pad With Creative Storage

Of the seven steps in Michael Pozner’s not-quite-500-square-foot aerie in Greenwich Village, five contain drawers. His small set of table and chairs is from CB2.

9. Wonbo Woo's Studio

Raising the bed above floor level, architect Kyu Sung Woo converted this tiny studio into an open and comfortable home for Wonbo Woo.  

10. LifeEdited in SoHo 

This concept apartment presented by LifeEdited in SoHo shows how much one can fit in 420 square feet. Murphy beds make it possible to sleep four. When they're not in use, a large dining table can be pulled out. Heavy red curtains pull out of the walls to enclose each room for maximum privacy and sound control.

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a mini apartment tour

the four walls within which i exist these days

When I was first moving to New York City, I got a lot of intel and advice from friends who had once called this city home. Talk to strangers, meet new people, find your people. Avoid the L train when possible. Steer clear of empty subway cars, they’re empty for a reason. Be prepared to live in a hole, but it won’t matter because you’ll spend your life outside of it anyways. Leave at least one pair of shoes at work. Brace yourself for an unpleasant adjustment from the beautifully sunny “winters” of LA to a wet one in New York. And brace yourself for sweaty crowded subways during the hot and humid summer. 

And boy oh boy was I not prepared for what New York actually had in store for me. Thankfully, I started off with a short sublet, and kind of got the feeling that COVID restrictions would be sticking around for a while by the time I found my longer term place. After jumping from place to place, trying to grow accustomed to this new city, and this new way of life, it was good to finally get settled in. To own furniture. To own things that don’t fit inside one and a half suitcases. 

I moved into this apartment in May. It was already furnished, minus my room, which made it easy to get settled in (considering up to then I literally had my one and a half suitcases full of, well, clothes I thought I’d need for the office job I thought I had when I packed in February). And a couple months later, I finally feel settled, or as settled as I can be all things considered. 

My favorite thing about this apartment is all of the natural light. The unit spans the length of the building, so the living space faces east (truly amazing morning light), and the bedrooms face west (amazing golden glow in the evenings).

It’s funny now, thinking back on what New York City life was supposed to be like (constant movement, constant bustle), and what it’s actually been (eerie quiet, mundane days spent in confinement). I’m thankful to have a space that is comfortable and doesn’t make me feel claustrophobic. Also, with the few things I own, I’ve adopted minimalism out of practicality in my day to day existence. Probably for the better, to give some clean space as a haven from the chaos beyond.  

My apartment is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The front door, or rather, the elevator, opens up to the living space with large, east-facing windows on one side of the living room, and a spacious counter (not really an island, more of a peninsula ha)  dividing the living room from the kitchen. There’s no room for a dining table, but the counter and coffee table suffice. 

From there, a hallway leads back to the bedrooms on the west side, with the bathroom along the way. Overall, the flow of the apartment makes a lot of sense. It isn’t big, but the configuration of the rooms aren’t awkward. And the high ceilings and windows make it feel more spacious than it is. 

It’s a new(er) building with updated finishes. Not a ton of style, but a solid, contemporary canvas. Compared to the narrow kitchens with over-painted 1960s cabinets of LA, this open format and modern finishes are more than I can ask for. 

I always joke that I live in a lightbox. White walls, absurdly high ceilings, constantly flooded with light. It probably helps my circadian rhythm these days, when all the hours blend in together, my body naturally wakes up before 8am each morning with the light.

Custom art printed using Parabo Press (use code: WANDER for $10 off)

quarantine activities: watering plants, drinking coffee and cooking

My bedroom isn’t particularly large, but it’s enough to function as my resting space and my, well, office space. These days, my office is approximately 1 yoga mat width away from my bed. All that fuss about apartment hunting along the right lines for an easy commute. This is the easiest commute ever. 

sometimes it helps to pretend I have a private corner office. and suddenly my bedroom feels luxurious

The biggest purchase I made since quarantine, the one investment I made for my living space, was my desk. A simple modular piece from Inside Weather that is spacious enough for me to work comfortably, but compact enough to fit neatly into my room. Pretty much everything else I purchased was more on the practical side than the aesthetic side. 

When I was planning my move, I had big plans and ambitions to create a space inspired by mid-century / scandinavian / japanese minimalism styles, curating quality pieces and building out an adult apartment. But all that went out the door because at the end of the day, with this amount of uncertainty, it’s function over form. In the end, the most valuable part of my space, the one I appreciate every day, is the natural light. Without it, I think I’d go crazy spending day after day cooped up in here. 

really going for the less is more kind of lifestyle these days, but still a sanctuary

Considering I don’t have much stuff, storage wasn’t really an issue. But I did want to make sure that everything had its place, and avoid clutter with strategic organization. I mounted acrylic shelves to house all make up and such (or the small subset of my collection that made it over to NYC). Rather than go for a full sized night stand, I went for this bamboo tray mounted by my bed to save space while holding all the things you want to have within reach when you’re already cozied up in bed.

a few of my favorite things

There’s always those glamorous photos of a bedroom that overlooks the city beyond. Perched up among the buildings in the midst of the concrete jungle. I’ll admit that for a moment I got swept up in that city life vision. But that requires living in a high rise in midtown, which… is not particularly appealing. Especially now. So anyways, not much of a view, but I do get excellent golden hour lighting. 

Speaking of lighting, the only light in my room is literally a bare lightbulb in the center of the ceiling. I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with that (granted, I don’t really need lights until after 8pm these days), so I got my priorities straight and hung up some globe lights that are voice activated so I can just tell Alexa to turn it on and off. 

For now, this is home. 24/7. Maybe over the next few months I’ll be able to add to it. Maybe I’ll be able to actually move my things from California. Or maybe I’ll just continue to exist like this. And hey, it’s not to shabby.

    Now that I've lived in my "new" apartment for almost a year now, I figured it was time to do a small apartment tour. It's a major upgrade compared to our previous apartment (ugh, how triggering it is to think about it), but so far we have really enjoyed living here. In case you're wondering why I have the Christmas tree up, it's because we love to keep it up all year round; we see it as a big plant that just makes our space feel much more cozier. 

    Our apartment is on the top floor and while it doesn't have as many windows as I'd like it to, the tall ceiling sure makes up for it. We have a 2br/2ba space that includes a small loft that is currently my office. While the lighting can be so wishy-washy from time to time due to the facing of the apartment itself,  in so many ways does this apartment exceed our previous one; the only major downside being the amount of carpet, lack of natural lighting, and...the price.

    For about $2,500 a month, we considered living here for awhile but the high cost of rent has pushed us to reconsider. As nice as the apartment is, Dimitar and I know we could get a better deal somewhere else like in either Texas or Florida. Does this mean we'll move there sometime soon? It's pretty likely! I used to live in Texas and Dimitar and I both had a blast when we went to  Florida . Since Northern Virginia homes right now are way too expensive to buy a home, relocating seems fair. Just a few years ago, homes in this area were $300k but now they're pushing $700k! 

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Life in a Crazy Small 8m2 Tokyo Apartment

Japan is famous throughout the world for it’s high population, cramped living conditions and downsized architecture. Even by Japanese standards though, this tiny Tokyo apartment is a lot smaller than usual. At only 8 square meters (82 square feet) this simple home is so small that it’s occupant Emma is able to reach out and touch both walls. Thankfully, some clever design elements allows the micro apartment to be a very functional and cosy home.

Despite the narrow, almost hall-like shape, this apartments height prevents the space from feeling too confined. Lofty windows at the end of the studio space allow an abundance of light to flow into the room and a small balcony even brings a touch of the outdoors into the home.

Those who pride themselves on creating gourmet meals may struggle in this tiny kitchen, which has a sink, a single cooking element and virtually no space for food preparation. Emma is able to chop vegetables on a small chopping board which fits over the sink, however she admits that meals in the home have to be kept simple. Although to us in the west this kitchen may seem incredibly small, it’s relatively common in Tokyo apartments, many of which are designed for workers who mostly eat out or who bring food home with them.

The apartment’s bathroom is a little slice of design genius. The entire bathroom area is designed as a wet room, with a basin which rotates to cover the toilet to create more space and to prevent elements such as the toilet paper from getting wet while the shower is in use. Once moved aside, the bathroom has adequate room for a comfortable shower.

A ladder in the living space leads to a small sleeping loft which sits above the apartments entrance. Although many people worry that a small loft for sleeping might feel claustrophobic, Emma finds the space comforting.

“What animal sleeps out in the open? I feel that animals always go to a cave or they just try to get into a corner or something… I think  a lot of humans like to feel like they are in a tight, nice, cosy space”.

Emma says that she loves how the ¥‎69,000 (US$600) per month apartment keeps her creative and allows her to express herself in her own space. After growing up in Australia, living in Tokyo is an incredibly different pace of life for the young traveller and having a place (albeit a tiny one) entirely to herself offers some respite in a large and often hectic city.

To follow Emma’s adventures in Japan and to find out more about her day-to-day life in this micro apartment, you can check out her YouTube channel, Tokidoki Traveller .

You might be also be interested More Apartment

Interior Designer’s Ultra-Clever Compact City Apartment

Right in the heart of downtown Vancouver is Gastown, a gritty and culturally radiant place filled with shopping, art, restaurants and much more. It’s there that Chad and Kelly decided to build their home together, transforming a tiny apartment into a small space wonder.

Architect’s Micro Studio Apartment

This week, we travel to Melbourne to visit the incredible micro apartment of architect Douglas Wan. Originally constructed in the 1950’s, the apartment was originally intended as nursers quarters. Its now been completely reimagined for modern living and transformed into a stylish and exceptionally clever micro studio apartment.

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The Very Best Studio Apartment Design Ideas to Help You Live Large

Proof you can take your space from puny to palace.

For the uninitiated, let us explain: A studio apartment—sometimes called an efficiency apartment—is a one-room dwelling, with the living area, bedroom , and sometimes kitchen all contained in a single space. While the bathroom, blessedly, is generally tucked away behind its own door, you’ll likely face some challenges in creating separate zones for sleeping, eating, and entertaining. Fortunately, interior designers are here to tell you it is indeed possible to create the studio apartment design straight out of your Big City Carrie Bradshaw dreams .

Just ask Dallas-based interior designer Jean Liu, whose spectacular New York City one-room pied-à-terre was featured on our April 2024 cover . “When it comes to laying out furniture in a studio apartment, one should start with figuring out where all the basic and most important functions of living will take place: where to sleep (bed), where to eat (dining table), and where to sit (sofa),” she tells us.

“Having the same colors run throughout the pieces of furniture, artwork, and accessories will allow a studio apartment to feel bigger and more spacious.”

Once you’ve determined that, she adds, it’s important to choose furnishings that do double or even triple duty. “My laptop is my TV. I got rid of my phone line so I wouldn’t have to look at another phone sitting on the counter or cord running to the wall. The table where I host dinner is the same place I work all day when I’m in NYC, and the daybed where I sleep happens to be one of the main seating areas when guests visit,” Liu tells us.

“Studio apartment dwellers need to embrace the edit.”

You can also make your room feel bigger through a few other decorating hacks, such as hanging your window treatments higher than your windows to make your ceiling heights feel loftier. Liu also suggests working in the same color palette, in her case, dusty pinks and beiges . “Having the same colors run throughout the pieces of furniture, artwork, and accessories will allow a studio apartment to feel bigger and more spacious,” she says. “In similar fashion, consider grounding the entire apartment with one solid rug instead of a couple of smaller ones.”

Most important (and perhaps most obvious), take a hard look at the amount of stuff you have. “Studio apartment dwellers need to embrace the edit ,” Liu insists. “Be conscientious about how much is being brought home and where something is going to live. Can it be stored, where will it be displayed, how will it look with my other things? For me, this was crucial to living large in a small space.”

Feeling ready to make your puny studio apartment feel like a palace? Good. For more inspiration, here are 10 clever ideas to help you live your life to the fullest…without cluttering your space, of course.

Studio Apartment with Period Details

When designer Jean Liu was the tender age of 22, she made a savvy investment: the purchase of a studio apartment in a Gilded Age manor that was originally built for newspaper baron Joseph Pulitzer. With the spectacular details still intact, all Liu needed to do, really, was a “fluff and a buff.” But she also needed to ensure that the one-room space worked like a Swiss army knife while maintaining a chic and relaxing atmosphere for herself and for guests. Screens, she said, help her create privacy, while furniture that has multiple functions (a table that doubles as both a nightstand and side table, for instance) frees up space. “This might be random, but I’ve found managing cords running throughout the apartment and having consistent lighting temperatures in a small space can make a huge difference,” she adds. “Make cords be as invisible as possible; make sure all the bulbs in the apartment are the same color temperature, and you’re well on your way to making the space feel even bigger than it is.”

Maximalist Yet Mini Pied-à-Terre

Hostess-with-the-mostest Rebecca Gardner describes her Manhattan pied-à-terre as “the size of a nipple”—but that doesn’t stop her from entertaining or decorating with her signature maximalist panache. To accommodate her frequent dinner parties, she’ll unfold this table—never mind that it’s in her bedroom. Pro tip: If you’re short on space, find foldable furnishings that you can stow away when not in use.

Art-Filled Studio Apartment

Nobody puts baby in a corner...except when baby is a custom blue velvet sofa. In designer Charlie Ferrer’s Manhattan studio apartment , a curved sofa tucks conveniently into a nook in the small living room while a cocktail table, in turn, nests into the sofa. This space-saving layout allows for unencumbered views of the charing fireplace. Shelving that traces the perimeter of the room, meanwhile, draws the eye upward while allowing Ferrer to display his collections.

Bedroom Niche Studio Apartment

This pad clocks in at just 575 square feet. Yet advertising exec Robert Row wanted his Big Apple pad to feel like “a bungalow in the city.” It was a tall order, but he managed to achieve just that with a sexy mix of furnishings and antiques. But the cleverest solution might just be the “bedroom,” which takes up a niche near the windows. Rowe elevated the bed on a platform so that it felt like its own discrete space. “People sitting on the sofa always ask where the bedroom is because they don’t even see the bed,” he told us. “Their eyes just fly right over to the window.”

Eclectic Studio Apartment

Can a tiny footprint work with a magpie’s proclivity for collecting? It can if you’re designer William Cullum and his partner, Jeffrey Rhodes, whose New York studio is a maximalist’s dream. “If we love it, we make it work,” Cullum told us. Here, the combined living room and lounge got a coat of “a beautiful frothy lilac,” and the pair piled on antiques and patterns from there. One space-saving trick? Consider a canopy bed. That way, when guests are over, you can simply conceal your “bedroom” by drawing the curtains.

Neutral Oasis Studio Apartment

There are so many small-space lessons to be learned in this neutral oasis of a studio apartment designed for a New York theater director. The designers at Studio Kenyon first unified the scheme in a soothing palette of beiges, creams, and browns. Then they chose furniture to maximize the floor plan, like the corner banquette that serves as the “dining room” and a daybed that provides extra seating and a place for guests to crash in the “living room.” Studio Kenyon tucked the bedroom away behind a glass partition, which the designers softened with a dramatic curtain. Showtime!

Working Overtime Studio Apartment

Small-space dwellers who need a WFH setup needn’t work in their bed all day (though, hey, we’re not judging). With the right amount of spatial finagling, you can fit a small desk into a studio apartment. Ferrer was lucky enough to have a preexisting nook, but you can achieve the same with a narrow desk, small lamp, and overhead shelving for stashing away books or office supplies. Bonus points for a striking accent wall, which, in the case of Ferrer’s apartment, makes this small office feel like a chic den.

Double-Duty Living Room Studio Apartment

No niche? No problem. In Rowe’s New York City apartment , the “office” simply pushes up against the living room sofa. Stacks of books and flower arrangements make it feel like a chic console table, while a lamp—conveniently—lights both the desk and those curled up on the couch.

Space-Saving Apartment

OK, this 490-square-foot apartment is technically a one-bedroom, but there are myriad ideas to steal from this multipurpose space, thanks to designer Nina Barnieh-Blair. The living area, for instance, also serves as the homeowner’s yoga studio, but—with a small pink loveseat and small side tables—it can be reconfigured in a snap. The bedroom just beyond is concealed with transparent doors, giving the owner privacy when guests visits. Pro tip: A single statement artwork can help to unify your color palette and draw the eye upward.

Minimalist Studio Apartment

Never discount the power of a partition in your studio space. This 700-square-foot apartment in Italy already featured great bones and plenty of light—it just needed some spatial differentiation. Here architect and furniture designer Alessandro Preda designed a sheet-rock partition to conceal the bed. She stopped short of extending it to the ceiling to allow the sunshine to permeate. Don’t have the budget (or super) to allow for architectural elements? Go for a pretty screen.

Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com 

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Take a Tour of the Chic Paris Apartment with Views of the Eiffel Tower on Food Network’s Next Baking Master: Paris

In the new Food Network series, premiering May 6, U.S. bakers travel to France to compete for the title of Next Baking Master

American cooks are saying bonjour to France in Food Network’s latest competition series, Next Baking Master: Paris .

Hosts Stephanie Boswell and Ludo Lefebvre are bringing 10 bakers to the City of Lights to learn, taste and bake French pastries. PEOPLE has an exclusive look at the first episode, which premieres on May 6. In it, the bakers tour the stunning Parisian apartment they will stay in after full days of croissants and macaroons.

The 10 competitors eagerly hop out of their cars to see the apartment. After pushing through grand entryway doors, they trudge up a beautiful, winding staircase — giving each other words of encouragement to make it upstairs with their large luggage.

“I’m sweating,” one contestant says. Another chef replies, “I think it’ll all be worth it.”

As soon as they open the doors, they learn it was in fact, worth it. The group awes at the sunlight-filled apartment with colorful artwork on the walls, wooden pillars in the living rooms and marble fireplaces.

“We are chic here,” says Paige, a chef from Brooklyn.

Food Network

The views may be even more stunning than the interior. Everyone takes turns admiring their unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower, which can be seen from their living room windows and from the balconies.

The contestants take a lackadaisical approach to choosing their specific rooms because they are all equally beautiful. Two chefs look out of the window to see a grandiose French street.

“Are you kidding me? I’m literally red,” says one chef, blushing from excitement.

For some contestants, being in France and competing on Next Baking Master: Paris is a massive milestone.

“This is kind of a dream for me, you know, being in Paris,” says Robert, a baker from Philadelphia. “You know, I grew up in a rough neighborhood in Philly and poor. It's so easy to be inspired here.”

To celebrate their abode and the start of the competition, the cast pops a bottle of champagne and clink their drinks for a “cheers” to Next Baking Master.

“May the sweetest one win,” one chef adds.

Every week, the 10 bakers will visit iconic pastry shops, like Ladurée, and be mentored by famous French chefs. Weekly baking challenges will send the lowest scoring chef back to America until a winner is crowned and given a full suite of kitchen appliances and baking equipment valued at $25,000.

Next Baking Master: Paris premieres May 6 at 9 p.m. ET on Food Network.

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Concerns grow as builder ‘desperate’ for apartments at toxic site in nyc neighborhood.

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Greenpoint’s skyline has been growing taller for years — but some residents worry that a developer is cutting corners in their scramble for more apartments at a toxic, long-shuttered industrial site.

The former home of NuHart Plastic Manufacturing on Dupont Street has drawn sharp scrutiny after the builder and state environmental regulators abandoned plans to remove the contaminated soil because it’s sunk too deep.

“The developers are desperate to finish the remediation and get the site built,” Stephen Chesler, a Greenpoint resident who serves as the environmental protection committee chair for Brooklyn Community Board 1, told The Post.

“It makes everyone very nervous that the developer is going at such a breakneck speed to decontaminate the site,” he continued, pointing out that a playground and a senior center sit across the street.

The state Superfund site — perched in north Brooklyn near the confluence of the East River and Newtown Creek — will soon be home to a gleaming, eight-story apartment complex dubbed “NuHart West,” a company spokesperson said.

The development will include 471 rental units — with 143 designated for affordable housing, the spokesperson said.

But that won’t happen until the developer mixes the toxic soil beneat with concrete to create blocks that will stay buried about 25 feet below the building’s foundation, according to Gothamist .

The news didn’t sit well with some Greenpointers, who worried that leaving chemicals from the plant’s heyday of manufacturing plastic and vinyl products could be dangerous to everyone in the neighborhood.

“There are known carcinogens there, which could do serious damage and can be lethal in high doses,” Chesler said. “We’re worried the concrete could be compromised, and contaminated water could seep out.”

That contaminated water is rife with chemical phthalates, which make plastic more durable and are used in tons of household products like vinyl flooring, plastic packaging, garden hoses and medical tubing, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also present is trichloroethylene, a cancer-causing substance known as TCE that’s often used to make refrigerants, a state Superfund fact sheet said.

The chemicals worked their way into the soil and groundwater after worming out of leaky underground storage tanks, Gothamist said.

The plan to mix the dirt with concrete came after site developer Madison Realty Capital discovered in January that the pollution had seeped much further down than originally thought.

Digging too deep might leave the building with structural damage, the Superfund sheet said. So cubing the contaminants and covering them up became the next-best thing.

A Madison Realty spokesperson told The Post last week that the company always knew it might have to employ such a plan, which has been used at other NYC Superfund sites and would finally wrap up the company’s year-long cleanup.

“Madison Realty Capital has worked closely with the North Brooklyn community, local elected officials, DEC, environmental consultants, other city and state agencies and its construction team to ensure the safe and timely cleanup and redevelopment of the Nuhart site,” Zach Kadden, managing director of development at the firm, said in a statement.

“Over the course of the last 2.5 years, Madison Realty Capital has held eight public meetings, attended the first Greenpoint Construction Task Force meeting, and sent weekly updates to 500 members of the community to update the public throughout every phase of the process.”

Crews started to pour the foundation earlier this month. It should be done by May, and the whole complex is slated for completion in 2025.

Laura Hoffman, a 65-year-old Greenpoint resident who has lived in the neighborhood her entire life, told The Post that her six kids — and their kids — have suffered from the area’s toxic legacy, which she claimed appears in her family as birth defects, brain diseases and autoimmune disorders.

“There’s no other explanation other than environment, because all of our conditions are all over the place,” she said. “We got exposed to a whole bunch of stuff … a lot of people got sick, my family got sick, and we’re still dealing with different medical issues.”

Her oldest son and his wife had two sets of twins, she said. Both times, one of the twins died in utero from a rare birth defect called Trisomy 18, or Edward’s syndrome.

“The doctors said one twin from each set dying from that defect was rarer than getting hit by lightning twice,” Hofmann said.

“To deliberately leave something as bad as phthalates in the soil, particularly knowing the toxic legacy of the neighborhood — I think it’s disgusting,” she said of the developer, who she believes is simply trying to beat a tax-break deadline for firms that build affordable housing.

“The rush is all about money,” she said.

“As much as I want to see affordable housing, I don’t want to see people getting sick in the future because they don’t know about something that’s here in the soil,” she continued. “That’s basically what happened to generations of people that lived here.”

Indeed, Madison Realty is on track to meet the June 2026 deadline for that tax break, according to Gothamist. Although the remediation plan may change if new information surfaces during the public comment period — further delaying construction.

Jane O’Connell, the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s remediation manager for the site, told the outlet that the state is watching “very carefully” to make sure the job’s done right.

“If they didn’t do it right, they’ve got to go back and do it again,” she said.

That sounded odd to Hofmann.

“The agencies say if [the remediation] isn’t good, they’ll have to go back and fix it,” she said. “That sounds kind of crazy to me. I mean, they’re already building on parts of the property there.”

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