Of course I can’t find an article about it, but IIRC, wasn’t there a story about some folks who built a secret room in the corner of a parking garage at least a decade before this one? Just plain, grey cinder block that looked like the rest of the garage…
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Lazy reporting by the you tuber is my guess. What are the chances that either the same Michael Townsend did it again after what happened to him, or that there happens to be another guy named Michael Townsend in RI who did the same thing? 
Plus, I give 99% invisible way more credence when it comes to reporting.
I could be wrong, but I feel…99% sure it’s the same story 
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Why read about a story when you can have it read aloud for you, audiobook style?
Maybe not the hero that we need, but definitely the hero that we deserve.
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the algorithm says there are still ads i haven’t seen
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Dude sounds like a real jerk tbh. So he still lives nearby? Wonder if he’d be cool if me and some friends built a “secret room” in his house and we gave it some uber hip Germanic art project name?
i saw it was 17 minutes long and given the presentation style had a feeling it was going to be one of those crappy videos. guess i will never know the story and i am ok with that too.
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For subverting the institutions that make life difficult for folks to earn a living and have shelter, when there is enough unused real estate and enough money to house every single homeless person in the US?
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Guy notices mall under construction has unaccounted-for space inside it, so when mall is finished he sneaks some stuff in there and makes a little clubhouse that lasts four years. Unclear if mall security were in on it or not. There, I just saved you 17 minutes.
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appreciate it
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Well, there is that- they weren’t living in the technician access space of an automated McSwineys waiting for the cops to stop looking for them…
(Bias: I have that book, with that cover, on my bookshelf. ALL HAIL the Stainless Steel Rat!)
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If you could pull off something like this and actually live there it would be great. Saving four years worth of rent (even in more affordable city like Providence) makes a difference. I can’t see doing this much work on such a space and NOT living there, but that’s me.
I lived secretly for 14 months in an office space. It was 1/4 the cost of the cheapest 1br in Boston, and it was less than half the price of sharing an apartment or house with others (short of a house crammed with twenty crust-punks sharing rooms). The big fear is definitely getting caught by the landlord (in this case a big property company who doesn’t want the liability) and getting thrown out on your ass, seeing your stuff go in a dumpster.
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Totally. I knew a couple in NH who rented an art studio space in one of the old converted factories and used it to work and also lived there. Was cool being there at night when it was all empty and quiet.
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Sure, “back in the day” this was not uncommon. So much of the South End and Fort Point in Boston was illegal loft spaces back in the 90’s. I knew a lot of people who lived in them-- depending on what level dirtbag the landlord was you could get away with it. I’ve noticed a lot ads for work spaces in old mill buildings now where they word it in such a way that it’s clear they aren’t keen on anyone living there. I checked out a few of these places and you could tell by the way they sized you up and asked about what you wanted the room for they were weeding out anyone looking to live there.
I do fantasize about owning and refurbing some huge mill building to live/work in. “Oh, this room here (opens door to gigantic warehouse space) is where I keep all the free pianos people give away on craigslist. Sometimes late at night we come in here and have drunken all-piano jam sessions.”
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The problem is basically everyone has this fantasy, which is why all those types of spaces were eaten up by developers and no longer exist except as high-end “loft” condos and “live/work” spaces. The authenticity of living in a dirty old mill was immediately lost of course, but this hasn’t been a practical possibility in any major city in decades, unfortunately.
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Yes. I’m well aware of it.
I had a friend tell me he was moving to the city back in 2003, and he was planning on “renting a super cheap warehouse space he could live in, maybe down by the waterfront.”
After I finished laughing I told him “sure, let me know when you find such a thing.”
I do check out the remaining mill buildings well outside the city. You do see them in the smaller old mill towns, I even passed one in the middle of the woods once, along a disused RR line. Of course those places need more work than the cost of the property, and are probably contaminated with all kinds of industrial toxins.
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I also laughed reading that.
Yah, there’s certainly places like that in small towns and more rural areas aplenty. As you say, the amount of work they need to be livable is usually terrifying, and the zoning often doesn’t support residence either. Plus if you’re out in the middle of nowhere, space is cheap in normal houses and workshops anyway. That’s where I landed when I also looked into it at one point. No doubt as we all have. 
I went with the big-house-in-cheap-remote-town option.
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That kind of thing is great if one happens to be the Alpha Drunk who owns the place
Everybody else better remember “if you’re not the customer then you’re the product”
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