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Could you live in a 225 square foot apartment?

A mall owner has turned part of his mall into residential spaces. It’s generally believed that in American, many malls are dying. Transforming something which might otherwise be a half-empty shell into small — okay, tiny — apartments is brilliant.

Developer Evan Granoff bought the property in 2005, with the hopes that he could restore the beautiful building to its former glory. And he did exactly that! He converted the upper levels into 48 tiny apartment homes, while the lower promenade is reserved for boutique shops. No major chain stores are allowed here! The smallest units only cost $550 per month, which is a steal for downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

Top 10 list: Most livable cities in the world

Number in America: zero

The list is dominated — 8 of the top 10 — by European cities with Vienna topping the list. The two not in Europe are Auckland, New Zealand and Vancouver, Canada.

The analysis was based upon livability for employees, so the rankings were based on factors such as easy access to transportation, electricity and drinking water. “Economic instability, social unrest, and growing political upheaval all add to the complex challenge multinational companies face when analyzing quality of living for their expatriate workforce.”

Given those criteria, I am a bit surprised that no U.S. cities made the top ten. The closest were San Francisco at #29, and Boston and Honolulu at #35 and #36, respectively. (Read more…)

Why people are moving to South Dakota

Cold, tundra. That’s what most people think of when they think of the Dakotas, but South Dakota has just passed Oregon as the state with the highest percent influx of people from other states. Oregon had held the top stop for the past five years. Why are people moving to S.D.? In a word: jobs.

Top 10 state South Dakota

South Dakota is home to financial services firms, like Citicorp. Low unemployment — 2.7% — and a relatively low cost of housing has resulted in people flocking there. It’s not just financial services. High demand jobs with high wages in South Dakota include registered nurses, accountants and auditors, general and operations managers, elementary school teachers, secondary school teachers and management analysts, according to the South Dakota Dept. of Labor & Regulation.

The rest of the top ten states where people are moving to: Vermont, Oregon, Idaho, South Carolina, Washington state, then Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.

The top 10 states losing residents are New Jersey, Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Utah and Pennsylvania. (Read more…)