Read the NY Times story about middle American developers co-opting "loft" style designs yourself, because it's hilarious. Gothamist can see the advertisements now: "NYC Loft Living...For $350,000!" For $350,000 in NYC, you can either get a 400 square foot "loft" (think high ceilings, but not much more) or a big but condemned one in the far reaches of Brooklyn. And if people want to live in faux-factories today, then surely tenements and railroad apartments will be next!
Metropolis had an great article about this New Urbanist movement, specifically looking at the Boulder, CO faux-factory development in the Times piece (Gothamist loves the mention of Cayce Pollard). If you want to know how lofty these designs are, Gothamist found the development: Cornerstone Homes. Click for the floorplans of the hokey-named Cannery, Steamplant, Firehouse, Ironworks, and Ballpark designs. And one of the most famous New Urban developments in the past two decades is Seaside in Florida (whose carefully planned community was used as the "set" in The Truman Show), but did you know our own Jackson Heights, Queens is only of the earliest New Urban neighborhoods?
