LoftyWords

Austin - New Mod Downtown Loft For Lease

1 bedroom, 1.5 baths, with dedicated office and covered parking available for immediate move-in, located in downtown Austin!

This is the perfect place for an active professional, close to the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail, less than a mile from 6th and Congress, and under a minute comute to downtown, this almost 1300 foot loft is located in the very cool Pedernales community (www.pedernales.com).

Features and amenities:

*Beautifully stained concrete floors

*Large balcony (approx. 22'x7')

*1 bedroom

*1.5 baths

*Walk-in closet

*Huge live in Living Room

*Modern kitchen

*Stainless steel appliances

*Granite Countertops Throughout

*High ceilings

*New washer, dryer, fridge, oven, and microwave

*Covered parking

*Secure, Gated complex

*Beautiful green-space

*High speed internet available

The Pedernales offers the rare combination of urban living with private community greenspaces.  Offered at $1500 a month, plus one months deposit, the unit is available for immediate move in after April 20th, 2006.  Cats and dogs are welcome, and the unit has a large greenspace located behind it, perfect for Rovers afternoon romp.

[Click to view Craig's List listing]
[Local Contact Information]

More Pictures after the jump!

Asheville Art Museum's Urban Loft + Art Tour

News Blurb from the Asheville Citizen Times:

"ASHEVILLE - Eight downtown residential lofts will be featured on the Asheville Art Museum's Urban Loft + Art Tour this evening.

The walking tour begins at 5 p.m. and finishes with a food and wine reception at Kimmel & Associates, 25 Page Ave., one of the tour sponsors. Tours will leave every 15 minutes beginning at 5 p.m. from the Atrium of the Haywood Park Hotel. The last tour is scheduled to leave at 6:30 p.m. Tour-goers sign up for a tour time when they buy their tickets.

Tickets are $50 per person, available at the Asheville Art Museum in Pack Place"...

1600 Broadway, NY, NY

Do you like living in the thick of things, enjoy the limelight, wish you could live close enough to see each and every Broadway show, or just see the ball drop every New Years? Well now you can, Sherwood Equities, and Mogul Reality are bringing a 27-story loft tower to the heart of Times Square. These luxury lofts are in the midst of Maxies Delicatessen, The Renaissance, MOMA, Saint Patrick’s, Rockefeller Center, the NBC Building, 5th Avenue shopping (think Tiffany's, Cartier, Armani, Prada, Chanel, etc.) and skipping distance to all that the Theatre District has to offer.

1600 Broadway will begin to offer 137 condos featuring : studios, one bedrooms, one bedrooms with home offices, two bedrooms, two bedrooms with home offices, and three bedroom residences. Finished details include granite countertops, floor to ceiling windows, Subzero, Miele, LG and Bosch stainless steel appliances.

The building will open to residents in the spring of 2006 and prices range from $725,000 to $2.8 million.

Editors note: I realize this sounds a bit "sales copyish", but I was really taken with the units from the outside, after looking at the floor plans, I think... even for New York... they're awfully small, and and the apartments are questionably laid out.

Your Own Handmade Sofa Set

Here's a scenario: you've been searching high and low for that perfect sofa set just to be told again and again that they don't have it in that size or that color or some other excuse that prevents you from getting what you know you want. Sound familiar? Then check out Mod4All, where you can get a high-quality sofa set handmade to your choice of color and configuration. The one pictured is a Carini Sectional: available in either cloth or microfiber and has a hard wood frame with polyuruthane filling. For more about this sofa set and others, click here.

Bookcases Galore!

Looking for a new bookcase, but either you can't find what you're looking for, or you don't even know where to start? Try BookCasesGalore.com and check out its selection. What I found most helpful was the interactive "shopping wizard," where you can choose the style, material, and finish you desire. It definitely saves you time if you know what you want, but if you're not sure, its menu options help in the decision-process.

Freighthouse Flats - Kansas, MO

I have been following a new deverlopment, the Freighthouse Flats in Kansas City's (Missouri) urban core.

To quote their promo piece:

Freighthouse Flats is a historically preserved warehouse reinvented as 22 exceptional loft apartments. It inhabits the old Westinghouse Electric warehouse, built in 1924. Each loft is unique and cleverly designed, seamlessly blending early 20th century architectural charm with today's sleek, innovative design. Beautiful brick, top-of-the line interior finishings and attention to detail give Freighthouse Flats a cosmopolitan, yet comfortable feel.

For more information check out Freighthouse Flats on the web.

AIA Home Show - Austin, Texas

"The 20th Annual AIA Austin Homes Tour will take place on October 1st and 2nd, from 12 Noon - 6PM each day. Presented by AIA Austin (the Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects), this year's tour will feature an intriguing collection of 11 one-of-a-kind homes designed by professional members of AIA Austin for real clients representing a wide range of lifestyles."

"Tickets for the Tour are $25 each (for all 11 homes) and are on sale now. They are valid for the entire weekend. Tickets for the Premier Party are $75 and include a full Homes Tour ticket."

Click on over to aiaaustin.org for more information.

Bracelli Lamp

If you're looking for a lamp that adds complexity to your home as well as lighting, you'd definitely find it with the Bracelli Lamp from Salvador Dali. A reproduction of his 1937 design, this unique style consists of a 67" high structure with a handmade cotton-rayon shade and a beech supporting bracket. For more information, go to TheMagazine.Info.

Danish Rosewood Coffee Table

Here's an item with a fine finish to it. It's Danish in design, made of rosewood, and, along with its 1960s style, has a distinct and earthy tone to it. Go to ModHaus.com for more information.

NY vs. Austin Loft Costs

For those of you in the know, I publish this blog from Austin, Tx.. Often, Austin is cited with the highest cost of living in the state, and one of the highest with respect to the cost of housing.

For example, in my neck of the woods, loft prices range from: $1.10 to $2.20 lease (per month) or $210.00 to $420.00 sale, per square foot. So, what does that translate to in real dollars: 1190 sq. ft. rents for approximatley $1300 to $2600, and you can expect to buy that same unit for approximatley $250,000.00 to $500,00.00.

In general, loft prices have soared across North America, and while reading an article this morning on Curbed.com" about the rising costs of Lofts in New York, I am starting to feel very lucky that I live in Austin.

The key findings that Curbed has distilled for us are:

Apartments in Manhattan sold for an average of $1.145 million, 14% higher than a year ago, while median prices jumped 12% to $725,000. And loft prices set a new record in August, hitting $966 per square foot, 25% above a year ago. All the good news you can eat, after the jump.

This news from New York is disturbing, but not really surprising. Relating these findings, the average New Yorker can expect to pay 2.3 times more than the average Austinite.

After reading this, I am going to prepare a sampling of loft costs across the markets that this blog is read, if you have information from other markets, or if you know of materials published recently in your market reagrding the costs of lofts, please send me an email at Drew Moynihan

To read the article, and to view the link to the original source (Halstead) click on over to Curbed.com".