Flats are on the Rise

On a tour of FivePoint’s Beacon Park in Irvine, California with several major homebuilders, because we were running short of time, we were advised to skip the 3-story townhomes. Attractive as they were, the townhome floorplans were deemed “so typical”. Instead, the group was directed to our Brio project, duplex flats by Shea Homes.

Brio has a lower flat organized around a private courtyard and an upper flat that enjoys a spacious terrace. The broad read of the rooms and convenient adjacencies, coupled with 10-foot ceilings conveyed S-P-A-C-E. Those on the tour were impressed by the freshness of the concept and the integrated outdoor living.

Interest in flats really is on the rise, providing plan diversity within communities to appeal to a broader audience. At The Preserve in Chino by TRI Pointe Homes, everyone was surprised that the flats in the Hazel project were actually outselling the more traditional 2-story Ivy townhome product.

In a typical townhome (often 21-feet wide), much of the ground floor is taken up by the garage, leaving remainder space that can sometimes support small living, dining, and kitchen areas if the footprint is large enough. Other times, it can only allow for a bedroom or study (sometimes, not even that), isolated from the rest of the home’s living areas and bedrooms at the upper levels. They may have a small balcony near the living areas and may have bedrooms split across three floors. By contrast, a flat has most or all of the living area on a single level.

While the 3-story townhome is an efficient housing solution, there are two common complaints: one is, wow, all these stairs, they take up space and are tough on the knees; the other is the separation of family members on multiple floors, especially a concern with young children.

Flats have their issues as well, chiefly sound transmission between units. With the increasing popularity of hard surface flooring, the level of concern with point impact sounds is raised. Improvements in floor construction assemblies with sound isolation devices and lightweight concrete have largely eliminated this concern. Working with a qualified acoustic consultant is essential.

Brio’s footprint is similar to a duplex townhome except it is organized horizontally rather than vertically. Today, we are working on many different configurations of stick-built flats, some with common elevators and some with private elevators (whose prices are decreasing), in up to 5-story compositions. Our luxurious 48-unit project The Shore, in Huntington Beach for Advanced Real Estate Systems, combines two penthouse flats, each with a private elevator, stacked on top of two spacious two-story townhomes. Another variant is “hybrid” flats where most living areas are on a single level with a stair leading to secondary uses or roof terraces on an upper level. Hybrid flats can be seen at our popular Levity project in Irvine by Lennar.

Flats are getting a second look. Forget about your first apartment – flats can provide an enhanced, expansive living environment that fits the modern lifestyle appealing to first-time to move-down buyers.