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The Garrison
Jan. 19, 2005
Loft project includes skyline view
Industrial-style condo building
planned for 4th Ward
DOUG SMITH
A
Charlotte
developer plans to combine industrial-style architecture with skyline
views at a new condo project in Fourth Ward.
The Garrison at Graham will
include a rooftop terrace and 45 lofts on five levels atop a parking floor
at West 10th and North Graham streets near the Brookshire Freeway.
Developer Thomas Barnes of Hawkins
& West said prices will range from $246,500 to $398,000 for units
ranging from 1,256 to 1,973 square feet.
He's tapping into one of the
center city's hottest real estate markets. Nine projects totaling 1,107
units have been announced or started since April, and real estate watchers
expect several more announcements this year.
About 10,000 people live uptown,
which continues to gain popularity as a trendy place to live as young
professionals and empty nesters seek to avoid long commutes and
participate in urban nightlife and entertainment.
The Garrison is at 715 N. Graham
in the same block with a Circle K convenience store. It's also near Silo
Urban Lofts, another condo project, and the grain storage elevators of ADM
Milling Co. Fourth Ward neighbors indicated
a preference for an industrial design with large windows to blend with
Graham Street
's vintage factory and warehouse-style buildings.
The Garrison's facade is based on
an old Delco factory in
Ohio
. Barnes and his project architect, Wood Architecture Inc., discovered it
while thumbing through a book from Barnes' collection.
About 2,000 square feet of the top
floor will be devoted to a multi-use terrace with a hot tub, a covered
area for grilling, a gas-log fireplace and sitting areas.
Barnes said he became enamored
with lofts after living in a studio loft in
New Orleans
. He plans to live at The Garrison.
Lofts will have 16-foot ceilings
and 12-foot-by-14-foot windows with second-floor mezzanines designed as
master bed-and-bath suites.
"On the mezzanine level ...
you will get the sensation of big open space just as you do
downstairs," he said.
Owners will face a dilemma, Barnes
said. "They'll just want to stand by those windows and watch the
light move."
The view of the uptown skyline
will be protected, he said, because nothing can be built directly across
the street on right of way for the
10th Street
ramp off the Brookshire Freeway.
Lofts will include a kitchen, a
second bedroom and a second full bath underneath mezzanines. Standard
features include stainless-steel appliances, granite countertops and
pantries with roll-out drawers.
All units will have 10 1/2-foot
islands with a sinks and ranges, Barnes said, "so you can prep and
cook while looking out over the living room to the view outside."
Entry and living areas will have
hardwood floors. Among optional features: a hydraulic lift that enables
residents to add a second level to a single parking space.
Barnes said Hawkins & West, a
limited liability company, is the major partner in The Garrison at Graham
LLC, the development entity.
Among his other projects are
renovation and conversion of an industrial building in
North Charlotte
to an office-retail complex called NoDa@28th Street and development of the
Worthington Row commercial buildings in South End.
Barnes needs a rezoning to
mixed-use to proceed with development of The Garrison on slightly more
than 0.6 acres.
The City Council and planning
commission conducted a public hearing Tuesday evening on the petition,
which Barnes said was unopposed.
If the rezoning is approved as
anticipated, construction could start in March and be completed about a
year later, he said.
Rodgers
Builders Inc. is the general contractor for the project, valued at roughly
$14 million. Design Resource Group handled land planning.
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