(photograph copyright Bennett Miller Company)
Cedars Park Lofts
Yesterday, Jess and I went to see a bunch of lofts. One of them was in the Cedars area of Dallas. For those of you unfamiliar with the Cedars, it is that section of town just south of Downtown and Deep Ellum, after you go under/over I-30. Leasing agents refer to this area as being under "transition". It features a Pilgrim's Pride chicken packing factory, a homeless shelter, some lofts, and a bunch of stores and restaurants with many homeless-looking people sitting outside. At 5pm, the place is packed with homeless or almost homeless workers who just got off work and are now walking home. All the buildings have bars in the windows, and, all in all, the place looks run down and scary.
When we walked in, Jess saw a big room with a dilopdated kitchen, a very small and uncomfortable bathroom (one that you might be inclined to wear shower-shoes in, just in case) and two very small windows. She didn't like it. She said that it wasn't a place she'd be proud to bring her parents and/or brother to.
I, on the other hand, saw a huge space roughly 20×75, with tons of lofted storage space, well placed dividing walls, and a rasied platform ideal for an office with a bathroom that I would try to rennovate and a kitcen that could use some work. I loved it. I saw so many possibilities. So many ways to use the space. So many cool and interesting things happening in each of the room's nooks and crannys. Sure the neighborhood wasn't that great, but the people, regardless of their apperance, either left us alone, or were friendly enough to wave and say hello. Sure it would be better if the bathroom and kitchen were already fixed up, and if there were more windows, and if it were in a nicer part of town but… you get what you pay for, and we we're going to be paying much. I saw it as a project that, in the end, would satisfy all of my needs for space, luxury and creativity.
But Jess is right. It isn't some place I'd be proud to bring my family to. In fact, because of the area's appearance, I'm sure any guset of ours would feel a bit uncomfortable leaving their cars to enter the building… if we had any guests at all. But, I could tell that it was safe enough. There was a nice BMW Z3 parked out front with the top down, and an older model Porche sitting right next to it. The area is slowly being developed into a home for artists and creative types with living incentives for freelance artists who are willing to work with community children in order to enrich their lives and learning experience.
So, needless to say, we won't be living there.
Today, we have a few rental houses in the Lakewood area to checkout. For those of you unfamiliar with Lakewood, it is the older area that lines the western side of White Rock Lake. It's full of cute, well-kept older houses (and a few not-so-well-kept houses). It has a very eclectic atmosphere and is minutes away from everything. Well… everything except where I work.
Map from Lakewood to Irving
Most of this area is going for a little over $1/sqft, however, we've found a few really great deals. Most of them aren't lofts. But they are nice large rental spaces with nice kitchens, cute porches, and hardwood floors. I'm dreading the drive because the I-30/I-35E junction is a MESS in the morning. My only other option would be to cut across town on smaller streets, which I've never done, but I'm sure it's pretty bad as well. I have one other option, and that would be to head up 75 to I-635, but that would involve going too far North and then backtracking, and would also involve traveling through High-Five, which any sane morning commuter would avoid like the plague.
If that doesn't work out for us, we have one place near the American Airlines center that is very nice, though a little out of our price range. It is a cute loft with a nice kitchen (which now has a bigger, nicer stove, and an island) and beauitful windows (photographs copyright Bennet Miller Company). The only reason we can afford it right now is because of the special they are offering on it. They want us to sign a 15 month lease and they want to raise the rent by $125 for the last 3 months. Then, I'm sure, unless the market is still as shitty as it is now, they'll raise it again if we try to renew. So, if we do live there, we have to look at it as a place to live for 15 months, and then move… again. They seem slightly desperate to lease it. I think it's been available for quite a while because it's priced too high for most people. So, I might be able to get them to NOT raise it for those last three months. But that would be just about the best we could do, I think.
There is another place that we'll be seeing on Monday. We saw a bunch of their other lofts yesterday, all very beautiful, but, because the going rate is over $1/sqft they were all either too small or unaffordable. The only unit we didn't see is very well priced. However, it is an older unit that hasn't been upgraded like the others. When it was orginally converted, it was converted as a mostly comercial space. So, the kitchen is crammed behind a wall that leaves just enough space for one person. On top of that, the applicances have not been upgraded or cared for in quite some time. However, the part of town that it is in is nice enough that I'd be reasonably proud to have company. It's all a matter of how usable the space is inside. I guess we'll see on monday.
Then, of course, there's Tuscany Villas in Plano. Jess and I still really like it and we both think that it is, by far, one of the nicest places we have looked at. Despite the few complaints regarding thin walls and floors that we saw online, it is still a lot of very nice apartment for a decent price.
I guess all the choices will be made on Monday.
