For Immediate Release

Contact: Amy Snow-Buckner
Sabo PR, 616.560.1655

Market Leader Urbaneer Launches Compact Housing Solution in Home State of Michigan

Grand Rapids-based Company Offers Compact Modular Home to Meet Needs of Resort, Vacation Home and Airbnb Owners Seeking Predictable Delivery, Price and Quality

Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 19, 2021 – With success coast to coast, market leader Urbaneer is bringing its Tioga Series home to Michigan to meet the needs of a growing number of property owners looking for compact housing solutions that offer predictable delivery, price and quality.

Re-imagined for the modern consumer and ideal for resorts, vacation homes and Airbnbs, Tioga offers standard features with options and up to 30% more living space on demand. The compact home has flexible interiors and unit combinations to maximize resident experience – both short- and long-term – as well as durability and consistency in materials. Tioga is available in three configurations – 456-square-foot studio, 535-square-foot one-bedroom and 693-square-foot two-bedroom – and each home features:

• Patented components that transform the interior space to support five living modes: cooking, dining, entertaining, working and sleeping.
• Fully functional kitchen with integrated, energy-efficient appliances.
• Interior finishes based on Scandinavian design that provide clean lines and easy-to-clean surfaces.

“Urbaneer is excited to offer Tioga and its ‘Airstream of compact housing’ design directly to Michigan consumers,” said Bruce Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Grand Rapids-based Urbaneer. “Tioga lives 30% larger than a conventional home thanks to space optimization features and exceptional design. Whether you operate an Airbnb in West Michigan, run a resort in Traverse City or own a vacation home in Petoskey, Tioga provides predictable timing, price and quality in an unpredictable, price-inflated and at times substandard housing market. It’s also ideal as a backyard accessory dwelling unit or as a guest or rental unit.

“We know the state’s housing landscape is changing due, in large part, to local zoning law changes that now allow for compact homes, to housing and construction supply issues, and to a growing number of property owners looking for compact housing solutions for themselves or for renters. As more and more people measure life per square foot versus construction per square foot and choose location, experiences and quality over quantity of space, we are proud to offer a high-quality, multifunctional home that offers maximum flexibility and efficiency of use – and at price points people desire.”

Inspired by the Iroquois word that means “where it forks,” Tioga’s open, compact design is based on research that suggests Americans spend roughly 80% of their awake time in the kitchen. The home’s core space, which features a kitchen and living space but not formal living and dining spaces, easily supports a range of activities for both an average size family or a single occupant. It is compact and configurable for multi-mode use, allowing it to live larger while reducing construction and operating costs. The addition of built-in storage and other furniture further increases usable functionality without a corresponding increase in floor area.

Urbaneer designed and engineered Tioga, which starts around $135,000, depending on local building codes and excluding site work, land, transportation and installation. Urbaneer works with multiple off-site manufacturing partners, markets directly to the consumer and manages the entire delivery process.

Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, are now allowed in popular destinations such as Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Holland, Petoskey and Traverse City to encourage housing availability and attainability. Tioga helps meet growing demand following a year in which the housing industry delivered 50% fewer compact homes than it did in the 1970s.

The trend toward compact housing is on the rise, with research showing 59% of baby boomers and 76% of millennials prefer to spend money on experiences instead of material possessions and the average household using less than 40% of its home with regularity, including bedrooms and living rooms.

“Urbaneer has established a reputation as an innovator, and innovation is something that is desperately needed in the housing industry,” said Ryan Kilpatrick, executive director of Housing Next, which partners with local governments, developers and nonprofits in West Michigan to remove barriers to the creation of affordable housing at all price points. “Given the shortage of new units, we need to think differently if we are going to solve the housing crisis. Urbaneer brings a unique approach that delivers quality and value to a market that is seeking new solutions.”

Urbaneer is partnering with builders nationwide to install Tioga homes. With dozens of units sold and installed to date, Urbaneer is bringing experience in off-site modular construction to Michigan builders who handle all the local permitting and site work. Tioga homes initially are available in 15 Lake Michigan counties – from Berrien County in southwest Michigan to Ottawa County in West Michigan to Emmet County in northern Michigan – with additional areas of the state planned for the future. The company is looking for new builders to join its growing network.

“At Urbaneer, we believe innovative solutions are required for re-imagining our living spaces for today and well into the future,” Thompson said. “Our Tioga home does just that, and we know anyone who lives or stays in it will enjoy its functionality, flexibility and freedom.”

Thompson and his wife, Brenda, Urbaneer’s co-founder and design lead, live in one of the company’s other products – an 800-square-footprint compact home in Grand Rapids’ historic Heritage Hill neighborhood. With its moveable walls and flexible open floor plan, this “living lab” for Urbaneer offers more like 1,200 square feet of living space, which is not that much smaller than the average-sized U.S. home 50 years ago.

“Urbaneer homes offer a higher level of fit and finish thanks to the off-site process,” Brenda Thompson said. “We’ve carefully selected high-quality design elements and interior finishes to make it the best compact living experience.”

For more information about Tioga, including how to order a home, visit urbaneerliving.com or call 616.334.1793. Urbaneer also has a pop-up retail showroom in downtown Grand Rapids, with another planned for northern Michigan. A meeting with an Urbaneer representative can be scheduled via the information form on the website.

About Urbaneer
Founded in 2013, Urbaneer is a market leader in compact living solutions, designing a suite of unique homes for the way people live today. The company’s suite of intelligent homes and patented interior features leverage innovation and technology to create multifunctional spaces that offer maximum flexibility and efficiency of use. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Urbaneer partners with home building platforms to bring compact, configurable and connected homes to consumers. Its unique designs and patented convertible spaces make for compact homes that live larger and deliver a better resident experience. For more information, visit urbaneerliving.com.