The Flats at Julian-Drew - Finally Downtown Condos under $200k

One more downtown condo project opened for unit reservations last week - the Flats at Julian-Drew.  This is a project I think has potential. 

Located on the corner of 5th Ave and Broadway, the Flats at Julian-Drew have a fairly sweet location, in my humble opinion.  They sit a block from Hotel Congress and the Rialto Theater, are just a wee bit further from the new 4th Avenue underpass, and the new light rail/trolley line should run just outside of the building, which makes University and 4th Avenue attraction access incredibly easy, and the rest of downtown - the convention center, the dining, the Fox theater - all within a couple of short blocks.

There are 53 units here, in 2 and 3 story sections.  They aren’t huge - the smallest studios start around 400 sq ft, and the largest 1 bedroom units are just shy of 700 sq ft.  The floorplans are well designed however, and there’s no space lost to hallways - I think they’ll live very well.

Right now, the Flats at Julian-Drew are apartments, so you can’t walk the units at this time, but you can peek in the gate and along with the renderings, get a good feel for what it will be.  The owner says they’re blowing out the existing building, more or less, so that the new units will have new wiring, new plumbing, pretty much new everything.  Finishes are clean modern, with maple cabinetry, granite counters, tile and wood floors, and sleek fixtures.

They’ll need 32 reservations to start the remodel, and are hoping to have the first set of units completed mid to late 2009. 

The North end of the Julian-Drew complex will stay mixed commercial/office space type places, and the middle section - the carriage house - is still undecided, but they’re talking about a yoga space or some other community type amenity, with a cafe adjacent. 

The public report should be out in maybe 2 months or so, so pricing may vary, but they’re planning on the smallest units starting around $100,000, with the largest one bedrooms coming in around $150,000.  The HOA hasn’t been finalized either, but should run somewhere around $100/month - there’s a pool in the center of the complex.

They’ve also negotiated with the city to alter the adjacent parking to be diagonal resident permit parking, instead of parallel metered parking, and have made deals with the Pennington garage and the One North 5th garage (once built) for residents to park in those places as well for a nominal monthly fee.

It’ll cost you $1500 to reserve a unit now, and an additional $1500 when the public report comes out and the reservation changes to a contract.  They’ll limit investors so that the complex can get FHA approval later on, and the HOA will most likely limit rentals to terms of no shorter than a month.

This is the first condo development downtown in this price range, and my personal favorite so far.  If you’re thinking about living downtown, this might be a good way to get there.  Let me know if you’re interested, and I can arrange a tour.

The Flats at Julian Drew are brokered by Long Realty.

Equal Housing Opportunity Realtor
Applied Real Estate Technology