SAI DESIGN FEATURED IN THE ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES
Published January 28, 2009
From left, Michael Silverman, Elihu Siegman and Jeremy Goldstein with a model of North Market Street that shows a 13-story building that would hold 10 condos.
Developers plan slender, green downtown condos
ASHEVILLE – A local development company hopes to attract a few people who want to go green — and have a lot of green — to a 13-story building it plans to build on a postage stamp-sized lot downtown.
The 10 condominiums at 73 N. Market St. would sell for $2.1 million to $2.6 million and come with a photovoltaic array on the roof, an underground garage designed to fit only the fuel-sipping Smart Fortwo subcompact car and other features designed to lessen the building's environmental impact.
The building would be among downtown's taller structures and would sit on a lot a little larger than 40-by-70 feet.
But that's only if North Market Street Investments, which unveiled its plans Tuesday, can convince enough buyers to sign on.
The local housing market has tanked over the past couple of years and the most expensive homes on the market have generally been slowest to sell.
According to data from real estate analyst Don Davies, only 35 Buncombe County homes sold for $1 million or more last year.
At the end of the year, there were 246 such homes on the market — a seven-year supply at the current absorption rate.
Jim Privette, developer of the nearby 60 North Market condominium building, which is in the closing stages of construction, wondered whether there is demand for units that are that small and that expensive.
Each unit would be about 2,300 square feet and occupy an entire floor of the building, meaning the cost per square foot would be around $1,000.
“We have not seen that” demand, Privette said, although he added there hasn't been a supply of what North Market Street Investments proposes.
“It's always a little bit of chicken and egg. If you don't have it, you don't know if there is demand,” Privette said.
Jeremy Goldstein, a local commercial real estate broker who is managing member of North Market Street Investments, said work won't move ahead until at least six units are spoken for: “We have no desire to construct an empty building.”
But Goldstein said he is “optimistic” the project will fly despite market trends, precisely because there is nothing quite like it downtown.
He said the building will offer “a new level of fine living in downtown Asheville, but in an innovative and eco-friendly way.”
Other green features would include a so-called “green” roof for part of the building, water-conserving fixtures, high-efficiency appliances, and automated lighting and shading systems.
Each unit would come with a tiny Smart Fortwo vehicle and the building would be designed so plug-in electric cars could be used in the garage.
Goldstein says the two-level underground garage would be the first parking structure designed for only one model of car, and that larger vehicles would not fit. Designing the building with parking for regular-sized cars would require a mechanized system that wouldn't be practical for such a small project, he said.
The cars will become the “Asheville car” for some part-time residents who will fly to their units periodically, Goldstein predicted.
The first floor of the building would contain a small commercial space. The second would have an exercise room and spa and a guest room for visitors of building residents. A lounge and garden would top the building off.
The building would be mostly brick with some metal and glass in a modern style. Elihu Siegman of builder Siegman Associates said it would be roughly the same height as the nearby Renaissance Asheville hotel.
He thinks the design, developed with architect Michael Silverman, will fit with the neighborhood, which now is mostly made up of brick buildings containing law offices and subsidized housing.
“The best buildings of Asheville were of their time” in design, he said. “We feel that this building is of its time.”
The building will require approval by city staff but is too small to be subject to City Council approval. Construction should take about two years if enough buyers are located, Goldstein said.
-Barrett, Mark. "Developers plan slender, green downtown condos." Asheville Citizen-Times 28 January 2009.
SAI DESIGN FEATURED IN THE MOUNTAIN EXPRESS
Published February 18, 2009
Green Scene
junk tires to smart cars
by Margaret Williams in Vol. 15 / Iss. 30 on 02/18/2009
Related topics: The Green Scene
Susan Roderick was driving down Clingman Avenue one recent Sunday afternoon when she spied a young man toiling on a steep wooded slope across from The Grey Eagle. In recent years, many young homeowners in the neighborhood have undertaken cleanup projects, says Roderick, whose office is nearby, and she wondered if he’d like to plant some of the extra bulbs she had in her car.
 Stopping to offer the bulbs, she found that Brennan was trying to remove hundreds of discarded tires littering the hillside. But they’d been there so long, most were weighed down with mud, leaves and water, and he couldn’t move all of them alone.
Happily, however, Roderick is the director of Asheville GreenWorks (formerly Quality Forward), so she knows about cleanup projects. “I remembered this pile from walking [the route] of a proposed greenway several years ago,” says Roderick. The leaf-covered old roadbed runs up the hill behind Carolina StoneWorks—part of a route listed as “Clingman Forest” in the city of Asheville’s 2003 update of its Greenway Master Plan. Another local nonprofit, Mountain Housing Opportunities, had been working on that particular project, and Roderick wasn’t sure what the status was.
But her group maintains a small fund for impromptu jobs, and Roderick called a frequent GreenWorks volunteer who she knew needed work and hired him and his crew to move the tires. She also persuaded Buncombe County landfill officials to waive the usual fee for disposing of old tires.
“There’s at least 500 of them,” says Roderick. “You have to see [this pile] ‘in the flesh’ to appreciate how big it is.” With no tire business currently in the vicinity, it isn’t clear where the tires came from or how long they’ve been there. Years ago, she points out, the landfill didn’t accept tires, so it was common for dealers to let them pile up—or dispose of them illegally in the French Broad River, local gullies and other out-of-the-way places.
But these days, old tires can be recycled as running tracks or playground surfaces, says Roderick, adding, “We’re very excited to get these tires moved.”
A smart car and a condo too
You can leave your gas-guzzling SUV someplace else if you buy one of the new condos proposed for 73 N. Market Street. You won’t need it: Each 2,300-square-foot, green-built residence will come with a smart fortwo vehicle. No other automobile—not even the minuscule MINI Cooper—will fit in the building’s underground garage, says Jeremy Goldstein of North Market Street Investments, the developer.
Billed as a “conscientious Asheville condominium,” 73 N. Market will feature the world’s first high-rise with an underground parking structure built exclusively for the tiny urban cars, Goldstein claims. “It speaks to our current cultural paradigm,” says the New Jersey native. He and his wife moved to Asheville about 10 years ago, seeking “a small environment” with city amenities but fewer of the headaches they experienced in the Northeast. Two children later, he’s here to stay and a convert to Asheville’s enviro-friendly culture. With units priced at about $2 million, the current project, says Goldstein, targets “the most discerning buyers,” particularly those committed to a sustainable lifestyle.
The 13-story structure will feature a living green roof, solar panels, rainwater collection, low-E glass, automated lighting/shading systems and local building materials, says Elihu Siegman, president of the Asheville-based Siegman Associates, and he and architect Michael Silverman will be seeking LEED certification (the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system) for it.
Throw in the ultra-low-emissions smart car and you have a distinctly urban-Asheville flair. “When I drove the smart fortwo, I felt like I was driving in the future,” says Siegman. The pintsize vehicles are 95 percent recyclable, he notes, explaining that condo owners will be able to drive directly into an elevator that will take them down to the parking garage.
One entire floor of the luxury building will be dedicated to a fitness facility and guest quarters. Architecturally speaking, it will pay homage to another slim-profile downtown structure, the 1920s-era Jackson Building, but with a modern exterior that will feature an artistic weaving of metal, glass and brick, says Siegman, adding, “Every building tells a tale of its time.”
For more information about Asheville GreenWorks, go to http://www.ashevillegreenworks.org, or call 254-1776. To learn more about the condo project, go to http://73northmarket.com, or call 281-4024. |
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