Real Estate January 30, 2010 8:45 AM

Allentown Lofts Open House This Weekend

Allentown Lofts Open House This Weekend

Kissling Interests is showing off its Allentown Lofts development at six upcoming open houses.   The ten unit residential conversion project at 430 Virginia Street is complete with six of the units leased.  Tenants begin moving into the building next week.  The public is invited to tour the property the next three weekends; January 30-31, February 6-7, and February 13-14 from 10 AM until 2 PM.

DSC_0275.JPGKissling purchased the four-story property in October 2006.  The circa-1924 building at one time housed the National Casket Company.  Unlike some loft projects downtown, the building is in a well-established neighborhood. 

The apartments are amongst the largest and most luxurious residences introduced to the downtown market. 

"We took our time with this project and didn't skimp on anything," says Kissling's Executive Vice President Scott LaCasse.  "The location, building amenities, and the quality of finishes are top-notch.  We are bringing a nice fresh look to downtown living." 

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Finishes include granite countertops, custom Hunter Douglas blinds, cherry kitchen cabinets, commercial grade appliances, in-unit washer/dryer, walk-in showers, and heated bathroom floors.  Ceiling heights range from 9' on the fourth floor to 16' on the second.  Original maple flooring on the second, third and fourth floors has been restored and units feature speed tile or exposed brick exterior walls.

The building offers heated indoor parking for eight cars, secure basement storage for tenants, and a 950 sq.ft. rooftop patio offering views of Allentown, Lake Erie and the downtown skyline. 

"This is a low-density building," says LaCasse.  "There are only ten units in a 25,000 sq.ft. building.  The upper floors have two residences each."

Units range in size from 1,500 to 2,750 sq.ft. with expansive living areas with large windows, ideal for live-work occupants.  Two of the leased units will be used as commercial space and not as residences.   

DSC_0317.JPGA first floor one-bedroom unit features a step-down living room where the original loading dock was located (above).  The loading dock garage door has been retained and can be seen behind the living room windows.

DSC_0282.JPGDSC_0322.jpgBathrooms in some units have been created in a former freight elevator shaft.  A tempered, frosted glass window obscures the shower behind the elevator doors (above). 

Rent for a one-bedroom unit is $1800/month.  A duplex unit is available for $2000.  The two-bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom units are priced at $2500 and $2750.  

Silvestri Architects PC designed the project and Peyton Barlow was general contractor.

Get Connected: Kissling Interests, 716.853.2787, ext. 200

 

 

Two of the ground-floor residences are two-level (image left). 

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Comments

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How can this be? Nobody makes over 30K in Buffalo!

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Well done Kissling! Great to see some true taste and aesthetic applied to a restoration. Good luck on renting the units.

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"The building offers heated indoor parking for eight cars" Wait, the residents aren't complaining about this? According to the Marine Dr. residents this would not fly!

On a serious note these look really nice, not sure about the exposed speed tile but it is different than the typical exposed masonry. What's the status on the Huron Hotel renovation?

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Expensive rent.
I pay less then those monthly rental amounts for my 2400 sq. ft. home (including taxes).

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And your home probably isn't this cool, or in this neighborhood. It's all relative.

replied to rb09
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It's cooler.

replied to ronin11mc
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You must be my neighbor then

replied to rb09
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Kudos to Kissling! Good work! Welcome to the exciting neighborhood, charter tenants!

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cool project - I've always admired this building and felt for years that it would make beautiful loft spaces.

Why is the building tax assessed at $100,000 when it sold for $340,000 over 3 years ago and it's a 2 million project? Man, I need their connections!

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The apartments look great, but I hate the weird faux-stone facade on the front of the building. It looks weird since it's only one story and on only one side of the building. Who do they think they're fooling? - you can clearly see it's only an inch deep when you look at the building corners. In my opinion, it would look better with just brick.

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The stone veneer was applied by the original owner thirty or so years ago.

replied to jattea
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It looks great but for what they're charging, I'd expect Miele, not GE Monogram from Lowes.

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They are all Jenn Air appliances, not GE. We stopped by today to look at them. The pictures do not do them justice, they are awesome and huge apartments. If I did not already own a house, I'd be signing a lease

replied to sonyactivision
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2850.00 plus is a hefty lease payment but I went to see them and they are beautiful apartments and huge and its great to see that metro Buffalo is able to command such rental prices. There are only 4 units available. I own a great home but if these apartments were condo's I'd be living there. I heard a rumor that at some point in the future these are supposed to go condo. If that's the case this is the type of place I would want to be in. I heard the utilities are nil comparitively speaking. The idea that coffins were manufactured there is a real plus as well. Talk about a novel residence.

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that rent is crazy, allentown isn't that vibrant worth paying inflated rent prices, people are funny. It looks nice relative to most apts in buffalo but the doors and the lighting fixtures look very cheap for 2K a month. 2k would get you a really nice loft in seattle, charlotte, raleigh, dallas, chicago...you know, real cities

the only reason the owners can price 'em so high is because they are unique to the area for now. these kind of projects are very commonplace in other cities. if other developers begin to invest in buffalo lofts, for whatever reason, the price will decline...simple supply and demand. I would never pay 2K a month to live in erie or niagara county unless it was a nice home in clarence or lewiston

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Real cities? I would challange BuffaloPills to define what a 'real city' is. The reason I love this Web Site is because of its' positive nature. Is this blogger hoping for this beautiful development to fail? If Kissling has been this successful one just might assume that he knows a little more about Buffalo, particularly since he has been putting his money where his mouth is since 1999 and has almost 900 units in the city.

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