12/08/15 3:30pm

Ivy Lofts Rendering, Leeland at Live Oak, East Downtown, Houston

“Some buzz” has made its way back to the Ivy Lofts developers since news of the plans for Houston’s tiniest condos began to spread — so much buzz, in fact, that Novel Creative Development is responding to the pushback with a change in sales tactics. The group announced in an email that Ivy Lofts buyers will have the option to lump 2 adjacent units together and customize the floorplan, giving residents more space if needed.

The promotion team is also working hard to rebrand the proposed floorplans with the names of famously dense cities, instead of describing the units by their size.  “It’s not fair to label these spaces by square footages,” says marketing director Brandon Vos in a RE/MAX press release. “We had to come up with new names since so many rooms double in usage.”

The newly internationalized units include The Tokyo, the project’s itsy-bitsiest floor plan, which measures in at 300 sq. ft. and will be priced starting at $119,000.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Doubling Up at Ivy Lofts
02/21/14 3:45pm

256_hr3323490-11

2602-Washington-03-2

The 1998 transformation of a former auto shop on Washington Ave to the 9-unit Lopresti Lofts was a bit of a quirky redo. McGregor Real Estate Group gave the building a mash-up of infill materials, various porch-balcony-terrace views of downtown, and a piggyback stucco-faced addition topped by roof flaps saluting crisply above each unit (top). The amalgamation sits right across across the street from the gated entry of peaceful, park-like Glenwood Cemetery. A corner unit (in the building, not the graveyard) listed last week but quickly dropped its asking price by $20K to $370,000. Inside (above), lots of tubing ties together 4 levels of wide, somewhat open, sometimes high gallery space . . .

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

Show Us the Door
06/19/13 3:00pm

Early in the last-century rush to loft downtown properties, this 1914 warehouse got converted into 15 condo units, each with a glass-and-iron fronted balcony. That was back in the mid-eighties. A see-it-all-at-a-glance corner spot on the 2nd floor within the San Jacinto Lofts showed up in the listings last week for $195,000.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

07/09/10 1:51pm

That’s no flood — just a meandering pattern on the terrace of this two-ish bedroom condo in Il Palazzo on Calumet. This 1,914-sq.-ft. space on the 5th floor of the Museum District building with the light Mussolini-era styling went on the market over the last weekend, for $425,000. The patio view is to the south, but there’s so much more to look at inside:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY