Photograph by Spine 3-D
Feature: Lofty Ideas
March 1, 2006
Attracting developers such as H.M. “Mac” Pike Jr., chairman of Sutton Co., one of the first to start acquiring land and recycling older buildings in downtown Austin in the 1990s, is a challenge. Three of Pike’s completed projects have been luxury lofts, most notably the Plaza Lofts, a 14-story high-rise of 60 units completed in 2002. The units feature large private balconies, stained concrete floors, 11- to 13-foot-high ceilings, granite slab kitchen countertops and bathrooms with travertine slab countertops. The building offers a rooftop swimming pool, an exercise room and an above-ground parking garage.
The loft lifestyle is as much about location as it is about loft aesthetics. The ability to walk to shopping, dining and entertainment is a huge attraction for loft owners. In places like Miami and California’s Marina del Rey, developers are betting on neighborhoods that are on the verge of going from hedgy to edgy. Until recently, Element’s surroundings in Marina del Rey were nondescript streets, storage units and body shops. But it is quickly becoming a real neighborhood with its own name–the Marina Loft District–filled with theaters, restaurants, grocery stores, boutiques and gyms, not to mention the beach and marina. Most of Miami’s lofts are popping up around Midtown and the Biscayne Boulevard corridor, which is slowly shedding its seedy image by replacing decaying motels with trendy restaurants and home design shops.
The desire to walk and shop and dine is so strong that some loft developers are contracting with restaurants, coffee shops and markets to open retail spots on the ground floor of loft buildings.
“Everybody would love to go downstairs and pick up their dry cleaning or a
bottle of milk or have a drink or maybe a meal,” says Solomon of Los Angeles’ Linear City, which is planning on having a bistro on the ground floor of Biscuit
Company Lofts. “It’s part of the appeal to provide complementary urban lifestyle services.”; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A rendering of Element, a 54-floor, glass-shelled building of loft-style condos that will soon augment downtown Miami's skyline. Photograph by Dbox (Click image to enlarge)
That is why Avenue Communities chose downtown Scottsdale to develop Third Avenue Lofts, a five-story building with 88 lofts and penthouses situated in a neighborhood with more than 80 restaurants, boutiques, salons, nightclubs and art galleries, as well as the Civic Center Plaza and the Scottsdale Stadium. Most of the lofts have 18-foot-tall concrete ceilings, private terraces, 15-foot-tall windows, stainless steel front doors, track lighting and concrete columns. The two-story lofts in the building have GE Monogram stainless steel appliances, granite slab countertops, hardwood floors, a concierge and security systems.
“The thing people want is a creative environment,” says Losch of Avenue Communities. “They want to live in a place that has what we call ‘unexpected moments,’ where their senses are heavily stimulated.”
Either as second homes or primary residences, lofts are enticing a wide swath of buyers. Two groups seem to be fueling the trend: young, urban creative types, and empty nesters ready to jump back into city life. Today, loft owners are more likely to be art collectors, not artists.
advertisement
