Sunday, October 01, 2006
Debbie Gebolys
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Young professionals are a hot commodity in central Ohio, and developers are pulling out the stops to build them happy homes.
They’re building condominiums for 20-somethings that have amenities their older brothers and sisters never dreamed of.
From trendy urban lofts to vast suburban developments centered on swimming pools and taverns, the number and variety of condos geared toward young professionals are growing dramatically.
“The perception is the condo market is just for baby boomers, empty nesters looking to get out of their large homes,” said Jim Hilz, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio. “That’s just not the case. It’s a big part of the entry-level, first-time-homebuyer market.”
That first-time-buyer market is potentially enormous. The nearly 150,000 central Ohioans in their 20s made up the biggest age group by far in the 2000 Census.
Civic leaders know that many in that group are university students who move away before they reach age 30. Mayor Michael B. Coleman and the Columbus City Council announced plans last month to work with business and arts groups to study ways to attract and keep young professionals.
Those efforts come a few years after the area real-estate industry tuned into the newest adults and found that they’re different from their older counterparts.
Twenty-somethings are willing to commit to mortgages sooner than older generations. They are buying homes at an average age of 26, according to a Century 21 survey. That’s three years younger than the average age at which Generation X (now ages 28 to 41) and baby boomers (ages 42 to 60) bought homes.
Hoping to capitalize on the trend, developer Lifestyle Communities began work last year on a Northeast Side complex of 1,400 apartments, townhouses and single-family homes.
At 126 acres, Preserve Crossing is the equivalent of 95 football fields. It is being built around a community center with a neighborhood bar, party room, fitness center, outdoor pool and volleyball court. Coming soon is a concierge service to handle dry cleaning, package pickup and restaurant reservations, among other things.
Lifestyle also organizes ski trips, fitness classes and candlelight yoga classes for Preserve Crossing residents.
“We don’t want to be something for everyone. We want to be everything for someone, and that’s the first-time homebuyer,” said Justin Spring, Lifestyle’s marketing manager.
Lifestyle adopted that strategy three years ago when the company employed about 30. Now, more than 200 employees, mostly in their 20s and 30s, work on some facet of Lifestyle’s seven projects in central Ohio and others in Dayton and Lexington, Ky.
“We have units sold where roofing is just going up,” Spring said. “Our only limitation is how fast we can get ’em built.”
Closer to Downtown, the approach to young professionals is distinctly different.
Developer Matthew Vekasy, 37, of Grandview Heights, lives and works within five blocks of Grandview Avenue’s pizza places, wine shops, bars, restaurants and movie theater.
Vekasy’s Metropolitan Holdings recently started building condos within walking distance of Grandview Avenue for “people just like me, in our age group.”
The Metropolitan, at Northwest Boulevard and W. 3 rd Avenue, will be a three-story flatiron building of glass, brick and neon, with wrap-around balconies. Twenty condos ranging from 1,300 to 2,600 square feet are priced from $299,000 to $699,000.
“People want to distinguish themselves, and where you live says something about your personality,” Vekasy said. Instead of swimming pools, The Metropolitan’s amenities include Bang & Olufsen audio and video wiring, walk-in Roman showers and three-sided fireplaces.
“I firmly believe you’re going to see a movement of people who don’t want to live in your typical suburban-sprawl communities,” Vekasy said.
He’s betting his buyers will be 20- and 30-somethings with good jobs.
“There’s got to be young professionals in this town that make money,” he said.
Geographer Erick Lobao, 28, of Grandview Heights, said he likes The Metropolitan, but not the way Vekasy intended.
“I like it as a homeowner because I see the potential to help house values,” Lobao said.
Lobao married his Grandview high-school sweetheart, now an Upper Arlington teacher, in August. They bought a Grandview house built in 1932 that has termite damage, a musty smell in the basement and “a garage that is about to fall over,” he said.
“Dealing with a house is definitely a new experience. Every day, we find something new that’s not perfect.”
But he and his wife are OK with their house’s foibles, accustomed as they are to older Grandview homes. They like the option to stay there for the long haul.
“We have three bedrooms and a yard,” he said. “That’s more than enough space for kids.”
In Labao’s circle, 20-somethings are finished with condos.
“You get a little older and you kind of want more space, more room for your stuff,” he said. “After you’re more established, it’s a progression.”