Preservationists encourage developers to recycle rather than demolish old structures, but a project near uptown saves the old by blending it with the new.

Charlotte developer Desiree MacSorley is remodeling two 1930s houses and is building a new section between them to create four-unit Harding Place Office Condominiums.

The old brick on the exterior and chimneys will remain, but the architectural focal point will become the center section with its large arched window and copper roof overhanging the front steps.

The new two-story section includes two condos. Each house is a separate unit. The condos range from 1,286 to 2,494 square feet and sell from $270,000 to $536,000.

MacSorley is a principal and landscape architect at Design Resource Group, and she has a passion for preservation. She has restored a few houses, but this project -- valued at $1.5 million -- will be her biggest.

MacSorley was looking for restoration opportunities when real estate broker Rob Pressley of Coldwell Banker Commercial MECA found the side-by-side vacant houses in the 1300 block of Harding Place, between East Morehead Street and Kenilworth Avenue. The property was zoned for office development, but the street, with its mature trees and views of the planned Little Sugar Creek Greenway, looks more residential than commercial.

"I think we're going to see more of this in the midtown area," said Bob Lore of Coldwell Banker Commercial MECA. "It's a neat little island that is turning over from typical housing to an office environment that doesn't really hurt the old, and in some cases retains some of the old."

Reg Narmour and Curtis Sloop of Narmour Wright Associates designed the project, to be completed this fall. The challenge, Sloop said, was combining the structures and meshing the condos with the neighborhood.

"The two old buildings were one-story Craftsman style homes," he said. "I was surprised Doerre Construction Co. (the contractor) was able to keep so much of the houses intact."

Consistent with the Craftsman architectural style prevalent in Dilworth and other older neighborhoods, the condos will feature cedar shingles, brick accents, oversized trim and front porches on ground-level units.

Condo owners also will have entry porches at the rear of the building, where there will be 19 parking spaces.

Among features in various units: new mechanical systems, heart pine and oak floors, vaulted ceilings, exposed ductwork, gas fireplaces, antique mantles and break areas for employees.

Thanks to low interest rates, the office condo market has been a bright spot in a lackluster commercial real estate market over the past three years.

Industry analysts say the niche appeals mainly to small service businesses seeking to control costs and build equity by buying rather than renting long-term.

MacSorley believes Harding Place Office Condominiums will attract such buyers as designers, architects, lawyers, insurance agents and most likely companies that do business with Carolinas Medical Center.

The condos are a block off the Morehead Street side of Carolinas HealthCare System's planned $40 million, 300,000-square-foot medical park and $18 million, 3,000-space parking deck.