Tiny houses are a big seller in south Fayetteville

In south Fayetteville, there is apparently a giant demand for tiny homes.

Developers Zara and Gina Niederman, through their 3Volve Community Ecosystem Development business, recently completed work on four micro-residences at the corner of South College Avenue and East Ninth Street, east of Walker Park.

The homes are 540 square feet, and they are all under contract for $155,000. That’s $287 per square foot.

So what’s the catch?

“The catch is you’ve got a great looking home next to a great park, in a dynamic neighborhood, walkable to downtown, for a price that is attainable to a single professional, with low energy bills and very low maintenance costs and no POA or condo fees,” said Zara Neiderman, who’s also a member of the city’s planning commission. “We built four, and all four are spoken for— two retired couples, a young single professional and a young professional couple.”

Niederman said several other people are very interested in the tiny homes trend as an example of something they could put on their own lot, or even in their backyard as a “mother-in-law” cottage.

He expects the south Fayetteville neighborhood will be the most desirable and diverse neighborhood in the city in the next five years.

“Not from our work,” he said. “But from the creative people we are partnering with and all of the other creative, entrepreneurial and industrious people living here and moving here who see south Fayetteville as a place to create their own dreams.”

Allison Quinlan, the owner of multidisciplinary consulting firm Flintlock Architecture & Landscape in Fayetteville, designed the homes, and Arvest Bank provided financing.

Niederman, who lives in the Walker Park neighborhood with his family and has developed other property nearby, said he believes the buyers of the tiny homes are getting a great investment. Niederman will reinvest nearly all of the money in the neighborhood, from new residential projects, to public art, to community gathering places and donations to the local community center.

He said he and Gina are also opening a food truck business in March with a local entrepreneur, and many other mixed-use buildings and commercial spaces are planned over the next few years.