6,000 sq feet for $750K is $125k/sq ft, which is not peanuts for a low-rise building. If anything, it shows you the lousy economies of scale you get by doing tiny projects.

I wouldn't read too much into the lack of discussion of subsidies. Unless they are getting $24 psf/year, it wouldn't be breaking even for new construction [[or so the newspapers have said), and we are probably years from when a 1,000 sf place in that area can command $2,000+ a month [[n.b. that this assumes that the retail can command as much money as the residential portion). So unless this is a philanthropic or wildly speculative project, it's probably safe to assume that this has some kind of other money, incentives, or credits in it somewhere.

That's not to say it wouldn't be a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Definitely has the vibe of San Fransciso or Montreal to it.

HB