IRVINE, CA—While most apartment amenities areprimarily designed for young professionals withoutchildren, flexible rooms are being added that can be used as anursery, office or playroom, KTGYArchitcture + Planning principal DavidSenden tells GlobeSt.com exclusively. Design with an eyetoward these professionals' future needs is being incorporated intotoday's apartment developments.

According to Senden, there is also a trend toward turningshopping malls intolive/work/play destinations. "Density is becomingking even in the suburbs where cities are trying to meet the demandfor housing by allowing some high-density projects nearretail and in zones that won't disturb (too much)existing residents." The firm currently hasresidential projects near South CoastPlaza in Costa Mesa, CA, and the Outlets at Orange, plusanother one near the Westminster Mall, and a fewother traditionally retail-only locations.
According to Senden, Symphony Apartments nearSouth Coast Plaza, developed by Wilson Meany, hasreceived entitlement approval, but has not set aconstruction date. AMLI UptownOrange, an apartment community developed by AMLI, is underconstruction near the Outlets at Orange and isexpected to be completed in the third quarter of2016.
In addition to the suburbs, residential units are being added todowntowns across the US. But, according to Senden, most of thedowntown developments have ignored families. "The vast majority ofunits built and in the pipeline are small in size; great forsingles and maybe couples. Restaurants, bars andother retail have followed, all aimed at the super-hip andunattached, and with good reason. This is a huge market: there are82 million Millennials. However, the leading edgeof this generation is 35 years old. These are not the youngpartiers they once were. While the average age for starting afamily continues to increase, especially for well-educatedprofessionals, eventually there will be children." Senden says thatunless something downtown changes, Millennials will have to leavetheir home behind and move elsewhere. "It's not because they wantto. It's because they have to." Today's apartment communityamenities are primarily designed for the youngprofessionals without children, but this cohort is maturingand will soon have different needs. "The apartment communitiesoffer a lounge and a pool party when what this group of Millennialsreally needs is a crafts room and a splash park. Rather than abar, they want yogurt. Developers say people with kids don't wantto live downtown, but I think that they are making it aself-fulfilling prophesy since there are no housing options for theurban family."
Senden says that flexible rooms that can be a nursery, officeor playroom allow the unit to change as the family changes. He alsosuggests that sliding doors that open the child's bedroom to theliving space allow for greater flexibility for play. "Adding a dropzone for backpacks and coats makes organization easy at the frontdoor."

Other suggestions that Senden has include adding space forstroller parking in the lobby, more storage within the building andhang-out spaces that are "more Barney, and lessMiley."
But thesolution isn't simply providing more space. "At rents around the$4-per-square-foot mark in the trendiest of these downtownlocales, pushing unit sizes up will price out all but the verytop end of renters," Senden says. "Unit plans need to offerflexibility, storage and emphasize function asmuch as style. And the unit size needs to stay small and efficientsince kids don't come with a pay raise."