Foundry Lofts
Flagler Village, Downtown Fort Lauderdale
Foundry Lofts is a proposed seven story development to be located just west of Andrews Avenue a few blocks north of Broward Boulevard in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
This will be just around the corner from Avenue Lofts and help enliven what is becoming the Flagler Arts & Technology District, part of the Master Plan for the City of Fort Lauderdale. This area is being further developed with the addition of Strada 315, Bamboo Flats and The Heights of Flagler Village.
Press reports (Sun-Sentinel, April 30, 2005) indicate that Foundry Lofts will provide 36 condominium residences in various configurations of One Bedroom / One Bath, Two Bedroom / One Bath and Two Bedroom / Two Bath models ranging in size from 975 square feet to 1798 square feet.
Ceiling heights will be 12 to 14 feet and prices were set to start in the mid $300,000 range at that time.
Loft living became chic over the past half century after artists reclaimed underutilized and often historic commercial and industrial buildings to use as live/work spaces. Those often provided architecturally distinctive features like cast iron facades and interior columns, huge windows, and lots of open space that artists could use.
In big cities where this took place, it didn't take long for more upscale urbanites to recognize the benefits of living in large open spaces, and prices for what had been affordable artist housing soon went up.
Now that loft-style new construction is fashionable, Projects like Avenue Lofts and Foundry Lofts are being built in cities like Fort Lauderdale where we never had those sort of historic commercial or industrial buildings to convert.
These new lofts provide some of the same features as the historic lofts (large windows, exposed ductwork, and high ceilings), and add comforts like hardwood floors, gourmet kitchens with stainless steel appliances and European style cabinets, and the kinds of finished bathrooms one would expect in a more conventional luxury condominium.
New luxury loft construction also provides balconies, tinted energy efficient windows and safety features that the historic urban lofts residences were notoriously lacking.
At Foundry Lofts, you'll even find a heated swimming pool, ample parking and a barbecue deck that would have been unimaginable to the artists who first reclaimed the Cast Iron district along Lower Broadway in New York's SoHo and TriBeCa neighborhoods.
Ask Edwards Realty Group how this compares to other new construction in the area.