Old Salem announces plans for development of town houses on former Coca-Cola property

By Mary Giunca
JOURNAL REPORTER

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?blobcol=urlmainpicture&blobheader=image/gif&blobkey=id&blobtable=MGImage&blobwhere=1137834578819&ssbinary=true&cachecontrol=2%3A0%3A0+*%2F*%2F*
(Journal Graphic by Nicholas Weir)

The barbed wire and weeds of the former Coca-Cola distribution building on South Marshall Street will soon give way to a new neighborhood of town houses, under the design guid-ance of Old Salem Inc.

Old Salem Museums and Gardens announced plans yesterday for a $12 million to $14 million development of town houses on the 2.5-acre site.

Old Salem still owns the historic Coca-Cola bottling plant that is next to the site.

Old Salem sold the property to Marshall Street Townhomes, a Greensboro company, for about $800,000, said John Larson, the vice president of restoration for Old Salem Inc. The president of Marshall Street is Frank Mellon, who also is an owner of Mellon Properties in Greensboro.

Larson said that Old Salem has imposed a number of requirements on the developer. It wants to make sure that the town houses reflect the quality of the restored village.

"We wanted residential. We wanted people living down here that would support the concept of historic preservation, urban living and neighborhoods," Larson said.

For 20 years, Old Salem has been acquiring property in the area around the Southeast Gateway.

In recent years, as the falling stock market has hurt Old Salem's endowment and the city of Winston-Salem has cut its financing, the organization has looked for ways to generate money for its labor-intensive operation.

Old Salem officials had talked about the possibility of entering into a partnership with a developer to put apartments in the old Coca-Cola bottling plant. Instead, Old Salem decided to sell some of the land around the plant.

The developer plans to build 23 bungalow-style town hous--es that will face South Poplar Street. That style of architecture reflects the early 20th-century style of the West Salem neighborhood. Another 22 federal-style brick town houses will face Marshall Street. Half of those will include office space on the first floor and living space above.

The prices of the town houses will run from $216,000 to $476,000, and they will range in size from 1,400 square feet to 2,800 square feet.

"The primary market is go-ing to be the empty nest-ers," Mellon said. "I think the proximity to Old Salem will be the main draw."

The project will be built in three phases, with the first 15 town houses expected to be finished by October.

The rest of the project should be finished by 2008, Mellon said.

The live-work spaces are particularly appropriate to Old Salem because they reflect the way that people once lived in the village, Larson said.

The development will tie together the neighborhoods of Old Salem and West Salem, Larson said.

The poor condition of the Coca-Cola property has long been a sore spot with some residents of West Salem.

"We wanted to make sure we had a product that could stand the test of time," Larson said. "In fact, we think they will improve with a little patina on them."

That's fantastic news for W-S!!! I am really glad to see urban projects popping up in the Triad :okay:

W-S threads dont get many responses so i decided to respond to this one about this new project. here is news on another development planned for the Old Salem, Brookstown vicinity. Local developer Beau Dancy has proposed 248 S. Main.; a 6-story, $18 mil, 97,000 sf residential/office condo project. ground could break later this summer/fall.

Another condo project planned for downtown W-S
by Matt Harrington

A group of local developers plans to build an $18 million residential- and office-condominium project called 248 South Main on the southern edge of downtown Winston-Salem, adding another 39 residential units to a growing market.

Beau Dancy, managing partner of 248 South Main LLC, the limited-liability company serving as the developer, said the project will be at the corner of South Main and Cemetery streets, between Old Salem and the center of downtown. The residential condos will range from 1,140 square feet to 3,240 square feet and be priced between $227,000 and $854,000.

The second component of the six-story project will be 16,750 square feet of office condominiums on the ground floor, priced at about $150 per square foot plus any finishing costs.

Dancy said he will close on the land at the end of the month.

The development will also feature two levels of underground parking, Dancy said. The other partners include Mike Prince, who also works at Dancy Real Estate, and Steve Sexton of Sexton Construction Co. Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce is the architect for the project. Sexton will build the shell of the structure, with Dancy's firm completing the units.

The timeline for the project is still yet to be determined, Dancy said, but ground could be broken this summer. It will take about a year and a half to build the structure.

"This is obviously extremely encouraging for the downtown housing market," said Jason Thiel, president of the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership. "Given the success that (Dancy) has already had, we expect this to be extremely successful."

The 97,000-square-foot building will face South Main Street and will be built in much the same way as Dancy's other downtown projects, Tar Branch Towers and the Mill at Tar Branch, which sit just west of the site of the new project. Only two of the 27 units at Tar Branch Towers remain unsold, and all 30 units at Mill at Tar Branch have been sold.

In all, downtown Winston-Salem has a total of about 800 condo units either existing or planned, according to Business Journal research.

"I've really been impressed with what's going on downtown," Dancy said. "Trader's Row (a mixed-use office and condominium project on Trade Street) has already sold out. We've yet to finish a unit before it's been sold. Compared to other municipalities of similar size, we've yet to even begin to tap into the residential market."

Dancy said even though the project hasn't been officially marketed yet, he's already getting positive response from people who have heard of the development, including a few people who are interested in the office space.

The office condominiums will be a new concept for downtown Winston-Salem, and developers in Greensboro have announced projects in recent months that also were geared toward for-sale office condos rather than leasable space. Initial response has been good, though both downtown Greensboro projects are just starting construction.

These look like pretty sweet deals for W-S. It's such a dense downtown that I can really see it having a great renaissance if the conditions are right. Still lots of industrial there, though. I wonder how much of it could be converted to a new function?

^ a good amount is seeing that transition now. the 6-story Brown Williamson building, will be converted into 79 lofts called the gallery. (http://thegalleryliving.com/index.html) Tobacco Square, and the 6-story Brown Rogers Dixson building (http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2006/04/10/story1.html) are also proposed for conversion. I think Tobacco Square would have 20 units...no word on BRD.

TwinCity, people tend to respond better to renderings :lol: Speaking for myself, I always read the W-S threads and I can't wait to see some photos, either of the existing fabric, construction updates, or renderings of the upcoming projects. Having been to W-S I truly feel that the best is yet to come for this great city. Since I do not live there, I may appear very patient, but I am anxious to hear about new announcements. Keep us posted.

There are photos at this site:

http://winstonsalemskyscrapers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51

They also have a recent photo in the City Photos section taken from the BB&T Financial Center, looking down on the site.

I'm not pleased with preservation efforts in Winston-Salem. Every new annoucement involves demolition of an historic property. 248 S. Main will require the demolition of the historic Crouse Apartment Building. A building that should be saved and restored as part of the original historic urban fabric of lower downtown. You may also remember Beau Dancy demolished an historic grocery store (built in 1919) at 404 West Street for a proposed condo tower. He has a 50/50 preservation record. He'll restore this and demolish that for his developments. His developments are very nice though. His townhouse development (Tanner's Park) in lower downtown was used as the backdrop for construction photos of the Wachovia Center in the mid 1990's. That was a first of its kind development in the state that other cities copied with great success.

Looking deeper into that forum, I found some nice photos from DT Winston-Salem. I liked the Holly Village development :okay:

again, i didnt want to start a new thread on one of W-S's smaller projects. this is a rendering on Goler Manor that just broke ground in NE downtown. this development is part of the Goler Depot which will include condos, apartments, brownstones, parks, commercial/retail. the total unit count is 500-600 depending on demand.
http://www.dwsp.org/housing/golermanor.jpg
Goler Manor: 200,000 sf, 6-7 storys, 79 units $20 mil.

Any renderings/photos would help :okay: The Goler development seems to be the kind of project that will add a lot of activity and residents in the streets of DT Winston-Salem. Last time I was there - back in Christmas - I wanted to take a few photos of the area, but I guess I will have to pay W-S another visit... soon ;)

You should give Zinzendorf credit for his post. That was a great rendering find by Zinzendorf of Goler Manor. A project with very little coverage in the media.

http://winstonsalemskyscrapers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86

I think Cosmoboy has become the official photographer at that forum? He does a good job capturing "the place" in his photos. One out of every three members of that forum is involved with downtown development. They have a Winston-Salem city planner, a DWSP member, someone from Elevation, a developer and the director of the Stevens Center. The guestbook at the main site also reads like a who's-who of Winston-Salem, from Bob Leak to Smitty. If you want to thank someone at city hall or question a zoning decision or request retail in the Gateway or ask for a touring show at the Stevens Center or changes at Summer On Trade, that is the forum to do it on. They are making a nice list of development in the city too! Something that has never been done before.

lol...Thank You Zinzendorf!!!!!!!!

Sorry TwinCity,
I'm just trying to help advertise the site, so we can build on converstation there. The people viewing the site and registered over there make it a very attractive place to post. It's currently the only forum where you can vent about development and have your comments heard by the right people. (that's why I joined) There are only three or four of us posting regularly though. I saw the city planner looking through the forum over the weekend though. I wish he would reply. If the big topics and renderings posted there appear here or at other forums, it hurts converstation over there. I would like to see that forum do well so it will stick around. That forum was created by merging two other forums that had low traffic. There is some concern it may not last the summer. :( I like the exposure for my downtown ideas. Though the ideas section has very little traffic. Most are looking at P&C.