Warehouse Living.

[Omarvelous09]

There are so many empty warehouses/commercial spaces that would make great living spaces. Other cities (not only metropolitan) have utilized these spaces, and turned them into great places to live. Why are there no investors willing to break free from the "high-end loft" trend in urban Jax? Don't get me wrong, i love the Metropolitan, Carling, 11E etc...but they only service one socioeconomic group. Why should downtown living be expensive & bland?

[Joe]

The three buildings you mentioned above are all FANTASTIC examples of commercial-to-residential conversions. As are some other loft conversions completed or proposed, particularly in Springfield.

I guess if you don't like their price-points, you can do a warehouse conversion yourself. Like you said, plenty of empty spaces are out there.

But I suspect that the reason you don't see cheaper units available, is because it's simply not possible for you - or a developer - to offer a quality warehouse conversion at a low price. Buying commercial/industrial property is not super cheap, even in really bad areas. Then you have to consider the often hundreds of thousands of dollars necessary to convert all that square footage into livable space.

[Sigma]

I saw this in Jacksonville magazine in the May issue (page 60)

http://jacksonvillemag.epubxpress.com/wps/portal/jm/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3iLkCAPEzcPIwN_c1dnAyNTIxczzwATAwNnE_2CbEdFAIoI6dw!/

Does anyone know where this is?  This looks like a great place.

[Deuce]

In my experience, I have rarely see many of these conversion done that were done on the cheap. If they were, then they were cheap (e.g. Formica counter tops). If you're looking for something less expensive, I think a good deal can be had at 1951 Market.

[Sigma]

There are so many empty warehouses/commercial spaces that would make great living spaces. Other cities (not only metropolitan) have utilized these spaces, and turned them into great places to live. Why are there no investors willing to break free from the "high-end loft" trend in urban Jax? Don't get me wrong, i love the Metropolitan, Carling, 11E etc...but they only service one socioeconomic group. Why should downtown living be expensive & bland?

The investors willing to risk it can't get the financing.

[Omarvelous09]

O marvelous.

There are actually still a number of very cool real lofts in the city.
Here is an old times union article about the downtown loft scene.  That's when the spaces being called "Lofts" were the type of space you are talking about.
http://www.jacksonville.com/towline/stories/082600/dsd_loft.html

There are a couple of Loft projects being put together as we speak, in fact.
Jason Grimes is doing on in Five Points.

There is one in the Park and King district, and there are a few clandestine lofts in downtown still.

What the other posters are talking about are apartments, usually studios remarketed as 'lofts' by the realtors.  They really arent 'high end' lofts.  Just expensive apartments and condos.

There have been a few commercial loft projects in other cities:  I lived in The Seed Factory in Atlanta, which was a great example, but locally, the closest to the real thing is probably the Metropolitan Lofts downtown.

I don't remember any commercial lofts in the Loft District in San Francisco in the 90s.  (SoMa, or south of Market Street).  Although there was a co op loft building at 1015 Folsom Street, right down from where I lived there.  (It had a really deluxe awesome club on the bottom floor, and then each of the other floors were divided into two or three giganto loft spaces.

What makes a loft cool is the extra big space for the relatively low rent.

Not really an attractive product for a real estate developer, as Joe has pointed out.

So most of them are privately done.  Of course the downside is that you live in squalor for a little while while the conversion is taking place, but once they are done, a loft space is pretty magnificent.

To be honest, I preferred the downtown loft scene of 2000 to the entertainment districts.

What would be prime is having the one in proximity to the other.

My only experience with a true warehouse district was in Chicago. There were blocks of old commercial spaces were the conversions were done to a minimum, keeping prices low and retained the "warehouse" appeal. One day...lol

[samiam]

I'm not sure but i believe the Liberty lofts are still a go, there website is still up

[Sigma]

Yes that whole area back there would be a great loft project.  Maybe with a micro-brewery or two? There has been several attempts to get Liberty off the ground - cross your fingers.

[samiam]

That would be a good area to have it own independent trolley line.. drive down, park your car. jump on the trolley, go from shop to shop, get some dinner and a few drinks, take the trolley back to your car. If you lived in one of the lofts you would be the envy of all you suburbanite friends.