Flowers Building moves away from leasing; buyers face hefty price tags

BY TONY ADAMS
Staff Writer

Dwelling on price

Reynolds Bickerstaff has heard comments that the Flowers Building loft apartments might be priced too high. After all, a 731-square-foot studio runs $89,000. The largest, an 1,826-square-footer with three bedrooms and two baths, looks to fetch a quarter of a million dollars.

“It’s really hard because there’s nothing to compare them with,” Bickerstaff, a real estate agent with Waddell Realty Co., said Wednesday. “Even if we set the prices $20,000 lower, people would be asking how we came up with those prices.”

The concept certainly is new to the Columbus residential market. While individual loft apartments have been sold downtown in recent years, this is the first time a complex of them have been put up for sale. Two other properties — Johnston Mill Lofts and 11th Street Lofts — lease their units just as the Flowers Building has done since March 2003.

Atlanta-based Miller-Gallman Developers began renovating the Flowers Building in the summer of 2002, spending $2.4 million on the project.

Bickerstaff’s marketing effort started with an open house in early February. Since then he has accepted reservations for 11 of the 18 units, although current renters have “right of first refusal” under Georgia law. Letters informing tenants of their rights and the 120-day period in which they must make a decision to purchase or not should be sent out by Friday.

Sellout expected

Transactions could begin as soon as next week, said Bickerstaff, who anticipates the residential space selling out by early September. He also is offering the building’s first floor to commercial users. Ben’s Wings & Things and Security Finance Co. occupy about 2,400 square feet of space, while 4,100 square feet remain vacant since the renovation.

“I’m trying to get someone to open up a little breakfast or lunch deli on the corner, something that would complement Twelfth Street Deli,” he said. “This area of downtown is not ready, I think, for a night restaurant. It’s definitely got a great lunch market.”

Bickerstaff said he has been “surprised” at the relatively easy sales effort it has taken with the Flowers Building, even with its unique architecture, downtown convenience and views. His target market is young working professionals and affluent older residents who live outside Columbus, but need a place to stay two or three days a week when doing business downtown.

“Columbus is a big town, but it’s got a small town feel,” Bickerstaff said. “This would be a great way to simplify your life, I think, and reduce the clutter that gives you everyday headaches and causes problems.”

Parking is the prime issue at the Flowers Building. The complex now leases 15 spaces from Trinity Episcopal Church across the street. Bickerstaff hopes to secure at least a couple of more spaces. He’s also a proponent of a special permit that would allow residents to park within a block of their apartment.

“You always get back to the parking issue,” he said. “People in Columbus don’t like to walk. It’s crazy. They want to park right in front of a door. They don’t want to walk a block and enjoy being outside.”

More loftson the market

Keenly watching the Flowers project is Tom Flournoy, president of Flournoy Development Co., which renovated the H.L. Green, Tarver and old YMCA buildings into a 46-unit complex called 11th Street Lofts. The apartments steadily achieve a 95 percent occupancy rate, he said.

The plan, Flournoy said, is to sell the apartments after the historic tax credits expire five years from the structures’ renovation. That would be in 2007.

“If they sell those well, that’s good, because they don’t have any dedicated parking” on site like 11th Street Lofts, the developer said.

Flournoy also is partnering with the W.C. Bradley Co. to transform a portion of the Eagle & Phenix Mill on Front Avenue into residential, office and commercial space. Plans include 104 rental units and between 50 and 60 condominiums, some overlooking the Chattahoochee River. Initial price estimates for the Eagle & Phenix condos range from $125,000 to $500,000 and up.

There are no plans to convert Johnston Mill Lofts from rental to sales, said Ashley Bloechle, leasing consultant for the complex that features 336 units with private parking, swimming, tennis and fitness facilities, and access to the Chattahoochee Riverwalk.

Roswell, Ga.-based developer PRS Companies used low-income tax credits to rehabilitate the old textile mill into living quarters. The tax-credit program requires a portion of the apartments be offered at below-market rates. The credits typically stretch out 10 to 15 years.

Johnston Mill Lofts has plenty of turnover and currently is 65 percent occupied, Bloechle said.

“We have a good bit of military,” she said. “We lost a bunch with that last deployment (in January). But we also have a lot of people, it seems, from Aflac and TSYS, and the hospital’s right here by us. I would say that’s our main group of customers.”

The mix of rental lofts and for-sale condos in the downtown area is healthy, Flournoy said. As Columbus State University expands into downtown, complementing the existing commercial and entertainment infrastructure, the area should only blossom, he said.

“The bigger the variety and the more people that you have there, that’s what it’s going to take,” he said. “It’s all of these people combining together that’s going to make it a fully energized community.”