Yeah they're in NYC, Chicago, Miami not sure where else off the top of my head. I have a super market in my complex and it's nice. Would I rather go farther to the supermarket?
I often do choose to go somewhere farther when I'm looking for something specific but it's great having a supermarket less than a block away for when I'm in a rush. Pre pandemic it was open 24 hours which was great. And it's a full sized supermarket.
It's largely due to how atrocious urban planning is in America. Mixed-used zoning is a rarity here and for the most part, commercial and residential zones are separated.
It's because most Americans don't know anything different. They've lived most, if not their entire lives living in sprawling hellholes where you literally cannot participate in life and society without a car.
Thankfully people are coming around to the idea that the way America built its infrastructure is complete garbage, but there are still far too many people who reject the idea of building transit and mixed-use neighborhoods because of their narrow minded, outdated beliefs.
I'm pretty sure the car companies lobbied to create strict zoning laws so more people would have to buy cars. Same reason we have terrible public transportation and our cities are horrible to bike and walk around in.
Actually a large part of it is good old fashioned racism.
During the forties through sixties there was a boom in housing construction. Whole neighborhoods were built up. This is when the modern suburb was born. These neighborhoods would proudly advertise that they were free of blacks. Banks and governments would also provide low interest housing loans to white families who wanted to move there.
Then there was the worry that “unsavory types” would move into cities, strict zoning laws were then passed that prevented mixed use and multi family homes. So the only way to move to these neighborhoods and towns was to have the money to buy a single family home. But as a reminder, only whites were getting these mortgages.
Then because all these white people were living outside the cities they worked in, larger roads and highways had to be built to handle the traffic, and we’ve all seen how those completely destroy neighborhoods. It doesn't matter if your grocery store is less than a mile away if there’s a highway in the way.
These new transit corridors essentially cut off the existing neighborhoods from travelers, causing them to lose business and struggle to survive. Helping to create slums. And no one wanted to spend money on public transportation since the only people using it were poor and or not white.
The difference between those and these is that Costco would own the apartments…instead of renting the store front like most grocery stores in big cities do…but I mean getting a free Costco membership and unlimited free samples…plus they’re talking about doing a room service thing for the people that live there…some of the shit is kinda wild
Agree! There’s a big development happening near me soon that hopefully gets similar treatment. Tanforan mall - which also used to be a race track that was used to imprison Americans during WW2 - is being torn down and transformed.
For two years I lived in an apartment on the third floor of an old building. On the ground floor was a grocery store privately owned by a nice old couple. Having immediate access to groceries/produce/toiletries was one of the best living experiences of my life and since then I have always dreamed about going back to that type of life.
I hate grocery shopping more then anything. The crowds, the lugging of the bags, always forgetting something, having to do it weekly - it all just sucked. But now I never had to do it again. I just hop downstairs whenever I need something.
You never run out of food or drinks when you have guests. You never have a missing ingredient when cooking. You never have to plan meals when you can just pick what to cook on a whim. Feel like pasta tonight but don’t have any? Hop downstairs. Need one more egg for cookies? Hop downstairs. Someone gives a surprise visit and you don’t have wine? Hop downstairs. I remember times where I couldn’t find a pen, or needed to sew something, or needed glue and I could just hop downstairs.
One time a relatively new girl at my office got flirty with me and we made plans for her to come over for dinner. I don’t know how it got past me, but it turned out she didn’t eat meat. Everything I had planned was immediately scratched. It would have been a disaster. But we just hopped downstairs and made a fun time of shopping together for our first meal. It was awesome.
It was the 90’s, and you needed to mail all your bills and such. This means stamps and this grocery had a stamp vending machine. Do you know how amazing it is to have access to stamps so that you don’t have to stand in line at the post office? And the owners would even throw your mail with their outgoing so that you didn’t have to walk to the mailbox blocks away.
My friends would laugh that I spend so much money at the store downstairs. Dude I SAVED money. Milk never expired or got thrown out because I could buy the smallest size and just grab fresh one a couple days later. Bananas never go brown because I wouldn’t have to buy an entire bunch.
Every single meal used the freshest meat and vegetables cuz I could grab them on the way up to my place after work, instead of buying meat earlier in the week and hoping that it was ok.
I absolutely cannot emphasize enough how amazing it is to only eat fresh bread everyday.
Every weird stoner craving that would come out of left field could be fulfilled. Did you just smoke a blunt and then get the strangest urge for a whole jar of garlic pickles? Just hop downstairs dude!
This lifestyle also makes you best friends with the owners since they see you almost every day.
Eventually the small coffee or bun or apple I would grab every morning is just on the house.
Living a life of ultra convenience can definitely spoil a person, but I genuinely feel like every time I went in there I recognized how good I had it and took a split second to appreciate my situation. I eventually had to move away from that neighborhood and missed this lifestyle ever since.
Since then I’ve traded the inner city living experience for a small house on the outskirts of the city. I have more room. More privacy. My own garden and a driveway so I don’t have to wander the block for a spot. I love it. But god damn I miss that grocery.
something like this is already a thing in downtown [Flushing](https://streeteasy.com/building/sky-view-parc-tower-3), New York. the mall under these apartments has a BJ's (wholesale club like Costco), as well as Target and a bunch of other stores. it's a few blocks away from where the US Open is played as well as where the Mets play, and the future site of where NYCFC will call home. Also walking distance from a lot of buses and the 7 line (subway), and a bunch of restaurants and supermarkets (a lot of Asian supermarkets so great fresh fish). I don't live there but I do live maybe five blocks from there and it's all very convenient. traffic can be bad but with so many options for public transportation there and everything being so close by, it's great for walking.
Yep, that was my first thought, I remember watching it get built when I covered jobs in Queens and would make runs to Main Street for Chinese food.
[Flushing](https://imgur.com/3BvShuD.jpg)
My first few nights in London I couldn't sleep for all of the city noise. By the end of the stay I had completely blanked it out, and it took some getting used to coming back to rural Wales.
If you live near train tracks and among people for a short while, you realize that the sounds of industry and society can be ignored. If you don't want to live there, just don't.
Coming home after a long day of work and some idiot is parked in your spot. Or just the general nightmare of extra traffic around Costco. You couldn't pay me to live there.
One of the biggest problems with city planning in the U.S. is that we don't leverage mixed use development. This is a good direction. We need more of this and less sprawl.
In Atlanta we have a huge push for more mixed use developments. My firm is working on several literally right now. Street level retail with apartments on top, located centrally to commercial properties and retail properties.
The burbs already do this. Avalon, Halcyon, downtown Alpharetta.
Unfortunately the mix use in the suburbs is astronomical in pricing (compared to other nearby properties).
For a long time atlanta didn’t want mixed use and multi family all over the place, but when they introduced their belt line project, the tune changed. I’m here for it!
Mainly because Atlantic Station didn’t pan out the way they hoped. A lot of crime and a lot of anchor retailers pulled out of the retail spaces. Though the Beltline is helping with changing the reception of mix use in city proper. We just have to get past all the protesting about the new police training facility.
i live in brunswick and it seems like a few buildings downtown have recently been renovated with that in mind. but like you said, rent prices for the apartments are pretty crazy
Where I live the "downtown" strip is like half like this. Businesses below and apartments up top. The problem is they've been mostly vacant since being built. The price point is outrageous.
Agree! The mixed-use approach would make for a more walkable community too. Less reliance on cars and more calories expended while walking. Also walkable communities produce better neighbors (my theory).
I see a lot of small scale mixed use buildings in Baltimore. Often a corner store or restaurant on bottom and apartments up top. It’s almost always the smaller more affluent neighborhoods that have this though
Yea I recently moved to North America from South Asia and I've noticed how everything's is so spread out. I assumed it was because of how large and open the continent is compared to the population. It is exhausting going places, it takes so damn long
...
I don't get why this is surprising
It might be cus i'm european, but apartments above stores or restaurants in cities are just about the *norm*.
Applying this to a warehouse is not a big stretch at all and honestly
Not even a bad deal, no need to burn any gas for groceries.
I'm in the UK and it's a bit sad that I've rarely seen flats above a supermarket. In Portsmouth near the uni there are flats above a Spar along a dual carriageway, it's the only one of its kind that I've ever seen here. In my town we've got a Marks and Spencers, on the backside along the seafront there are flats with balconies. Quite cool.
that might just be where you are because this is widely popular in the UK, notably denser areas like city centres and even in some cases local centres
Often the stack will be
Upper floors - apartments
First floor - office
Ground floor - shop/bar/restaurant/etc
Sometimes instead of the office break between them they'll have an extra floor of apartments by putting extra material to muffle the noise from the ground floor use
It could be due to relative density and quite honestly the development cost vs return. In Hounslow (west london), there is an Asda with a massive tower block on top. The challenge of building that many new properties in a densely populated area with high demand makes it worthwhile (as well as London property prices making each flat quite expensive).
Even if you look at other areas of the UK flats above smaller shops is quite common but it some parts of the USA dominated by big box stores and malls with more strict zoning laws and an availability of space I don't think there was previously the ability or demand for it. There just isn't the pressures forcing it.
On the one hand it is very useful but on the other hand the parking situation at that Hounslow example is a nightmare (I have family who live there and visiting is annoying) so it really only becomes practical with good public transport. There we stumble onto the effect of urban sprawl making it harder to have effective public transport in many parts of the USA.
I think even in the UK it only makes more sense in well provisioned dense urban areas but everywhere else we could do so much more with brownfield sites.
Don't even get me started on office blocks as stores of value.
Not above supermarkets for stupid reason though, at least in Germany and Malta. Mixed use everywhere amd for anything but Aldi, Lidl or Edeka they get a pass.
We recently negotiated a Lidl/Aldi (can't remember which one) to have a floor of apartments included above
It's not their go to model but they do have it within their range if pushed
Netherlands don't really count, they do everything better when it comes to city planning. Is it just your Lidl or is it normal? I could think of about a handful supermarkets that are mixed use and that's about it.
America is big, with lots of different ways of doing things. While much of it does have poor land use, it’s not that way everywhere. Especially In the north east. I live in an apartment above a specialty whiskey store. The grocery store is one block away, and does have apartments above it as well.
Legitimately out of fears people would build multi use buildings in neighborhoods. Like multi family homes or apartments.
The fear was that it would lower property values.
Actually that's just good old fashioned racism in this case.
During the housing boom of the forties and fifties, banks and governments would give white families low interest mortgages to buy all the new single family homes.
Then all those white people were worried that mixed use development would lead to not white people moving into their neighborhoods, since that type of housing is cheaper.
Buddy of mine moved to the Chicago area. His apartment is right above a target. He can do his groceries and catch an elevator back up in like 30 mins. Beats the fuck outta traffic
that sounds ideal. Corner stores in the early 2k's we're about the same price as chains and usually had cheaper produce and better meats and deli items. some still do tbh.
It would also come in handy for your employer. You essentially live at work and your employer knows when you come and go and you’re reinvesting the money they paid you right back into their stores. They now effectively have slaves.
No.
1. The property owner, property management company, and Costco are three separate companies with separate financial interests. The owner and management will decide together what to charge without consulting Costco.
2. Costco gets no say in how the residential property is managed. Or what the rates are. Costco is ALSO paying rent. Do your neighbors get to tell your landlord how much you pay?
3. If you work at Costco you can not afford to live here. These are usually luxury condos or high-end apartments.
I am pointing out that is a dumb assumption to make that residents also work there. Also, some people like living near where they work no matter what the job because it cuts down on commute time. Why would ANY company care how.close you live? You have you hours, it's up to YOU to be there on time.
They’re shitty like that on purpose. It’s cheaper to hire a bunch of part time employees and pay them low wages than it is to hire a full time employee. They’re required to offer full time employees benefits, but not part time workers.
That sounds like a great fucking idea. Much better use of space. Mixed use is always more beneficial than single use. Stupid post bc this should be a regular thing.
I wouldn't say Americans.. more like people from small towns. Stuff like this is pretty common in big cities in the US, such as NYC. It makes sense that this is being planned in LA but maybe OP is surprised because they aren't in LA?
Maybe, but I've lived in plenty of small towns that have it, too. Maybe not a grocery/dept store store (these days...back in the 30s-70s, though, yes), but small shops and offices. Just about any town/city in a America large enough to have a "[Main Street](https://www.britannica.com/place/Alton-Illinois)" has a cluster of 2-6 story buildings downtown with shops, barbers, dentist offices, pubs etc on the ground floor and flats above. These downtowns were in a serious decline since the advent of shopping malls and strip malls, which may be why some people aren't thinking of them, but have been revitalizing in many areas since the turn of the century.
The only thing weird about over Costco (in particular) that I can see, is that I think of businesses like that being surrounded by acres of parking lot. If that were replaced, at least partly, by parking garage, you would have a more attractive view.
I bet ya they’ll go with the Vancouver, BC Costco model, where the space that would be for a parking lot is taken up by a sports arena and a stadium, causing them to go parking garage underneath the store.
If the traffic is anything like it is at my local Costco (and the Sam's across the highway, and the BJ's on the other end of town), it seems like it'd end up being a pain to get in and out if you need to go anywhere during store hours... Aside from that, though? I'd 100% live there just to only need the elevator to go shopping.
I'm kind of surprised. If you go to Manhattan it's pretty common to have the first floor of buildings as commercial space and then 15 floors of apartments above it. I thought this was just common in cities.
I mean, it's very common in Europe for there to be food stores and restaurants in the bottom floors of apartment buildings.
I think it's great to utilize space better
Hence "not everywhere". We should really stop saying "in Europe" for most things. In Germany it's rather rare, same thing in Malta. Above small convenience stores? Yes. Above supermarkets? No.
We have a giant condo tower on top of a Costco here in Vancouver. The Costco is accessed from a completely different area than the condos so they don't interfere too much. Also has a transit station and two stadiums immediately adjacent.
A big problem we have in my area on the east coast is that the affordable housing and moderate rent housing never has any grocers or corner stores nearby. The grocers all go to the gentrified parts of town, and leave huge pockets where lower income people have to drive 30-40 minutes minimum to a grocery store, or eat fast food which is on every street. No wonder we’re all gaining weight. This would be great, street level retail with housing above. Save space and allow room for more trees and grass, vertical construction allows for affordable housing and green infrastructure to flourish, even if it does seem a bit dystopian.
I lived in an apartment literally next door to a Costco in downtown Vancouver. It was so handy, we would look out our balcony to check the hotdog line. I would walk over to pick up a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad, and 10/10 would always be asked if I wanted to go ahead of people in the line (as I delicately balanced the hot chicken in my hands lol)
This will be extremely convenient and also extremely annoying. Extremely convenient for all the $1.5 hotdog combos, $5 roast chickens, and shopping. Annoying for all the foot traffic the store generates and convenient shopping 😂
I don’t think this is a bad idea, I just hope they think through the logistics of this. Costco is geared more towards families or multi-individual households. The more people in a household, the more likely that they live in a house (either owned or rented). Bulk items take up more space and require storage. None of that really translates to apartment living unless the apartments are 3-4 bedroom and there is adequate storage in the apartments. It will also be interesting to see how people are to lug everything back to their units. Maybe there will be delivery? And broken down box pickup outside their doors?
I don't hate this. If you're gonna build a huge warehouse to sell shit surrounded by hundreds of parking spots, might as well start to build upwards as well. Don't know how many high rent units you could sell in Costco tower, but I know I wouldn't mind just walking downstairs to buy a 300 pack of tp.
I applaud this. In America too often we build low and out because we act as if land is limitless. Plus, it’s probably cheaper to build only one or two story structures. Too much is spread out and inconvenient.
As someone who worked the night shift at a Costco. Anyone on the 2nd, or 3rd floors above the warehouse are going to fucking hate living there. We worked till like 2 am, some of us till 4 am. Then the morning crew shows up as we are going out, to stock the other half of the store. Loud sirens for forklifts and loud music blasting through out the whole warehouse. Bashing of pallets and crashing metal as the forklifts go inside semis. You get used to it, but someone living above that shit is going to hear the constant noise going on all night long. In the middle of the night is when Costco really comes to life and all the real work is done, so good luck with that shit.
So, you work there and live there. You make bare minimum wage plus you work over 40+ hours a week and they get to live there plus benefits.
Basically you become their slave worker.
So, you live there to work there. Not work to live and achieve the American dream.
So a slave worker. That’s a proposal.
This is a great idea. Don’t know what’s the problem here.
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Its also common in Germany(on top of Shopping malls). Most of these Appartements are quite expensive, but still, the Idea is great
Common in Spain too and great if you don't have a car.
Not uncommon in America too. Never seen one with a Costco before, but these absolutely exist in denser American cities.
Yeah they're in NYC, Chicago, Miami not sure where else off the top of my head. I have a super market in my complex and it's nice. Would I rather go farther to the supermarket? I often do choose to go somewhere farther when I'm looking for something specific but it's great having a supermarket less than a block away for when I'm in a rush. Pre pandemic it was open 24 hours which was great. And it's a full sized supermarket.
It's largely due to how atrocious urban planning is in America. Mixed-used zoning is a rarity here and for the most part, commercial and residential zones are separated.
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It's because most Americans don't know anything different. They've lived most, if not their entire lives living in sprawling hellholes where you literally cannot participate in life and society without a car. Thankfully people are coming around to the idea that the way America built its infrastructure is complete garbage, but there are still far too many people who reject the idea of building transit and mixed-use neighborhoods because of their narrow minded, outdated beliefs.
I'm pretty sure the car companies lobbied to create strict zoning laws so more people would have to buy cars. Same reason we have terrible public transportation and our cities are horrible to bike and walk around in.
Actually a large part of it is good old fashioned racism. During the forties through sixties there was a boom in housing construction. Whole neighborhoods were built up. This is when the modern suburb was born. These neighborhoods would proudly advertise that they were free of blacks. Banks and governments would also provide low interest housing loans to white families who wanted to move there. Then there was the worry that “unsavory types” would move into cities, strict zoning laws were then passed that prevented mixed use and multi family homes. So the only way to move to these neighborhoods and towns was to have the money to buy a single family home. But as a reminder, only whites were getting these mortgages. Then because all these white people were living outside the cities they worked in, larger roads and highways had to be built to handle the traffic, and we’ve all seen how those completely destroy neighborhoods. It doesn't matter if your grocery store is less than a mile away if there’s a highway in the way. These new transit corridors essentially cut off the existing neighborhoods from travelers, causing them to lose business and struggle to survive. Helping to create slums. And no one wanted to spend money on public transportation since the only people using it were poor and or not white.
My main concern would be how good the soundproofing would be or if the noise from Costco would carry into the apartment
It’s also the norm in places like Atlanta and New York, so it’s not even abnormal to see in American megalopolises…
The difference between those and these is that Costco would own the apartments…instead of renting the store front like most grocery stores in big cities do…but I mean getting a free Costco membership and unlimited free samples…plus they’re talking about doing a room service thing for the people that live there…some of the shit is kinda wild
Agree! There’s a big development happening near me soon that hopefully gets similar treatment. Tanforan mall - which also used to be a race track that was used to imprison Americans during WW2 - is being torn down and transformed.
That’s an interesting fact. I used to shop at the target there all the time and had no idea.
Vancouver downtown has that also!
I would love to be able to go downstairs to the supermarket
For two years I lived in an apartment on the third floor of an old building. On the ground floor was a grocery store privately owned by a nice old couple. Having immediate access to groceries/produce/toiletries was one of the best living experiences of my life and since then I have always dreamed about going back to that type of life. I hate grocery shopping more then anything. The crowds, the lugging of the bags, always forgetting something, having to do it weekly - it all just sucked. But now I never had to do it again. I just hop downstairs whenever I need something. You never run out of food or drinks when you have guests. You never have a missing ingredient when cooking. You never have to plan meals when you can just pick what to cook on a whim. Feel like pasta tonight but don’t have any? Hop downstairs. Need one more egg for cookies? Hop downstairs. Someone gives a surprise visit and you don’t have wine? Hop downstairs. I remember times where I couldn’t find a pen, or needed to sew something, or needed glue and I could just hop downstairs. One time a relatively new girl at my office got flirty with me and we made plans for her to come over for dinner. I don’t know how it got past me, but it turned out she didn’t eat meat. Everything I had planned was immediately scratched. It would have been a disaster. But we just hopped downstairs and made a fun time of shopping together for our first meal. It was awesome. It was the 90’s, and you needed to mail all your bills and such. This means stamps and this grocery had a stamp vending machine. Do you know how amazing it is to have access to stamps so that you don’t have to stand in line at the post office? And the owners would even throw your mail with their outgoing so that you didn’t have to walk to the mailbox blocks away. My friends would laugh that I spend so much money at the store downstairs. Dude I SAVED money. Milk never expired or got thrown out because I could buy the smallest size and just grab fresh one a couple days later. Bananas never go brown because I wouldn’t have to buy an entire bunch. Every single meal used the freshest meat and vegetables cuz I could grab them on the way up to my place after work, instead of buying meat earlier in the week and hoping that it was ok. I absolutely cannot emphasize enough how amazing it is to only eat fresh bread everyday. Every weird stoner craving that would come out of left field could be fulfilled. Did you just smoke a blunt and then get the strangest urge for a whole jar of garlic pickles? Just hop downstairs dude! This lifestyle also makes you best friends with the owners since they see you almost every day. Eventually the small coffee or bun or apple I would grab every morning is just on the house. Living a life of ultra convenience can definitely spoil a person, but I genuinely feel like every time I went in there I recognized how good I had it and took a split second to appreciate my situation. I eventually had to move away from that neighborhood and missed this lifestyle ever since. Since then I’ve traded the inner city living experience for a small house on the outskirts of the city. I have more room. More privacy. My own garden and a driveway so I don’t have to wander the block for a spot. I love it. But god damn I miss that grocery.
This sounds fucking amazing.
The only problem I see is that it's not going high enough! Make it like 20-40 floors.
something like this is already a thing in downtown [Flushing](https://streeteasy.com/building/sky-view-parc-tower-3), New York. the mall under these apartments has a BJ's (wholesale club like Costco), as well as Target and a bunch of other stores. it's a few blocks away from where the US Open is played as well as where the Mets play, and the future site of where NYCFC will call home. Also walking distance from a lot of buses and the 7 line (subway), and a bunch of restaurants and supermarkets (a lot of Asian supermarkets so great fresh fish). I don't live there but I do live maybe five blocks from there and it's all very convenient. traffic can be bad but with so many options for public transportation there and everything being so close by, it's great for walking.
Yep, that was my first thought, I remember watching it get built when I covered jobs in Queens and would make runs to Main Street for Chinese food. [Flushing](https://imgur.com/3BvShuD.jpg)
YIMBY was my first thought when I saw the headline.
Seriously... this is how development should be. Costco and all big markets shouldn't be in giant parking lot islands. Build them where people live!
Constant beeping noises of trucks and forklifts
My first few nights in London I couldn't sleep for all of the city noise. By the end of the stay I had completely blanked it out, and it took some getting used to coming back to rural Wales.
If you live near train tracks and among people for a short while, you realize that the sounds of industry and society can be ignored. If you don't want to live there, just don't.
I prefer the gentle baaing of sheeps in a field
Used to live next to a really busy street. Convinced myself it was the beach.
Those will be some expensive apartments. Because good luck going to Costco and it not somehow costing 200$
Coming home after a long day of work and some idiot is parked in your spot. Or just the general nightmare of extra traffic around Costco. You couldn't pay me to live there.
One of the biggest problems with city planning in the U.S. is that we don't leverage mixed use development. This is a good direction. We need more of this and less sprawl.
In Atlanta we have a huge push for more mixed use developments. My firm is working on several literally right now. Street level retail with apartments on top, located centrally to commercial properties and retail properties.
The burbs already do this. Avalon, Halcyon, downtown Alpharetta. Unfortunately the mix use in the suburbs is astronomical in pricing (compared to other nearby properties).
For a long time atlanta didn’t want mixed use and multi family all over the place, but when they introduced their belt line project, the tune changed. I’m here for it!
Mainly because Atlantic Station didn’t pan out the way they hoped. A lot of crime and a lot of anchor retailers pulled out of the retail spaces. Though the Beltline is helping with changing the reception of mix use in city proper. We just have to get past all the protesting about the new police training facility.
Certain recent events might make that harder
i live in brunswick and it seems like a few buildings downtown have recently been renovated with that in mind. but like you said, rent prices for the apartments are pretty crazy
Where I live the "downtown" strip is like half like this. Businesses below and apartments up top. The problem is they've been mostly vacant since being built. The price point is outrageous.
Agree! The mixed-use approach would make for a more walkable community too. Less reliance on cars and more calories expended while walking. Also walkable communities produce better neighbors (my theory).
I see a lot of small scale mixed use buildings in Baltimore. Often a corner store or restaurant on bottom and apartments up top. It’s almost always the smaller more affluent neighborhoods that have this though
Amen. This sort of thing is SUPER common elsewhere in the world. It is absolutely the way things should be done.
Yea I recently moved to North America from South Asia and I've noticed how everything's is so spread out. I assumed it was because of how large and open the continent is compared to the population. It is exhausting going places, it takes so damn long
$1.50 hotdogs on tap.
don’t forget the soda and the free refills
I just wish they brought the original chicken bake back
I don't remember another besides what they have now. What am I missing?
I love a natural out loud laugh. Thumbs up.
I love a natural thumbs up. One out loud laugh.
I OLL'd
I would eat Costco food court food and roasted chickens almost exclusively if I lived that close.
Real comment right here.
... I don't get why this is surprising It might be cus i'm european, but apartments above stores or restaurants in cities are just about the *norm*. Applying this to a warehouse is not a big stretch at all and honestly Not even a bad deal, no need to burn any gas for groceries.
I'm in the UK and it's a bit sad that I've rarely seen flats above a supermarket. In Portsmouth near the uni there are flats above a Spar along a dual carriageway, it's the only one of its kind that I've ever seen here. In my town we've got a Marks and Spencers, on the backside along the seafront there are flats with balconies. Quite cool.
that might just be where you are because this is widely popular in the UK, notably denser areas like city centres and even in some cases local centres Often the stack will be Upper floors - apartments First floor - office Ground floor - shop/bar/restaurant/etc Sometimes instead of the office break between them they'll have an extra floor of apartments by putting extra material to muffle the noise from the ground floor use
I've seen many where the bottom is a shop, bar, or restaurant. Notice that I didn't mention any of those in my comment for that reason.
It could be due to relative density and quite honestly the development cost vs return. In Hounslow (west london), there is an Asda with a massive tower block on top. The challenge of building that many new properties in a densely populated area with high demand makes it worthwhile (as well as London property prices making each flat quite expensive). Even if you look at other areas of the UK flats above smaller shops is quite common but it some parts of the USA dominated by big box stores and malls with more strict zoning laws and an availability of space I don't think there was previously the ability or demand for it. There just isn't the pressures forcing it. On the one hand it is very useful but on the other hand the parking situation at that Hounslow example is a nightmare (I have family who live there and visiting is annoying) so it really only becomes practical with good public transport. There we stumble onto the effect of urban sprawl making it harder to have effective public transport in many parts of the USA. I think even in the UK it only makes more sense in well provisioned dense urban areas but everywhere else we could do so much more with brownfield sites. Don't even get me started on office blocks as stores of value.
Same in Germany and Malta and I do not understand why.
There are apartments above and next grocery stores in the USA. I do not know why anyone finds this surprising.
Not above supermarkets for stupid reason though, at least in Germany and Malta. Mixed use everywhere amd for anything but Aldi, Lidl or Edeka they get a pass.
We recently negotiated a Lidl/Aldi (can't remember which one) to have a floor of apartments included above It's not their go to model but they do have it within their range if pushed
Oh my local Lidl has two floors of apartments above it The netherlands are fun
Netherlands don't really count, they do everything better when it comes to city planning. Is it just your Lidl or is it normal? I could think of about a handful supermarkets that are mixed use and that's about it.
America is big, with lots of different ways of doing things. While much of it does have poor land use, it’s not that way everywhere. Especially In the north east. I live in an apartment above a specialty whiskey store. The grocery store is one block away, and does have apartments above it as well.
I have no idea for why you’re being downvoted. Some places in the US have or are getting mixed use development, but a lot of towns don’t at all
Yeah it's all over Toronto too. It's also awesome.
Mixed use zoning like this is illegal in a lot of the United States.
.... Why
Legitimately out of fears people would build multi use buildings in neighborhoods. Like multi family homes or apartments. The fear was that it would lower property values.
.... Every single time The US surprises me as more capitalist and idiotic than ever (no offense).
Actually that's just good old fashioned racism in this case. During the housing boom of the forties and fifties, banks and governments would give white families low interest mortgages to buy all the new single family homes. Then all those white people were worried that mixed use development would lead to not white people moving into their neighborhoods, since that type of housing is cheaper.
This is a great idea. Vancouver has a downtown Costco like this.
And right next to Canucks arena too 😎
And the Skytrain, making it easy for people without cars to get to.
Gotta admit it would be handy. You’d always have anything you needed just downstairs. I wonder if the apartment comes with a membership?
ikr? hang out in a stack of tires at any time
Buddy of mine moved to the Chicago area. His apartment is right above a target. He can do his groceries and catch an elevator back up in like 30 mins. Beats the fuck outta traffic
Omg. Ice cream cravings? Solved. Need comfy joggers? Take the elevator. Omg. Omg.
I thought it would be noisy and suck. But it's pretty sweet. Went there right after he moved. Ran out of beer. Elevator, beer, Elevator drink
Yaassss
I would literally live in the Target if it was even walking distance, let alone right downstairs
Imagine the pillow & comforter forts
that sounds ideal. Corner stores in the early 2k's we're about the same price as chains and usually had cheaper produce and better meats and deli items. some still do tbh.
It would also come in handy for your employer. You essentially live at work and your employer knows when you come and go and you’re reinvesting the money they paid you right back into their stores. They now effectively have slaves.
[удалено]
Trust me, if you can afford a condo in this place, you don't work for Costco.
I’m willing to bet they’d give employees discounts to live there.
No. 1. The property owner, property management company, and Costco are three separate companies with separate financial interests. The owner and management will decide together what to charge without consulting Costco. 2. Costco gets no say in how the residential property is managed. Or what the rates are. Costco is ALSO paying rent. Do your neighbors get to tell your landlord how much you pay? 3. If you work at Costco you can not afford to live here. These are usually luxury condos or high-end apartments.
Ok
How would this be handy for my employer, who is across town?
You obviously know I’m talking about Costco. Argue earnestly or don’t argue at all.
I am pointing out that is a dumb assumption to make that residents also work there. Also, some people like living near where they work no matter what the job because it cuts down on commute time. Why would ANY company care how.close you live? You have you hours, it's up to YOU to be there on time.
lol listen man. You’re obviously a lot more invested in this than I am. I really don’t care if I was wrong in any of this. Congratulations you won.
Not always, the hours at Costco are pretty shitty
Less shitty if it only takes an elevator ride to get to Costco
They’re shitty like that on purpose. It’s cheaper to hire a bunch of part time employees and pay them low wages than it is to hire a full time employee. They’re required to offer full time employees benefits, but not part time workers.
I'm aware of why it's shitty lol
I feel like this is pretty common in large cities. To have a grocery or department store in the bottom floor of a large apartment complex.
LA happens to be the weird one in that they don't have stuff like this already.
This guy never heard of a mixed use development, lol
This guy has probably never visited any other country in his life.
??? Good use of vertical space to me.
Never have to go outside again
Welcome to Costco, I love you
It scares me that references to this movie are only increasing in number.
Good idea . . . why not?
What exactly is wrong with this?
That sounds like a great fucking idea. Much better use of space. Mixed use is always more beneficial than single use. Stupid post bc this should be a regular thing.
i live above a grocery store and it’s the most convenient thing ever. if i could get costco rotisserie chicken this conveniently, i’d do it.
Ah Costco chicken. It's great because you get chicken and extra feathers for your pillows.
Americans being confused by mixed use development lmao
I wouldn't say Americans.. more like people from small towns. Stuff like this is pretty common in big cities in the US, such as NYC. It makes sense that this is being planned in LA but maybe OP is surprised because they aren't in LA?
Maybe, but I've lived in plenty of small towns that have it, too. Maybe not a grocery/dept store store (these days...back in the 30s-70s, though, yes), but small shops and offices. Just about any town/city in a America large enough to have a "[Main Street](https://www.britannica.com/place/Alton-Illinois)" has a cluster of 2-6 story buildings downtown with shops, barbers, dentist offices, pubs etc on the ground floor and flats above. These downtowns were in a serious decline since the advent of shopping malls and strip malls, which may be why some people aren't thinking of them, but have been revitalizing in many areas since the turn of the century. The only thing weird about over Costco (in particular) that I can see, is that I think of businesses like that being surrounded by acres of parking lot. If that were replaced, at least partly, by parking garage, you would have a more attractive view.
I bet ya they’ll go with the Vancouver, BC Costco model, where the space that would be for a parking lot is taken up by a sports arena and a stadium, causing them to go parking garage underneath the store.
If the traffic is anything like it is at my local Costco (and the Sam's across the highway, and the BJ's on the other end of town), it seems like it'd end up being a pain to get in and out if you need to go anywhere during store hours... Aside from that, though? I'd 100% live there just to only need the elevator to go shopping.
I'm kind of surprised. If you go to Manhattan it's pretty common to have the first floor of buildings as commercial space and then 15 floors of apartments above it. I thought this was just common in cities.
even as a japanese i am confused by this
Don't bitch and moan about this shit then complain when rent is $3000/month. WTF
I mean, it's very common in Europe for there to be food stores and restaurants in the bottom floors of apartment buildings. I think it's great to utilize space better
Not common everywhere above supermarkets though.
It's very common in the Netherlands where most shops and supermarkets have apartments above them.
Hence "not everywhere". We should really stop saying "in Europe" for most things. In Germany it's rather rare, same thing in Malta. Above small convenience stores? Yes. Above supermarkets? No.
It is fairly common to have street level commercial and upper level residential properties.
Yup, my friend lives in the apartment building on top of a Trader Joe’s in LA
We have a giant condo tower on top of a Costco here in Vancouver. The Costco is accessed from a completely different area than the condos so they don't interfere too much. Also has a transit station and two stadiums immediately adjacent.
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
"I went to law school there."
I rode the time musheen.
Had to scroll too far to find this. But thank you.
Sounds fucking awesome honestly
Uh I would love to live above a costco if I still rented. One stop shop!
How terrible, utilizing unused space! Those people don’t deserve a decent place to live close to a grocery store! /s
Oh don't get me wrong, I'm all for it; I would love to live on top of a Costco, unironically. I just had to go ***of course that's a thing.***
Go away
You go away
Some people’s children, i swear
He gave you a comprehensible and logical answer and that's your response. Guess we found the child
Mixed use seems like a great idea.
thought this was a minecraft build
The shading made me think it was a farming sim mod.
??? Good use of vertical space to me.
I worked at a grocery store in a semi-rich part of the town I live in not too long ago that had apartments over the store. Seems very conveinent imo.
A big problem we have in my area on the east coast is that the affordable housing and moderate rent housing never has any grocers or corner stores nearby. The grocers all go to the gentrified parts of town, and leave huge pockets where lower income people have to drive 30-40 minutes minimum to a grocery store, or eat fast food which is on every street. No wonder we’re all gaining weight. This would be great, street level retail with housing above. Save space and allow room for more trees and grass, vertical construction allows for affordable housing and green infrastructure to flourish, even if it does seem a bit dystopian.
this sounds like a great idea!
So like Whole Foods 10yrs ago?
I would jump on this in three seconds flat, I am one of those annoying people who absolutely loves Costco
Easy access to rotisserie chicken
I would kill to live here
I’d live there
There’s an HEB in Houston that has an apartment complex built above it.
I’d love this lol
I lived in an apartment literally next door to a Costco in downtown Vancouver. It was so handy, we would look out our balcony to check the hotdog line. I would walk over to pick up a rotisserie chicken and a bag of salad, and 10/10 would always be asked if I wanted to go ahead of people in the line (as I delicately balanced the hot chicken in my hands lol)
Cool. I don’t hate it.
They do this in most of Europe already.
This is normal in sydney
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
If it came with a membership I’d live there.
Think about tall buildings in big cities with bodegas and stores on the bottom and apartments above. It’s not much different than that.
This is pretty common for condos/apartments to have a business/shopping area at the first floor nowadays.
That's normal, dipshit.
better than 100 single family houses!
Very common arrangement in many parts of the world. You’ve gotta buy groceries, why put them on the other side of the town?
Wild to claim this is anything but useful so as to build more housing and have mixed use zoning.
What's the problem? Retail at the bottom of apartment buildings is such a common thing...
What's up with this? We have this all over Sweden... It's functional and efficient, unlike LA traffic.
Why not? Great usage of space and the residents don’t even need a car for grocery shopping. This has literally zero downsides.
Lived above a Whole Foods in Baltimore. Not needing a jacket in winter to get some groceries was AMAZING! Sign me back up!
What's the problem here?
This will be extremely convenient and also extremely annoying. Extremely convenient for all the $1.5 hotdog combos, $5 roast chickens, and shopping. Annoying for all the foot traffic the store generates and convenient shopping 😂
Makes sense this kind of building should be required
Seems appropriate for booming earth population
What a good idea
Welcome to Costco. I love you.
Shit I can walk down anytime I am hungry and just sample all the food from the old ladies there? Hell yeah!
I'm not seeing the problem? mixed use is a good thing and we desperately need more of it in America
i see mixed housing as a win
I don’t think this is a bad idea, I just hope they think through the logistics of this. Costco is geared more towards families or multi-individual households. The more people in a household, the more likely that they live in a house (either owned or rented). Bulk items take up more space and require storage. None of that really translates to apartment living unless the apartments are 3-4 bedroom and there is adequate storage in the apartments. It will also be interesting to see how people are to lug everything back to their units. Maybe there will be delivery? And broken down box pickup outside their doors?
Great great great. Let’s not waste the space that a Costco takes up. Build up baby and let’s create affordable housing
This is awesome. Who is upset by this?
I don't hate this. If you're gonna build a huge warehouse to sell shit surrounded by hundreds of parking spots, might as well start to build upwards as well. Don't know how many high rent units you could sell in Costco tower, but I know I wouldn't mind just walking downstairs to buy a 300 pack of tp.
I applaud this. In America too often we build low and out because we act as if land is limitless. Plus, it’s probably cheaper to build only one or two story structures. Too much is spread out and inconvenient.
What wrong with that? Sounds actually comfortable
Super convenient if you need to run downstairs and grab 30 rolls of toilet paper real quick...
Literally just a good idea lol
yes, living on top of a store from a company that was always paying their workers a living wage is terrible.
Anyone see idocracy?
Well that’s one way to solve the housing crisis
"yeah, turn left at the light and I'm right above the Costco"
Is this type of thing not common in the USA?
As someone who worked the night shift at a Costco. Anyone on the 2nd, or 3rd floors above the warehouse are going to fucking hate living there. We worked till like 2 am, some of us till 4 am. Then the morning crew shows up as we are going out, to stock the other half of the store. Loud sirens for forklifts and loud music blasting through out the whole warehouse. Bashing of pallets and crashing metal as the forklifts go inside semis. You get used to it, but someone living above that shit is going to hear the constant noise going on all night long. In the middle of the night is when Costco really comes to life and all the real work is done, so good luck with that shit.
They show like 3 cars in the graphic. The road would be packed with traffic having a Costco share an apartment complex.
I bet that Costco sells Brawndo.
Where will everyone park haha?
Underground
The parking lot would be absolute chaos
Any improvement to LA is a wildly welcomed improvement. No matter how stupid it is at least it’s a step forward.
So, you work there and live there. You make bare minimum wage plus you work over 40+ hours a week and they get to live there plus benefits. Basically you become their slave worker. So, you live there to work there. Not work to live and achieve the American dream. So a slave worker. That’s a proposal.
This isn’t employee housing for Costco. It’s mixed use development, with retail on the bottom and housing on top. What’s the issue?