It depends on what your definition of a micro-apartment is.
What we do know is that the development team behind an expansion and redo of 1047 Commonwealth Avenue has asked the city for permission to build 220 single-room-occupancy units (the Boston Redevelopment Authority calls the proposal a "dormitory"). However! One of the developers said this in a letter to the BRA: "After careful consideration and analysis, it was determined that a single-room-occupancy program designed for occupancy by graduate students and young professionals would be the optimal use at this location."
It's that "young professionals" bit that makes us want to call the 220 units micro-apartments. That and their size: six would be 316 square feet each; 108 would be 340 square feet each; and 106 would be 240 square feet each. Seems about right.
Recall that 1047 Commonwealth was supposed to have been the grandly named Academy for Hair and Skin, a $22 million beauty school backed by shampoo heir Elan Sassoon. The Great Recession and Sassoon's exit from the project put the kibosh on that, and the residential plan (along with some retail) has emerged to take its place. It pivots around the site's proximity to Boston U.: "The primary objective of the project remains," reads the developer's letter, "to take advantage of 1047 Commonwealth Avenue's strategic location along a major educational, young professional corridor that extends through dense urban neighborhoods with proximity to a preeminent university." See, there's "young professional" again.
· Developer Eyes Adding 220 Housing Units Near BU in Allston [Boston.com]
· Like You, Boston Micro-Apartments Can't Escape the Rent [Curbed Boston]
· Are Boston Micro-Apartments for Real? [Curbed Boston]