In NYC, Fake-Out 'Loft' Living is the New Prize for Making it

In a new piece for Medium, writer and Brooklyn resident Kyle Chayka explains how the loft, originally the habitat of Bohemian hipsters "willing to risk breaking residential code to carve out their own space," have become "a fetishized commodity". According to Chayka, the surging appeal of the loft, widely observed in his own neighborhood and beyond, is now marked by the proliferation of "loft-style" luxury condos, devoid of any industrial authenticity and consumed as a "prize" for making it in the big city. The article, which traces the history of the loft from its roots in the Old Norse word for "sky" to New York City's most recent Loft Laws, is well worth reading in full. [Medium]