Lofts of Merchants Row open house

[Mojo]

The lofts of merchants row (http://www.loftsofmerchantsrow.com/) is having an open house / walk through on Thursday from 5-8pm. The way these lofts are priced now is pretty cheap, I know I'll probably check this out.

[baldy]

How did you find out about this?

I wish I could go. Is anyone going to be able to make? If so, please take lots of pictures!

Does anyone know when people are to start moving in or how the occupancy is looking? I remember reading a while back that the demand for downtown living is pretty solid right now. Being that this is really highlight of residential redevelopment downtown, the success should be plastered in the news, hopefully spawning more redevelopment.

[Allan]

Hmmm...5-8 PM Thursday....I will probably be able to make it. It depends on how much work I have to do, and it doesn't look that bad right now, since I am just now finishing up two large projects for my architecture studios.

I wish I could afford it. My roommates are complete idiots, and I'm sick of putting up with their nonsense. Unfortunately they start at $750/month, which is about $300 out of my price range. LOL.

[Mojo]

Allan ...

You and I are 2 completely different LTU students lol. Me and my girl used to skip our asses off at the drop of a dime (Most of the time to go to the Star Southfield). Architecture students do look like they have it rougher than engineers in terms of projects. These lofts seems like a pretty good deal for the space....so far. 800 sq ft for $750 ( I'll be livin with my girl) it would suck trying to pay this, and still going to school (especially LTU tuition).

To answer your question ebaldy this is posted on the table for Merchant's Row in the Compuware building. I'm kind of suprised they didin't say anything about it on the website.

[Mojo]

I'll see if I can take some pictures of one of the units tomorrow.

[Allan]

I've only had to pull two all-nighters so far to finish absolutely insane projects. I don't dare skip class, given the fact that I got a scholarship to go here. If my GPA drops, I'll loose my scholarship, and then I will be up to my neck in student loans.

[Mojo]

Lemme tell you first hand, you don't wanna get started with the student loans. They're gonna be kicking my ass pretty soon. I need to start my masters program so I can hold off on them a little longer

[Allan]

Yeah. I won't need any student loans for 2 or 3 more semesters. Of course it all depends on how much money my basic design professor makes me waste. On Monday we are taking a class trip to U of M's north campus. Of all the places in A2 to go, why north campus?! What a waste of my gas and my money....

[baldy]

How did this go? Where are the pictures?

[Allan]

I ended up not making it to the open house.

I got out of class at 5:10, 40 minutes later than expected, then spent the next 50 minutes sitting in traffic trying to get downtown. Once I got there, I parked, then walked up Woodward. I took photos of the Hughes and Hatcher demolition, and Merchants Row. Since I was on the wrong side of the street, I decided that I'd just walk up Woodward to Grand Circus and then cross to the other side. Well, as it turns out there was some music thing going on in the park, so I stuck around for a while so that I could get some shots with actual pedestrians in them. By this time it was 6:40, and I had to leave for a lecture at 7:00. So I quickly walked down Woodward, while stopping to linger in front of the lofts for a few seconds, then I headed straight for my car. Then I sat in traffic for another 25 minutes as I tried to make it back in time. I ended up falling asleep in the lecture. All I know is that one minute the guy was talking about China, and the next he was talking about Los Angeles. I was supposed to take notes and draw sketches...that obviously didn't happen. So all in all, that night was a complete failure.

[Mojo]

I guess I forgot to recap on this. The lofts in this place were extremely nice, and the 2 bedroom units were huge. When you walk through the complex, you're unaware that you're walking through 4 buildings. For you those of you into architechural detail, this place has plenty of that. They maintained alot of what made these buildings notable from years ago. The pricing is pretty affordable (on the lower floors). The higher on the building you get the more expensive they become. The lady who took us on the tour said that there was a resturant (Breakfast club I think it's called), and 2 clothing stores that already leased space for retail. She said there could potentially be more leases signed but the leasing is done through a different group than the one who lease the lofts, and she didn't get an update in weeks.

[Mojo]

"I ended up falling asleep in the lecture"

Allan, That's the LTU student I know

[Allan]

The leasing agent told me several months ago that the retail was going to be mostly restaurants, so it's good to hear that they've got a couple of clothing stores lined up. Now if we could just get a downtown grocery store....

Fortunately, falling asleep in that lecture didn't effect my grades any, lol. I was going to get extra credit, but it turns out that I didn't need the extra credit anyway.

[Mojo]

Hey Allan,

I hope the retail is more things on the line of clothing than restaurants. People need more to do downtown.

What's going on with the building directly south of the merchant's row project? There were alot of construction workers in this building the other day and the windows were opened for the first time (that I can tell). I'm not sure if it's even part of the Merchant's row project, though this is the buildings in the middle of the 1200 block. I think (but I'm not sure) that it's called the Fowler building.

[Allan]

I'm pretty sure that the Fowler Building is part of the Merchants Row project. I can't find my map of the project, but I do know that not all of the buildings in the project are right next to each other. Apparently they had trouble aquiring all of the buildings on the block.