If you're at all tuned in to pop culture, or have at least caught an episode of sitcoms like Friends and Caroline in the City, you know that urban loft living is the hottest thing since Martha Stewart. It's a phenomenon that may be rooted in densely-packed cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, but is beginning to sweep other metropolitan markets, and Atlanta is no exception. Dotted with small "cities" within the city, Atlanta is a mecca of development opportunity. Throw in the pressure of the development boom kicked off by the 1996 Olympics and painful commutes from the suburbs, and you've got a city primed for alternative, intown living -- and working -- space, namely lofts.

One Atlanta developer was perfectly positioned to capitalize on the loft explosion. Founded in the early 1980s, Braden Fellman Group Ltd. was originally focused on renovation and management of apartment buildings in intown neighborhoods. With a strong portfolio of older intown buildings, they set out to reposition properties to pursue the same demographic market as larger suburban style developers, but offer a more specialized product with architecture and design that could not easily be replicated. By the beginning of the 1990s, Braden Fellman had a boutique offering of some of the city's most architecturally distinctive properties in neighborhoods such as Virginia- Highland, Old Fourth Ward, Midtown, Inman Park, Candler Park and Decatur.

A natural next move for the company was the development of three significant loft projects, all multi-use, adaptive re-use facilities -- 900 Peachtree in Midtown; The Mattress Factory, two entire city blocks of buildings constructed from 1864 to the 1950s near Grant Park; and, most recently, the Ice House, a 100,000-square-foot facility in Decatur that was once the oldest ice manufacturing and cold storage facility in Atlanta.

Gone Commercial

By the mid-1990s, Braden Fellman had discovered another opportunity.

"In 1995, we repositioned the 1920s area structure that housed our corporate offices to generate additional office spaces for lease," says President Preston Snyder. "The spaces were quickly absorbed and remain full to date. This inspired us to pursue additional small-scale commercial projects in the Midtown area."

In addition to finishing construction of the Ice House multi-use project, the company is currently repositioning two adaptive re-use commercial projects, including the ACME Commercial Lofts in Decatur, and the Wagon Works Lofts in East Point.

"We approach the commercial side of our business with the same boutique philosophy as the residential," says Snyder. "We meet the demand for alternative spaces with interesting design, which has resulted in the significant growth of our commercial business." And it enjoys the role its redevelopments play in revitalizing the neighborhood. The ideal acquisition for Braden Fellman is an under-managed, improperly positioned buildings in need of physical rehab and in an area that may not be completely proven, but has good prospects. The company seeks out opportunities for acquisition, manages the construction and development of the assets and handles ongoing property management. "Our management decisions are driven by a goal to maximize asset value," says Snyder. "Our niche is small to mid-size markets where we can use our economies of scale to offer a more competitive level of service than smaller independent investors, yet succeed with smaller projects that larger institutional investors may not have the agility to complete."

The Ice House
Total project cost: $10 million

Built in the early 1920s, the Ice House was the home of the Atlantic Star Ice and Coal Company until the 1960s. It was owned by The Munford Company for a time and then purchased by the Nash family. Braden Fellman closed on the property in 1997 after obtaining a zoning change on the property that accommodated the project's proposed design. The industrial site and architecture of the existing Ice House led the company to the current design of a combination of new and renovated lofts.

The retail component is on the ground floor of the building and has ceiling heights that range from 8 to more than 20 feet. In addition to 98 units of residential loft space, the facility includes 6,200 square feet of commercial space, completely occupied by Atlantic Star Brasserie, a casual restaurant that features French-inspired cuisine.

Above the restaurant in the former mechanical rooms and ice storage towers are eight multilevel loft units ranging from 1,000 to 1,700 square feet, with windows up to 14 feet high and ceiling heights over 22 feet in some units. A second, new building has 27 units and was inspired by downtown commercial buildings of the early 20th century. A triangular, flatiron design and wooden-frame, double-hung windows with radius designs and pre-cast masonry accents set the building apart.

The addition to the existing Ice House has an industrial design inspired by expansions of actual ice plants of the 1920's. A catwalk structure connects the existing building to this one, which consists of two levels of garage parking, four floors of concrete constructed units and a fifth floor of penthouse units constructed of steel on top of the building. The top floor offers views of Stone Mountain and the downtown Atlanta skyline. Other amenities include controlled access entries and parking, a fitness center and a pool. The facility is also within walking distance of downtown Decatur and the Decatur MARTA station.

The first building, delivered in August, is now completely occupied, and over the past few months, the company delivered four of five floors in addition to the existing Ice House with eight of the first 26 units leased.

ACME Lofts
Total project cost: $2.35 million

Three parcels of property in Decatur were assembled for the ACME lofts project. The buildings formerly housed two industrial laundry operations and a neighborhood market, and make up 35,000 square feet of commercial office space. The market fell into decline with changing shopping habits and went into foreclosure. This is now the restaurant component of the complex, which offers a neighborhood style diner concept for the development and the surrounding neighborhood of gentrifying homes and apartments in the Agnes Scott, East Lake, Oakhurst, Downtown Decatur and Lake Claire neighborhoods. The laundry buildings are available for loft office or retail uses, and other amenities include free parking and walking distance to downtown and the East Lake MARTA station.

The design is 1950s international style with lots of glass, 12- to 17-foot ceilings, clean lines, vibrant colors, and masonry and steel construction on the office and retail portions. The former market building will have more of a 1930s look, with large mullioned windows, brick and wood framing.

Braden Fellman is marketing the property during construction and already has commitments on approximately 40 percent of the space. They anticipate lease up and construction to be complete in the next few months, and anticipate occupancy in the mid to upper 90's.

Wagon Works
Total project cost: $4.6 million

An 1895 mill building in East Point, Wagon Works was most noted for its use as a manufacturing facility for wagons and carriages. The property was redeveloped in the late 1980s and became an office facility, which at one point housed the logistics operations of the U.S. Army. The property was later returned to the original owners through a foreclosure. After the Army vacated the facility, a significant portion of the property sat vacant and its physical condition declined. Braden Fellman formed an entity to purchase and redevelop the property in the summer of 2000.

With 110,000 square feet of leasable space, this office complex consists of brick, concrete and timber framing. The large windows have wood mullions, and interior finishes will include skylights, ceramic tile, hardwoods and carpets with vivid colors. The facility also offers free parking and is within walking distance to downtown and East Point and will be contiguous to East Point MARTA station (skywalk to the station is under construction).

Braden Fellman has completed site and exterior improvements and is in the process of completing improvements to interior common areas and mechanical systems. They have done transactions on approximately 25,000 square feet of space, and anticipate lease up and stabilization at approximately 85 percent occupancy by first quarter of 2002.

Alternative Entrepreneurs

Braden Fellman's profile of locations with unmet potential, great access to transit and interesting historical design is a recipe for investment success. "They see something that conventional wisdom says you solve in one way, and they come up with alternative ways to get essentially the same result," says Eric Ranney, a long-time investor and partner with Braden Fellman. "By thinking outside the box and coming up with a cheaper solution, they get a product that has that much more chance of being profitable."

But Ranney also admits that loft development isn't for everybody; some developers are just much more comfortable starting from the ground up. "It almost takes a desire to turn old into new," he says "Taking something that looks old and run down and turning it into something that's economical, useful and profitable."

And profit is what Braden Fellman is going for all the way around. Snyder notes that former class D industrial space can be priced competitively for office or retail as it is repositioned, creating a value decision for commercial users that leaves more on their bottom line. "We are able to offer commercial spaces that can cost up to 100 percent less than the competition," says Snyder. "An entrepreneur's willingness to commit to our concept during the repositioning phase proves to be a win-win opportunity for the user and the developer."

©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.