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Lofts is Lofts

Three Cheers for the Sidewalk
A tribute to these vital paths

Art as a Civic Concern
Collection adds flavor to the convention center

And a stack of them is nearing occupancy on the 100 block of Gay Street

by Barry Henderson

Loftliving has been a component of urban residency since the advent of the multi-story building in Europe centuries ago—in Paris garrets and London attics in particular. It really got going in the United States in 19th-century New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. But it didn't become popular among the affluent until a few years after World War II, when it was glamorized by Hollywood and began spreading westward.

In the last couple of decades, the idea of renovating loft space in older structures or replicating it in new construction has exploded, rendering the concept so trendy that practically any urban apartment or condo is being termed a "loft," even in Knoxville. That's not totally without justification, as the first definition of a loft in Webster is "an upper room or floor."

On the West Coast, where one can call anything anything, the loft word has been attached to virtually any urban dwelling space for several years.

Today, however, you can find lots of lofts in the ads in Sunbelt cities, such as Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and even such places as Fayetteville, Ark., and Lexington, Ky.

A scattering of converted lofts have been the domiciles of sophisticated Knoxvillians for more than 20 years now, especially in the Old City's environs. Since the century's turn, however, the trend has turned, with a vengeance, up Gay Street.

The biggest of the loft ventures here, by far, is the old Sterchi furniture building in the 100 block of Gay, where Leigh Burch's Terminus Real Estate, Inc. is leasing 100 units. Burch got a federal historic building renovation tax break for five years by agreeing to rent, rather than sell the units as condos. The city, wanting to stimulate downtown residential development, arranged for the parking space included with each loft and extended a tax abatement contract to the developer.

The stately structure was gutted and is rematerializing as "Sterchi Lofts," with 10 floors above the Gay Street level and two below. Even those downstairs units are lofts, in Burch's scheme of things, and the reasoning is in the design.

Charlotte Brakebill who, with partner Stan Cox, designed and decorated the interior of the one-bedroom model flat on the ground floor at the front of the building, says key elements in the loft designation are very high ceilings and exposed mechanical, electrical and plumbing components. "Nothing is concealed," Brakebill says. Indeed, the heating and air ducts, water pipes, electrical conduit, the bare, but polished concrete floors, and even the wiring around the electric meter banks in the hallways are exposed to God and everybody.

It gives the whole building and each of its apartments a sort of high-end boiler-room effect that is not altogether aesthetically displeasing. "It's a guy thing, maybe," says Burch, whose years of experience with loft-developing in Atlanta and his judgment about what sells to prospective urban renters dictated that the mechanics of the structure remain visible and unenclosed.

He says the scheme works—to the tune of pre-occupancy leasing of nearly 60 percent of the building's units. Although each of the floors has units that are practically identical in floor space and layout, the range of rents goes upward, especially above the rooflines of neighboring buildings, where the views of the city and of our hilly-to-mountainous region are pretty. Some of them are breathtaking at night as well as day, Burch says. All units have natural lighting from windows in at least one room, and most have windows in each room, except the bath.

Rents run from $530 for a one-bedroom, one-bath unit to $1,938 monthly for a four-bedroom, two-bath unit. The former are a little less than 600 square feet, and the biggest are a bit over 2,100 square feet. In between are two-one and two-two units ranging from $850 to $1,150, and three-twos that run from $1,024 to $1,600 per month.

Pre-leases are scattered across the size and rent ranges, but Burch says 80 percent of the parties he's shown through the building in hardhats have been interested in the one-bedroom units, and many of those have been snapped up.

Although construction vagaries are ever-present, Burch wants the first of the units occupied by mid-November, going floor-by-floor, with the last of the floors ready by year-end.

Decor in all of the apartments tends toward the neutral, with soft yellow or off-white walls and ceilings that vary from black to natural, grayish plaster.

Appliances, he says, are upscale, with ivory-colored GE ice- and water-in-the-door refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, and disposals. In the more expensive units, the appliances are stainless steel. He says he took savings from the unanticipated structural soundness of the entire building ("there were unexpectedly few surprises") to upgrade the details, including cabinetry. Bathroom fixtures are also high-end, at least for those used to apartment living.

Interior furnishings will be left to the individual renter, but Brakebill, who works for Braden's of Knoxville, says, "If you've got enough vertical space, you can do anything." That 12-foot-plus space is not lacking, and the model is festooned with impressive artworks, a lush rug in the living/dining room, plus elegant and more-or-less traditional furniture.

Brakebill says she expects most of the renters to want a few nice things but to be minimalists, with little clutter, to take best advantage of the relatively small floor spaces. Loft-renters, she says, tend to be transient in nature, rather than nesters who accumulate lots of stuff. Years of experience in loft design have led to a spareness in furnishings that takes advantage of limited floor space.

Even in a small loft, Brakebill says, "Plant life can lend a feeling of airiness." Interiors "landscaped with living, breathing objects, even interior gardens," she says, have great appeal.

Tastes in furnishings, Brakebill says, are largely "age-driven. Young professionals are at a stage where they really don't like what their parents had." She says they tend toward the "less ornate, the simple."

Young professionals, Burch says, form the core of the early renters—business and sales people, stockbrokers and the like. Students and educators are the next most numerous group. There are six UT professors, six UT undergrads, a couple of grad students, and seven teachers in public and private schools. So far, Burch says, 60 percent of his renters are women. He attributes that to the size of the project and its security features.

The fact that only a few are empty-nesters or retirees is surprising to him, he says. He describes the group as a whole as urbane. "Most are well-traveled," he says. "People who've lived in other cities, bigger cities."

That's not so surprising, though. Look at where loft living has been popularized for years.