A Flatiron studio—for under $500,000—stretches into four functional rooms

By Lucy Cohen Blatter | January 26, 2015 - 2:59PM

This alcove studio co-op in Gramercy on sale for $499,000 ticks off just about all the boxes of practical small-space living, from a workable layout to multi-functional furniture to built-in storage. (And the location, at 15th Street and Fifth Avenue, within walking distance of buzzing Greenwich Village, the Flatiron District and Chelsea, ain't bad either.)

Shall we take a closer look?

Though it's a studio, the living space has been divvied up into three different rooms—a den, a dining area and a bedroom around the corner in an alcove—plus the seemingly newly renovated kitchen and bathroom.

Hidden above the large windows in the sleeping alcove are built-in shelves perfect for stowing your stuff without taking up precious floor area. (Just be sure to invest in a stepladder!)

In the kitchen, we love the ingenuity of the foldable breakfast bar. Lock it in place and, voila, an eat-in kitchen (or more space to chop). While the room itself is small, it's got two essential components: a dishwasher and microwave. Plus, from the photo above, it looks like the current owner has a pots-and-pans rack above the entrance, and we're suckers for smart uses of space.

The pop of blue is a nice touch in the bathroom. Too bad there's not more storage space under that pedestal sink, though. (But there are workarounds for that.)

The 21-story, 430-apartment building, dubbed the Parker Gramercy, has a full-time doorman, live-in super, full-service garage and valet, and a laundry room. Unlike many co-ops, it's pet-friendly, and allows pied-a-terres, parents buying for children and co-purchasing.

With monthlies of $732, the 11th-floor studio is a relative bargain compared to sales of studios in the area in the last 90 days, which averaged $1.032 million, according to StreetEasy. Still, it's worth noting that that number is based on only a handful of deals, and may be somewhat skewed by the $1.7 million sale of a sprawling loft (technically a studio) in November. Either way, you'll probably have to see this place in person to see if it's one of those "too good to be true" situations so common in NYC real estate.

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