Novare eyes key Midtown corner for new tower (Atlanta, Roswell: rental, condo)

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Blech, just what we need....more Novare.

I hope these guys finally start building decent condos without those ridiculous 3/4 walls.

Novare stands for 'No variety'.

[ATLJR]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Novare stands for 'No variety'.

I don't hate Novare as much as others. Yes, the current towers are cookie cutterish and can be found in other cities, but they're filling a need. They're providing in town housing, which is great. I don't like what they do with their parking decks, but they're also not the ones being forced by outdated zoning codes to provide parking. Could they dress it up? Sure, but then it would probably drive the cost of the development up, thus rent. I'd be happy with them putting a ton of towers up, to be honest. Not every tower needs to be some award winning, expensive show piece. The more they bring to market, the more supply, and rents will drop. The fact that they're able to charge around $2 / SF for what they've put up recently in their rentals is insane.

I say let Novare do their thing, which will be cheaper in town living, and let others bring to market more unique, nicer buildings which will obviously demand a premium.

Also, if you look at their history (and I know they haven't BUILT all these buildings, but they have either built or renovated these buildings) you can see they do a lot of unique things:

33 Ponce, The Biltmore, Centennial House, The Metropolitan, Peachtree Lofts, Renaissance Lofts, & Ritz Carlton.

Atlanta has plenty of space and they're building these in urban centers. That's great.

[kasuga888]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Blech, just what we need....more Novare.

I hope these guys finally start building decent condos without those ridiculous 3/4 walls.

They should either make it a "real" 1 bedroom or or use that room to make it a proper open space studio. Doing the 3/4 wall took away the open feel, breaking up the space while giving no advantage of privacy as in a real 1 bd.

[midtown mile girl]

Originally Posted by kasuga888

They should either make it a "real" 1 bedroom or or use that room to make it a proper open space studio. Doing the 3/4 wall took away the open feel, breaking up the space while giving no advantage of privacy as in a real 1 bd.

I agree. The fact that the layout was so poor that all you could fit in there was a bed and maybe a tall dresser was a turnoff. Young professionals without furniture are not the only ones looking for one bedrooms, older singles looking to downsize are also looking too.

[thebigATL]

Hope it rises 40+stories

[ATLTJL]

I actually think their buildings are perfectly attractive from the outside and are modern enough and fill out the skyline nicely (except Centennial Place with the stupid antenna spire thing that looks like a giant clasped on piece of plastic).

My problem with them is how stupid the insides are. In some cases, normal people want to live intown. Not trendy people who don't need full walls separating the bedroom and living room and want exposed concrete walls, floors, and ceilings. How about at least selling some units that have actual drywall and carpet or hardwood floors? I mean, I guess people can do this on their own, too, but it'd be nice if they would at least offer it out of the box.

Not everyone wants to live in some kind of crazy half apartment/half loft looking thing. I say, either go balls out and build lofts with exposed ductwork, concrete everything, and gigantic windows, or make it a normal condo with regular walls and flooring. I don't get this weird "halfway in between" thing. I know they're trying to be unique, but it actually has the opposite effect....they all just look the same. I mean, what can you really do with a concrete wall? You can't even paint it (at least, not easily).

I looked at Novares and they were really neat at first. But I realized after a month or two, this look is going to become tiresome and it's really not very livable. I predicted in a few years there would be a plethora of available 700 square foot shoeboxes in the sky people were trying to unload. That hasn't happened yet, but I still think it will!

[noah]

Well they must know their customers cause what they do seems to be working. Of course not everyone considers 700ft a shoebox.

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I actually think their buildings are perfectly attractive from the outside and are modern enough and fill out the skyline nicely (except Centennial Place with the stupid antenna spire thing that looks like a giant clasped on piece of plastic).

My problem with them is how stupid the insides are. In some cases, normal people want to live intown. Not trendy people who don't need full walls separating the bedroom and living room and want exposed concrete walls, floors, and ceilings. How about at least selling some units that have actual drywall and carpet or hardwood floors? I mean, I guess people can do this on their own, too, but it'd be nice if they would at least offer it out of the box.

Not everyone wants to live in some kind of crazy half apartment/half loft looking thing. I say, either go balls out and build lofts with exposed ductwork, concrete everything, and gigantic windows, or make it a normal condo with regular walls and flooring. I don't get this weird "halfway in between" thing. I know they're trying to be unique, but it actually has the opposite effect....they all just look the same. I mean, what can you really do with a concrete wall? You can't even paint it (at least, not easily).

I looked at Novares and they were really neat at first. But I realized after a month or two, this look is going to become tiresome and it's really not very livable. I predicted in a few years there would be a plethora of available 700 square foot shoeboxes in the sky people were trying to unload. That hasn't happened yet, but I still think it will!

[ATLTJL]

Of course not everyone considers 700ft a shoebox.

Nope, but I would wager that the great majority of people who can actually afford an intown condo are at places in their lives where 700 square feet just isn't going to cut it.

It's almost like these condos were built for investors, which is odd considering they all have 25% rental caps.

[arjay57]

Just hope they are taking the ER factor into account. If these things are only 700 sf you are talking about adding a lot of people.

[CCATL]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Just hope they are taking the ER factor into account. If these things are only 700 sf you are talking about adding a lot of people.

But, that's a good thing. For those who choose to live there, elbow room obviously isn't as big a concern as it is for you. Adding that kind of population density to midtown is needed to support the restaurants, stores, etc. in the area via foot traffic, rather than cars. Hell, if they can get people to rent 200sqft (similar to SCADs parking garage experiment), I say go for it! More people is a good thing. City living DOES NOT EQUAL elbow room.