There was a young architect who lived in a shoe(box)

updated 8/4/2011 1:19:20 PM ET 2011-08-04T17:19:20

NEW YORK  —

It may be small, but it's no bargain.

New York architect Luke Clark Tyler rents a 78-square foot studio apartment for $800 a month in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen, where studios usually average $1,900 per month. But in a neighborhood where the average rental price per square foot in a studio is $72, Tyler is paying almost twice as much at $123.07 per square foot, according to Mark Menendez, the director of rentals at Prudential Douglas Elliman.

"I think it's too high," Menendez said. He added that, especially with New York real estate, the price per square foot can increase as the square footage decreases, and vice-versa.

"But again it's all relative. Where can you find something for $800 in Manhattan?," he said. "Location trumps value."

For 27-year-old Tyler, who has lived in New York City on and off since 2002, avoiding long commutes is worth the tiny living space in Midtown.

"I was spending my life in a skyscraper and going underground, to work and then back again," he said. "I was missing out on anything New York had to offer. If I had to choose spending time in a train or living in a small space, I’d choose a small space."

He said he saw some studio apartments in Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood that stretches from 34th Street to 59 Street on the West Side, that were beautiful, but were priced around $1,600.