a new kind of open house

I grew up in the same house for 15 years of my life. From 3 years old until I graduated from high school and got the hell outta dodge. I always wanted to live in a different house growing up. My parents would go to various Open Houses in neighboring developments that popped up near us and I'd dream of living in one of those fancy new places with a bedroom twice the size of mine. That dream never did come true but my love of Open Houses has never waned...cut to today:

Today I had an appointment at the El Dorado for a hard hat tour of the building that's being converted into 65 luxury condominiums. I'm a big fan of seeing the construction process from beginning to end and anytime I can get into a building, legal or otherwise, I jump on the opportunity. CJ accompanied me to this appointment as we both share an abnormal fascination with this stuff.

I immediately made friends with the woman showing us around and what was supposed to be a quickie tour ended up being a thoroughly detailed walk through of both the El Dorado and the Rowan Lofts. Our heads were spinning with so much information that we gathered all our reading material when it was over and headed straight down to The Chapman to get another perspective on life.

We saw The Chapman a few months ago at the Loft Living Tour and immediately fell in deep like with the place. Wanting to know if it was a fleeting infatuation or something much more required another look. Today was our lucky day because they too were having hard hat tours. Go figure. Those hard hat tours are all the rage nowadays in Downtown apparently. We headed upstairs to "the unit" and yes, that loving feeling was still alive and kicking.

OK, so at this point of the day we've seen 3 drastically different places and have really liked them all. My brain is at maximum capacity, but wait, there's more...

CJ just moved into a place at Santee Court so of course I had to go check out the new digs. Those windows. The rooftop. Mr. Potato Head. One word...envious.

And if all that wasn't enough to put us at the pinnacle of conversion euphoria it turns out I have a good friend who is "loft sitting" at the Eastern Columbia...a few phone calls later and we ended up getting a grand tour of the pool deck and a unit on the 3rd floor. 14 foot ceilings (3rd and top floor only) and beautifully decorated, it was a stunning building inside and out.

What was going to be just a quick look at a loft construction site ended up being a wildly fantastic adventure in a multitude of residential buildings. Kinda similar to driving around looking at Open Houses but with a slightly different urban spin on it. I felt like a kid again.

No pictures for the masses, they're all locked up in my brain.

x

Comments

[Elizabeth]

My b-friend and I will see the Rowan next week, though Chapman is our favorite for the price, I think. We'll see. Roosevelt was our favorite until we couldn't find a reasonably priced unit that was not looking at a wall or someone's living space. What is the parking at Rowan? You get 1 space to lease for 125 a month? Did you ask about second car parking garages or options to purchase spaces? Parking can be a tough one.

[spinsLPs]

So where are you going to buy? Inquiring minds want to know!

john

[shannon]

spinsLPs: not buying anything at the moment. i just like to look...and hey, a girl can dream can't she? honestly, if i had the ability right now i don't know...i like all of 'em. however i have friends at molino street and i LOVE the open, airy floorplans and high ceilings there.

elizabeth: regarding the parking at Rowan, can't remember the specifics, i do remember all places had available parking of some sort...sorry!

[spinsLPs]

For new info on the Chapman, lookie here: http://la.curbed.com/archives/2007/06/chapman_flats_s.php

[shannon]

funny. i just forwarded that link on to a friend yesterday...