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Jun. 19, 2005
Condos to echo
Elizabeth's past
30-unit project will be built to
blend in with neighborhood's style
DOUG SMITH
The glass tower with the skyline
view is dominating residential design in
Charlotte
's center city, but just two miles from The Square it's a different story.
In
Elizabeth
, for example, residential developers lean toward traditional
architecture.
When
Elizabeth Place
, a 30-unit condominium project, is completed in late 2006, it should look
like it evolved along with the neighborhood, which dates to the late
1890s.
"We want it to look like
Elizabeth
's old quadraplexes, to blend with the character of the
neighborhood," said developer Paul Zarbatany of Highland Park
Development Co. LLC.
The design of the $6.2 million
project will resonate with buyers who prefer traditional-style homes, but
it also should alleviate neighborhood anxiety about the streetscape.
"We've done everything
possible to make sure that it fits in," said Babak Emadi, a principal
in Urbana Urban Design & Architecture.
Emadi, an active member of the
Elizabeth Community Association, said Zarbatany hired his firm to research
homes in
Elizabeth
and come up with a design.
"We borrowed elements from
Elizabeth
's apartment buildings -- old-fashioned porches and balconies just like
you see there now," Emadi said.
Elizabeth Place
's brick-and-cedar-shake exterior will include glazed tiles to highlight
balconies facing the street, he said.
Charlotte
is experiencing a surge back to the urban core as young professionals and
empty nesters seek to cut commutes and move closer to center city jobs and
cultural amenities.
And that's raising concerns about
traffic, parking and density in close-in neighborhoods where infill
developers are building on underused or undeveloped parcels on residential
streets.
In
Elizabeth
, the development boom is especially strong, involving both commercial and
residential revitalization.
Grubb Properties has begun a $240
million redevelopment covering about six blocks along
Elizabeth Avenue
between
Hawthorne Lane
and
Independence Boulevard
. It's to include homes, shops and offices.
Grubb's efforts to fill gaps in
the streetscape -- natural foods supermarket Whole Foods and a
multi-screen cinema have been announced -- are making the neighborhood
more attractive to other developers.
Highland Park Development has
contracted -- for an undisclosed price -- to buy roughly 1.3 acres for the
Elizabeth Place
condos at
Clarice Avenue
and Ninth Street
. The property at 518 Clarice is occupied now by two old houses, which
will be demolished.
Tony Miller of the Elizabeth
Community Association's zoning committee wasn't familiar with the project.
Since it doesn't require a rezoning, it hasn't come before the committee,
he said.
"In general we favor raising
the residential density of the neighborhood," Miller said. "Our
first choice is to replace commercial with medium-density
residential."
Zarbatany said he and Tom Simpson
of
Charlotte
's Simpson Properties, his partner in the venture, liked the condo
location because of its close proximity to shops, restaurants and
Independence
Park
.
The neighborhood likely would
become even more attractive if the Charlotte Area Transit System follows
through on a proposal to build a streetcar line through
Elizabeth
, he said.
The developers plan 27
two-bedroom, two-bath flats and three three-bedroom, two-bath flats.
Prices for the two-bedroom units
(1,000 to 1,116 square feet) range from $187,000 to $220,000.
Three-bedroom units (1,251 to 1,569 square feet) sell for $234,000 to
$274,000.
Twenty-eight condos will have
large balconies or porches. Two will have what Zarbatany calls small
"balconettes."
He describes the floor plans as
"open," with a combined living, kitchen and dining area.
Features include granite
countertops, nine-foot ceilings, hardwood floors in kitchen and formal
living areas, carpeting in bedrooms and ceramic tile in bathrooms.
Each buyer gets a one-car, covered
parking space under the three-story building. Off-street paved parking
also will be available.
Zarbatany said the developers plan
to preserve mature trees on the edge of the site and install landscaping
in common areas.
He expects to start construction
by October. The construction contract is out for bids.
Zarbatany's wife, Emily Shea
Zarbatany, is marketing the project through Dickens Mitchener Associates.
To date, buyers have reserved eight units.
In late 2003, Paul Zarbatany, who
spent 12 years renovating houses in
Charlotte
, announced the Cameron condos on
Pecan Avenue
in Plaza-Midwood. That eight-unit project has sold out, he said.
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