Lofty goals
Developers test market for downtown dwellings

July 24, 2007

By Sarah K. Winn

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

Leora Davalos’ front yard has a brick sidewalk, a trash can and parking meter. Taking in her groceries and walking her dogs attracts stares, she said.

“It’s a mysterious attraction for people,” Davalos said in front her Hale Street loft. “I tell them, this is my neighborhood. You are in my front yard.”

Nationally, downtown housing rates doubled between 1970 and 2000, according to a study of 44 cities done by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research and policy organization.

Some local downtown dwellers and developers are trying to invest in an untested market in Charleston-downtown living for the young professional.

In a July survey of the Charleston Area Alliance’s young professionals group members, 77 percent of said they considered living downtown. More than 50 percent surveyed even went looking. However, 90 percent said they weren’t happy with the options.

In response, current downtown residents hosted a loft walk for about 50 young professionals last week.

Davalos, 27, and her husband Julio, a urologist, have lived at 225 Hale St., above Saad’s Oriental Rugs, for two years.

As the young professionals walked through, most just stared, semi-starstruck at the renovation. Some, like Andre Nabors, were taking notes.

“Everything I need is right downtown,” Nabors said as he walked out of the master bathroom, after snapping a picture of the bathtub with his cell phone. “And walking to work is a luxury of most big cities.”

Nabors, who works at the Charleston Convention and Visitors Bureau, continued his picture-taking throughout the apartment.

“This kitchen is even better,” he said, as he walked up into the open living room. “I need to get a picture.”

For Julio Davalos, living in a downtown area was always the goal.

“I wanted to live in a city when I finished my residency,” he said. “Charleston, in my opinion, is the only urban-feeling place to live in West Virginia. ... We looked at other options, but downtown made a lot of sense.”

The couple is also renovating 227 Hale St., with plans for a bar on the first floor and two units upstairs. The upstairs units will be finished within three months, he said.

This mixed-use concept comes with some possible drawbacks, specifically residual noise, Davalos said. At first, Davalos plans to rent the two units above the bar to make sure the sound isn’t too much.

“To live above a bar, is, well, to live above a bar,” he said.

In the young professionals’ survey, 85 percent of responders said they were interested in owning, not renting, a downtown abode. If they were renting, 35 percent want to pay between $759 and $1,000 a month.

When it came to owning, the young professionals wanted more for less. Forty percent wanted a 1,501- to 2,500-square-foot apartment. But, 40 percent wanted to pay $100,000 to $150,000 for a loft.

That price point is low, Davalos said. He sees a $135- to $200-per-square-foot charge for finished space as more realistic.

One part of the survey surprised Davalos — the loft amenities young professionals were looking for. While on-site parking and the proximity to downtown locations (48 percent and 38 percent, respectively) ranked high, 68 percent of survey responders wanted individual laundry in each unit.

Davalos said the downtown housing market in Charleston is largely untested. There have been other plans for lofts, but the most successful downtown housing project, he said, is Paula Butterfield’s 816 on the Boulevard and some individual projects.

“I look at it as a smart risk — untested also means untapped,” Davalos said. “Being on the leading edge of a trend is always better than jumping on later.”

The Davaloses aren’t alone on Hale Street. Jeff Miller and Gina Puzzuoli have called 217 Hale St. their home since 2004.

“I didn’t want to do it,” Puzzuoli admitted. “We would drive downtown, and [Miller] would point and say, ‘We could get this building.’ For a year, he harped on it.”

Miller has a long history with design, construction and historic preservation. He is the managing director of projects and technical services at Vandalia Heritage Foundation in Fairmont, a non-profit organization that works to revive local economies through historic preservation. Vandalia has completed loft projects in Thomas and Wheeling.

For a 1,000- to 1,500-square-foot raw space, Miller estimates a person could renovate for $75 to $90 a square foot, including adding a kitchen and a bathroom. Renovating comparable commercial space costs between $55 and $75 per square foot.

That’s not much of a difference, considering what goes into residential construction and inevitable aftereffects, he said. With residential development comes a resurgence of retail, not the other way around, he said.

“The only thing that will bring retail back downtown are heads on a pillow,” Miller said, as he sat outside Taylor Books on Saturday. “No one has put a plan together that connects the damned dots.”

To make downtown living a reality, it takes cooperation from a variety of entities, from the city building authority, banks, the construction community and even utility companies.

When Miller and Puzzuoli first moved downtown, there were problems with the bank loan, homeowners insurance and utilities. The first year the couple lived on Hale Street, they paid a commercial rate for utilities on half their building.

However, those problems will be lessened once more people move downtown, Miller said.
“It’s a risk, but those that take the risk early are those that profit early,” he said. “The only salvation [for Charleston], or a major piece of the salvation, is downtown living.”

To contact staff writer Sarah K. Winn, call 348-5156.