Feature: Lofty Ideas

Jodi Mailander Farrell

03/01/2006

Loft living used to attract only the most bohemian of people. Long on heating bills and short on comfort and privacy, lofts–which are, historically, converted factory spaces–made their reputation by housing artists whose work required wide-open areas. The trade-off for living in a dwelling large enough to accommodate 20-foot-tall canvases was, of course, the industrial aesthetics. In the 1970s and 1980s, no one could call a Manhattan loft comfortable.

But the phrase luxury loft is no longer an oxymoron. Lofts are now created–not just converted–for high-end residential use. While new lofts offer the same open floor plans, expansive views and sky-high ceilings, they are just as likely to come with high-end kitchen appliances, sunken tubs, rooftop pools, fitness centers and top-flight security systems.

And lofts are popping up in the most unexpected places, including Scottsdale, Ariz.; Austin, Texas; even ­Miami and Los Angeles–where lofts were never before part of the cityscape. As the pendulum swings back from 50 years of suburban flight, people are moving back into towns and cities, and lofts are becoming the quintessential palatial symbol of the new urbanism.

“We’re trying to redefine the approach for sophisticated urban living,” says Tom Cody, principal of the South Group, which saw lofts in its Luma building, currently under construction in downtown Los Angeles, sell out in seven hours one day in September. The 236 units, billed as “soft lofts” and priced from the $400,000s to more than $2 million, offer floor plans of up to 3,500 square feet, with stainless steel appliances, IceStone slab kitchen countertops, walk-in closets, hardwood floors, a concierge and a terrace plaza with a pool.

“People who buy lofts today have upper-end-of-the-market expectations,” Cody says. “They won’t live in marginal homes. It’s driving the rebirth of the loft as a beautiful thing and not a rugged, unfinished thing.”

In Los Angeles, some of the most breathtaking lofts are updated historical showpieces. Broadway Hollywood, a Renaissance Revival landmark at Hollywood and Vine that was once the Broadway department store, is steeped in vintage elements: The original polychrome brick finish has been uncovered after decades of being buried under paint; rows of elaborate Corinthian columns line the lower levels and upper loggias; a historic neon beacon crowns the rooftop. Also known as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #664, the 1927 building is taking on new life as 96 loft condos, with prices as high as $1 million to $3 million.

Clad in eye-catching turquoise terra-cotta, the Eastern Columbia in downtown Los Angeles is a 1930 example of Zigzag Moderne, a geometrically stylized version of Art Deco. Once an opulent department store, with showroom windows stretching 14 feet high, it is being converted into 147 loft condos, with square footage ranging from 881 to 3,208. Penthouses in the building–which includes a rooftop pool, leisure terrace and fitness studio–start at $3 million.“Everybody knows the Eastern Columbia as the clock tower building or the blue terra-cotta building–it stands out from the rest of the buildings,” says Kimberly Lucero, vice president of sales and marketing for the Kor Group, which is developing both projects. “There is appeal to being in a historical building. A lot of people like being able to say, ‘I own in that building.’ ”

Superstar designer Kelly Wearstler revamped the interiors of the Eastern Columbia. Its corridors are styled with broadloom carpet, pendant lighting and wall sconces. Fluted paneling and antiqued mirrors adorn the lobby. While loft staples such as concrete floors and 14-foot ceilings are present, the gourmet kitchens have European-style wood cabinetry, stone countertops and decorative lighting. The oversize bathrooms come with large soaking tubs, granite counters and tub decks.

Marketing brochures for the building tout the softer new image that lofts now evoke: The address of the Eastern Columbia is not simply South Broadway and Ninth Street–it is “located at the corner of concrete and cashmere.” Indeed.

In the Los Angeles Downtown Arts District, Linear City is developing Biscuit Company Lofts in a ca. 1925 Nabisco bakery. The 104 lofts boast ceilings that range from 13 to 20 feet high, original 1-inch-thick maple floors and panoramic views of the downtown skyline. Some of the lofts have two- and three-story layouts, with private rooftop gardens and fireplaces. The “super penthouse” is a three-story unit of 3,600 square feet with its own private elevator, a 360-degree view of the city and more than 2,000 square feet of rooftop gardens. With sales starting in March, projected pricing is from the $300,000s to more than $3 million. “We’re building on the great old style of lofts, but taking them into the 21st century,” says Paul Solomon, managing partner of Linear City, which projects occupancy in October 2006.

In New York, neighborhoods not traditionally associated with lofts are now sprouting them. In the Financial District, one block from Wall Street, 50 Pine Street is a collection of 20 lofts ranging in size from 1,200 to 3,050 square feet in what was originally the ­corporate headquarters for Caledonian Insurance. The developer, Philadelphia’s Metro Development, preserved much of the building’s old-world charm, from its carved granite entranceway to the Italian mosaic marble hallway floors to the cast-iron elevator and stair ornamentation. “This area was a frontier when we bought the building one and a half years ago, but it’s turning into more and more of a neighborhood,” says David Grasso, CEO of Metro Development.

Inside one of the “soft lofts” at Luma in downtown Los Angeles. (Click image to enlarge)

In cities with a short supply of older buildings, loft living is becoming so popular that developers are creating buildings that borrow from the past–essentially reproductions that look like conversions. “There’s not much to convert here,” says Henry E. Harper-McCausland, CEO of Intrepid Real Estate in Miami. He has built two Miami developments: Parc Lofts and the Filling Station, both billed as “authentic loft concepts.”

“There is mostly sprawl in Miami, horizontal growth,” Harper-McCausland says. “All the construction is one- and two-story. My dilemma was, ‘How do I introduce lofts here? If I build new construction, will it seem like Disneyland? Will I be selling a false dream?’ ”After buying every book he could find on the Internet about lofts, Harper-McCausland decided he needed to build his new lofts in an industrial, not residential, manner. Instead of using the thin structural slabs employed in most condo buildings in the city, Intrepid used precast concrete, the type of construction material typically reserved for much-abused parking decks. This building method eliminates the need for interior supports, allowing for huge living spaces with plentiful columns and thick beams. “Old  school” cast-iron plumbing runs ex­posed throughout the buildings. But, in true luxury style, some of the units at Parc Lofts, and all of the units at the Filling Station, have mezzanines, glassed-in terraces, hidden stainless steel kitchen appliances and industrial-fixture lighting.

In Miami, Intrepid is not the only developer dipping into the loft market. Among the many loft projects in the works are BCRE’s Element, a 106-unit loft project on Biscayne Bay in the up-and-coming Edgewater neighborhood, just north of the new Performing Arts Center.

With two lofts per floor, Element’s designer-ready units stretch from 2,300 to 5,000 square feet, not in­cluding the 10-foot-wide balconies. The building, expected to be completed in 2008, features two pools, a health club, a spa and sauna, a cigar humidor, a wine cellar, two tennis courts, a half basketball court and a putting green. Prices range from $1.7 million to $7 million. Buyers include movie director Michael Bay, who purchased a two-story penthouse as a vacation home.

In Marina del Rey, in the heart of Los Angeles’ Westside, John Laing Homes had the same idea for creating the look and feel of a conversion. The developer’s new 50-unit Element lofts are also made of precast concrete and have floor-to-beam windows, flexible floor plans, exposed ductwork and concrete floors. The best units sell for just under $1 million. “We tried to mimic a conversion by playing up the gritty materials, going for an authentic look–open spaces, an abundance of natural light,” says Jonathan Watts, principal of Cuningham Group, the architects for Element.

The sheer size of lofts limits their presence in the condo market (they represent roughly 5 percent of all condos). Few builders are willing to create such low-density structures, particularly in cities where space is at a premium. This may be why lofts are often the first homes to pop up in developing cities such as Scottsdale or Austin.

Intrepid Real Estate is pioneering the loft movement in Miami. Its Filling Station boasts massive open spaces, mezzanines and glass terraces with wet bars. Photograph by Spine 3-D (Click image to enlarge)

“When a city first opens up, land is at a lower price and you can afford a low-density project like a loft [building],” says Ken Losch, principal of Avenue Communities, builders of Third Avenue Lofts in Scottsdale. “Our lofts have at least 11-foot ceilings: some are 18 feet. But we bought in four years ago. If somebody were to get that land today, they would try to squeeze in units with 9-foot ceilings to get another floor in. They would lose that loft feel. The resale value of lofts should be phenomenal because, as time goes by, units will have lower ceilings and a totally different feel. They might be called lofts, but the ones that are true lofts will have the highest value.

The majority of lofts today are being created by small, boutique-style developers more likely to be local and regional outfits than big-name national entities. While large national firms often go with a formula that can be duplicated around the country, loft development can take more time and energy because conversions have to be retrofitted to an individual building, or new construction has to be designed to fit a piece of land. Smaller firms are more inclined to roll up their sleeves and design for a specific market.
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.”

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.“They tend to be more creative, driven people,” says Watts, the architect for Element in Marina del Rey. “They don’t fit into any particular demographic. It’s not just the urban young gritty copywriter who wants to be radical. It appeals to creative people willing to take risks.”

Says Cody of the South Group, which is building Luma in Los Angeles: “It means different things to different people, but it’s always exciting. Something about a loft evokes excitement. Some people don’t desire a huge house in the suburbs or, if they do have that, they want to complement it with an urban loft near fabulous restaurants, the opera house. When you think about it, what do you enjoy in life? What is the good life? It’s the arts, fine dining. Lofts bring you closer to that. And you can turn the key and fly off to France for the weekend and not worry about who has to mow the lawn.”

Avenue Communities initially marketed its Third Avenue Lofts in Scottsdale to people in their 20s before it realized its mistake. Today, most of its buyers are age 40 and up. Losch calls them “artsy creative types” who already have owned a house in an affluent area and want to express themselves through living in an urban environment. One buyer, a single lawyer in her late 40s, invested more than $100,000 in electrical work and cabinetry in her 2,000-square-foot loft.

A rendering of a great room at 50 Pine Street in New York, a building that will comprise 20 lofts in the hub of the Financial District.  Photograph by Aniphase (Click image to enlarge)

The freedom to create your own design on a large scale is alluring to many buyers. Lofts are usually empty can­vases calling out for creative color on the walls or an arrangement of furniture that could only work in an area unrestrained by interior walls. “You can have lots of different staging groups or just enjoy the open space with one sitting group that enjoys the view,” says Watts of Element in Marina del Rey. “People get a kick out of it. It makes them feel more creative. There is a deliberate shedding of clutter involved.”

At Parc Lofts in Miami, developer Harper-McCausland is proud of the fact that Intrepid doesn’t “do bedrooms, closets or walls.”

“I don’t believe we should tell people where to sleep,” he says. “It’s up to you to create what you want.”

One loft owner in an Intrepid building snatched up two units and redesigned the space into a 6,000-square-foot home, with its own private elevator, 36-foot-tall ceilings and a Molteni kitchen.While many loft dwellers go for stark, modern design or “factory chic,” interiors in lofts are not tied to one look, designers insist. The beauty of a large open space is that it can be shaped to an individual loft owner’s style preferences.

“The most wonderful lofts I’ve experienced are extremely eclectic,” says Cody. “Unlike a traditional Cape Cod home, which you would never put Philippe Starck furniture in, the wonderful thing about a loft is that it gives you creative breathing room in terms of furnishings. It’s 100 percent condo, but you get all the loft pleasures: open, tall ceilings, tall windows, and walls of glass. It’s a subtle refinement.”

Luma, 213.622.5400, www.exploresouthgroup.com
Broadway Hollywood, 213.488.0600, www.thekorgroup.com
Eastern Columbia, 213.488.0600, www.thekorgroup.com
Biscuit Company Lofts, 213.670.0114, www.biscuitcompanylofts.com
50 Pine Street,  212.381.6549, www.50pine.com
Parc Lofts, 305.371.9998, www.intrepidrealestate.com
Filling Station, 305.371.9998, www.intrepidrealestate.com
Element (Marina Del Rey), 310.821.3639, www.johnlainghomes.com
Element (Miami), 305.379.7619, www.brack-capital.com
Third Avenue Lofts, 480.941.2929, www.thirdavenuelofts.com
Plaza Lofts, 512.478.8300, www.plazalofts.com, www.suttoncompany.com