Citi Tower | 23-Story Residential [Under Construction]

[bqknight]

1 hour ago, JFW657 said:

What I'm wondering is... what's with the funky looking bare concrete ceilings in those interior renderings? You can see the brown stains from the wood forms and the rubberized goop oozing out of the expansion joints.

Is that supposed to be some kind of hip new design thing? Like these retail stores with the exposed piping and duct work overhead?

I dunno. Looks kinda crappy to me.

Exposed ceilings is quite popular, it's a draw for me. 55 West has them. 

[dcluley98]

1 hour ago, JFW657 said:

What I'm wondering is... what's with the funky looking bare concrete ceilings in those interior renderings? You can see the brown stains from the wood forms and the rubberized goop oozing out of the expansion joints.

Is that supposed to be some kind of hip new design thing? Like these retail stores with the exposed piping and duct work overhead?

I dunno. Looks kinda crappy to me.

 

 

Yes. It is hilarious to me. They do rough work, make up some dumb marketing BS like calling them "Urban Loft Apartment Dwellings" and then charge more to stupid hipsters for the aesthetic, lol. My buddy used to live in Aspire/Dynatech/WTH the are calling it now and it had the same thing. When I first saw it, I commented "What the hell is that? For the amount they are charging you, they couldn't at least finish the ceiling?"

Young hipsters will pay for all sorts of dumb crap as long as you sell it as an overall image. Working in the construction industry, I just laughed at the audacity of it.  

Edit because, no offense, bqknight. You can like it if you want to.  Don't mean to call you personally a "stupid hipster." 

Edited May 5, 2017 by dcluley98

[metal93]

That bare bones, minimalist movement is just trendy with millennials. I like the effect on older (specifically industrial) buildings when they are being renovated to other uses but I don't like it on new construction. It's like they're trying to replicate that feel of "old factory converted into a modern loft" where you have old clashing with new but it doesn't come off as genuine. Maybe some people like it for the "artisan" aesthetic, and are willing to pay more for customized concrete ceilings, I don't know.  I think there's also a "sustainability" selling point to it as well, as in "look, we saved a bunch of materials by not finishing the ceilings, we are so sustainable!" And millennials would just eat it up.

[JFW657]

There are some instances where that kind of thing looks good. I like the look of exposed pipes and ducts you see in so many stores and commercial buildings nowadays. Even the bare concrete in these places might look OK if it was cleaner looking and there were fewer joints. But what I'm seeing are dirty looking stains and black goop oozing out of the cracks between all those small concrete panels. Looks dirty and tacky.

 

 

[alex]

I like how you guys are blaming this trend on Millennials, when unfinished ceilings have been around since the late '90s when Millennials were, like, 10 years old and probably not buying condos  ;-)

But I actually agree with the general consensus: it's not a bad look if that's your style, but weird when they sell it as a special feature. That's why I bought a 1920s house. It's hard to find tall, finished, plaster, non-popcorn ceilings these days, especially without a million vents and gadgets on them (in my price range at least). 

[dcluley98]

LOL, I am a millennial myself, technically.  I didn't blame it on millennials, per se. I blamed it on hipsters who are willing to pay more for some ridiculous trend when they don't know any better about quality construction.  I agree it is a style that can look good if it is a genuine thing like a historic refurb or an actual loft.  It's just when they sell it as an extra on a new construction apartment building or a trendy thing that is completely artificial that makes me laugh. 

Edited May 5, 2017 by dcluley98

[jack]

A lot if these projects can't afford the finish the ceilings. It may be trendy, but it is cost effective. 

[nite owℓ]

I used to write off exposed concrete as inauthentic or trying too hard, but over time it grew on me especially if they use exposed concrete as a statement piece vs being cheap & just leaving the entire ceiling unfinished. IMO, exposed concrete is about adding character to the space by incorporating mixed textures. Our building stock is fairly new so we lack exposed bricks, wood beams, etc. so what we're left with is concrete because concrete is the building material of today. Most people living in an urban apartment don't want to feel like they're living in a suburban living room - being enveloped in drywall doesn't translate when living in the downtown core. If you own your unit you can always stain, polish or paint the concrete - I'd rather any of those than cover it up with drywall.

China Glass Warehouse is probably the only authentic loft aesthetic we have downtown - other than Samsara.

 

On 5/5/2017 at 2:39 PM, alex said:

But I actually agree with the general consensus: it's not a bad look if that's your style, but weird when they sell it as a special feature. That's why I bought a 1920s house. It's hard to find tall, finished, plaster, non-popcorn ceilings these days, especially without a million vents and gadgets on them (in my price range at least). 

It might have something to do with how hard plaster is to work with vs drywall. Most contractors of today only know the words drywall, knockdown & orange peel and will offer to cover up plaster instead of trying to repair or duplicate the pattern. One of my tenants told me it was too difficult to hang things from the ceiling & walls bc the plaster is hard as rock. Plaster makes a great deterrent lol.

[bqknight]

7 minutes ago, nite owℓ said:

China Glass Warehouse is probably the only authentic loft aesthetic we have downtown - other than Samsara.

I had NO IDEA those were lofts. Wonder how much those fetch, they look awesome. 

[nite owℓ]

1 minute ago, bqknight said:

I had NO IDEA those were lofts. Wonder how much those fetch, they look awesome. 

Hard to say - each unit at China Glass is unique. After the market crashed I remember 1/1 units were listed for $130k+ all cash and no financing. I believe 1/1 units are now selling around $250k, but I'm not sure if they're eligible for financing as banks are still wary of condos. Banks really need to make it more feasible for regular people to buy condos again. The units are also zoned commercial/residential so you could also operate a business from home if you wanted. I think they also share amenities (pool, gym, etc) & parking garage with Camden Court apartments.

 

[bqknight]

I received an email that Citi Tower is now pre-leasing. I received this about 30 minutes ago. 

I have asked for some info - as I am genuinely interested but will let you know what I hear back!

[Pete C]

20 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

Hard to say - each unit at China Glass is unique. After the market crashed I remember 1/1 units were listed for $130k+ all cash and no financing. I believe 1/1 units are now selling around $250k, but I'm not sure if they're eligible for financing as banks are still wary of condos. Banks really need to make it more feasible for regular people to buy condos again. The units are also zoned commercial/residential so you could also operate a business from home if you wanted. I think they also share amenities (pool, gym, etc) & parking garage with Camden Court apartments.

 

Some of them are doing loans like Trustco Bank. They have stipulations that the building/complex must be 75% owner occupied, that it is not an apartment conversion, and the association is not in debt. The other option is to go with an FHA loan which will finance condos, but you have to pay PMI with those. Something like these lofts though...not sure how they would be treated.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Pete C

[bqknight]

Here is the info listed on RentCafe:

https://www.rentcafe.com/apartments-for-rent/us/fl/orange-county/32801/?geopicker_type=viewport&viewport=-81.40038999493407%2C28.52149500771884%2C-81.34056600506591%2C28.56756295514109&zoom=14&DetailsPreview=569483

Looking at $4K for a 3 Bedroom - $1000 more than 420. A lot of floor plans are open plan - which I would never go back to. The cheapest actual 1 BR looks to be around $1830. 

[spenser1058]

Makes me glad I'm over in the "vintage" po' folks region of South Eola. I just pay $72/month for the pool and LifeFitness at the Downtown Y and life is still affordable with most of the amenities. Of course, we never know when our building will be the next victim of tower fever.

[AndyPok1]

3 hours ago, bqknight said:

Here is the info listed on RentCafe:

https://www.rentcafe.com/apartments-for-rent/us/fl/orange-county/32801/?geopicker_type=viewport&viewport=-81.40038999493407%2C28.52149500771884%2C-81.34056600506591%2C28.56756295514109&zoom=14&DetailsPreview=569483

Looking at $4K for a 3 Bedroom - $1000 more than 420. A lot of floor plans are open plan - which I would never go back to. The cheapest actual 1 BR looks to be around $1830. 

I will say that when this was proposed years ago, the thing that excited me the most was that it was almost all studios/1 bdrms, and it looks like that held true.  Only 45 total 2/3 bedrooms (in the corners).  So 3 of those, 5 studios, and 7 1 bedrooms.  It isn't impacting the price immediately, but I hope that 200 new single-person units starts to satisfy the demand and cause a correction.

[dcluley98]

Wow that's rich. My rent went up 4% this year.  And I don't live in a "nice" building per se.  At some point, all the new supply has to put a cap on the extravagant rents downtown, right?

[popsiclebrandon]

I live and work downtown and I just can't see them filling at that rate. Of course almost everyone will get a month or two free to make it really way less than that but still. 

[John Hargrove]

I left 55 West when our 3BR unit started pushing toward 3K. 4300 is completely unreal for downtown. That's either going to sit empty or going to be 5 college kids splitting the rent. Vacant or full of empty beer cans.

[prahaboheme]

What I would give to live in a new construction one bedroom for $1800 in a prime location.

My Santa Monica 50s era 1-bedroom is considerably more than this.  Let's not even discuss new development in the same area.

[JFW657]

In the 90's I rented a spacious, 2 bedroom (1½ actually... the second bedroom was very small) upstairs half an "up/down duplex" right near the corner of Church and Summerlin for $360 a month.

My how times change.

 

[John Hargrove]

16 hours ago, prahaboheme said:

What I would give to live in a new construction one bedroom for $1800 in a prime location.

My Santa Monica 50s era 1-bedroom is considerably more than this.  Let's not even discuss new development in the same area.

Yeah but in the second case you wake up each day in Santa Monica, not Orlando. And then there's this:

$4500/month for anything in Orlando outside of a penthouse or a lake side mansion is pretty unreal. The vast majority of earners who can really stomach that are making at least 150K/year, arguably more comfortably near 200K. That's pretty unusually matched for the environment that downtown provides -- it's not particularly family friendly, and lacking a lot of very basic services. 

That said, downtown is heading that direction. This just seems ... a little ahead of the game. 

[prahaboheme]

I'd be curious to see what the downtown Orlando median income line reveals.  That would be a more apt comparison to Santa Monica.

LA to Orlando would likely be a lesser variance.

[spenser1058]

14 minutes ago, prahaboheme said:

I'd be curious to see what the downtown Orlando median income line reveals.  That would be a more apt comparison to Santa Monica.

LA to Orlando would likely be a lesser variance.

Obviously, this is totally anecdotal, but based on the difference in shoppers I observe at my Publix at the Paramount vs. one like the Dr. Phillips store, I suspect the downtown high rises are not filling with the rich and famous. Given the difference in the offerings between stores, I imagine Publix would agree with me.

Edited May 12, 2017 by spenser1058

[prahaboheme]

3 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Obviously, this is totally anecdotal, but based on the difference in shoppers I observe at my Publix at the Paramount vs. one like the Dr. Phillips store, I suspect the downtown high rises are not filling with the rich and famous. Given the difference in the offerings between stores, I imagine Publix would agree with me.

Apartments in Santa Monica are not filling with the rich and famous, either. 

[John Hargrove]

Well, not after they pay their rent anyway!