For Millennials who miss the camaraderie of dorm living – or empty-nesters looking for a livelier environment than suburban single-family homes – National Development’s 7INK by Ollie project will offer a new breed of housing in Boston. 

The trade-off for prospective tenants: the chance to rent smaller and less expensive units in exchange for larger common areas and outdoor spaces, and the services of a full-time events manager to fill up the social calendar. 

The designs for project at 217 Albany St. in South End reflect a new way of thinking about apartment living, with less emphasis on individual units and more thought paid to shared amenities and what the surrounding neighborhood has to offer, said Ted Tye, managing partner at National Development. 

“The idea here is to create a cohesive housing unit and entire building where there’s incredible shared common areas, a whole social program and an all-inclusive model including furniture, wifi and cable,” Tye said. 

7INK by Ollie, the next residential building at its Ink Block development, is the latest in a group of non-traditional housing designs under consideration in Boston. 

Next month, the city’s Housing Innovation Lab will recommend changes designed to encourage the production of more micro apartments, which it calls “compact living,” as part of the city’s attempts to increase housing supply and affordability. The updates acknowledge changes in living arrangements favored by many entry-level renters and the continuing increase in single-occupant households, developers and housing experts say. 

At 7Ink, National Development’s plans were influenced by new models such as WeLive and Common, two of the more prominent co-housing providers. WeLive, which is shared office space provider WeWork’s foray into residential projects, operates co-living complexes in New York and Washington, D.C. with furnished units and communal kitchens. Common has similar properties in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. 

National Development chose to partner with Ollie, a co-living specialist that has active projects in five cities, on resident amenities including housekeeping and programming such as mixers and guest speakers. Furnishings will include beds that fold into walls, and desks that can be 

converted into dinner tables. 

The majority of 7Ink’s units would be 500-square-foot studios, which comply with city existing square-footage minimums. The project is not proposing any on-site parking, citing the availability of an existing garage at Ink Block and the likelihood many tenants won’t own a car. At 170 feet, the building requires a height variance from the zoning board of appeals. 

Common area amenities including a roof deck and shared kitchen will occupy four times as much space as a conventional apartment building, Tye said. Development costs are expected to be comparable or slightly above that of a traditional multifamily development, he said, with the savings from smaller units offset by the number of kitchens and baths required by the large studio component. 

The project is under review by the Boston Planning and Development Agency, with a public comment period ending June 30. 

In the Seaport District, where micro apartments were permitted on a trial basis in such projects as the Watermark Seaport tower, another non-traditional development is under way at 399 Congress St. Miami developer Crescent Heights is building 414 apartments including 60 micro apartments, which would be the city’s largest such concentration in a single project to date. But standard city requirements still require a minimum of 450 square feet for studio apartments. 

City Ready To Define ‘Compact Living’ 

The current standard appears to be on the verge of an update. A group of city agencies including the Housing Innovation Lab is studying changes to minimum apartment sizes and dimensions, use of shared kitchens and bathrooms, and updated parking requirements reflecting use of public transit and the growing availability of ride-hailing services. 

Marcy Ostberg, director of the housing innovation lab, declined to give specifics ahead of a report due for release in July, but said the group studied San Francisco’s transportation demand management system. That policy gives multifamily developers 66 options to reduce residents’ dependence on vehicles, including bike-sharing memberships and public transit subsidies, and compiles a score which can be used to offset minimum parking requirements. 

Popularity of co-living concepts in cities such as New York and London point to the potential for success in Boston, said Tamara Roy, a principal at architects Stantec. Many young people are looking for an alternative to roommate situations, and such projects including what Roy calls “metro units” seem to be popular among the target demographic and profitable for developers. 

“There’s an opportunity being missed here for sure,” Roy said. “Kids would like to be living where you have your alone space, but have a community where you make friends. I’d love to see more buildings with all metro units, not just some of them, but I’m not a developer. It’s just too risky.”