DEL.ICIO.USCommunity Spotlight: Castleberry Hill
Soaring intown life
For the AJC
Sunday, November 09, 2008
If you like the lifestyle of a SoHo loft, views of the city’s skyscrapers, the funky feel of living in a converted warehouse and the ability to walk to downtown attractions, you’ll find only a few Atlanta neighborhoods that fit your criteria.
One that leads the list is Castleberry Hill, an enclave of rehabbed, converted and reclaimed warehouses and factories south of Philips Arena, the World Congress Center and the Georgia Dome.
Photos by Christopher Oquendo / Special
On-air designer Brian Patrick Flynn of TBS’ ‘Movie and a Makeover’ combined urban gritty and Southern country in his loft.
Lofts, businesses, studios, restaurants and public transportation all add to the intown appeal of Castleberry Hill.
Friends and neighbors (from left) Emma Lacey-Bordeaux, Stefan Turkheimer, Josh Kluchka and Angela Von Drasek hang out at Deer Lofts in Castleberry Hill.
Carrie and Steven Burns moved from Roswell to Mueller Lofts seven years ago and to a larger space three years ago.
Lofts, businesses, studios, restaurants and public transportation all add to the intown appeal of Castleberry Hill.
Flynn sold all of his furniture and started over when he moved from Midtown into his loft at 150 Walker St.
More photos of Castleberry Hill
Atlanta home development stories
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From the late 1800s, Castleberry Hill was a natural setting for a manufacturing or warehouse business that wanted to be close to the center of downtown and the city’s rail transportation hub. But many of those companies left the area or went out of business, leaving their industrial structures behind — and ripe for turning into residential units boasting oversize windows, soaring ceilings, concrete floors and wide-open floor plans.
After more than 25 years of being reclaimed as a residential neighborhood, largely by the city’s artist community, Castleberry Hill is now a vibrant area with work-live units, restaurants, shops and a number of galleries. Yet residents such as Stefan Turkheimer are still surprised that it’s an undiscovered corner of Atlanta.
“I admit, when I moved here in 2005, I didn’t know it was here, and I’ve lived in Atlanta most of my life,” said Turkheimer, who lives on the fifth floor of the Deer Lofts with his girlfriend, Emma Lacey-Bordeaux. “Now, I’m less likely to get a blank stare when I tell people where I live. But I still get a few.”
Having worked in New York and Washington, D.C., Turkheimer missed the vibe of those cities when he came back to Atlanta to practice law. But he found it in Castleberry when he went to an area restaurant with friends.
“I also didn’t have much money,” he said. “But I found this expansive space with concrete floors, great views of downtown, pillars — but no bathroom or kitchen. I IKEA’d it out and put in the cabinets myself.”
Turkheimer’s unit now features a raised platform to create a dining area and installed hanging Chinese lamps that can be raised or lowered to change the lighting in the space. A triangular corner of the space is the bedroom, with industrial casement windows. And there’s plenty of room for him to have a home office where he works most of the time.
With the oversize windows, high ceilings and open floor plans, Castleberry’s buildings are ideal for artists, many of whom have studio and gallery space and living quarters all in one place.
“Many people still may not know that Castleberry has one of the city’s largest communities of working artists,” said Rebecca Wellborn, a real estate agent with Chapman Hall who has worked in the area. “They also have a strong neighborhood association that addresses many issues from public relations to transportation. They’ve been proactive about addressing growth issues and worked closely with the city on zoning to make sure that the community develops in a way that preserves the quality of life there.”
Loft makeover
It was love at first sight for Brian Patrick Flynn and his Castleberry building at 150 Walker St. The on-air designer featured on TBS’ “Movie and a Makeover” show was scouring the city for a neighborhood with a SoHo feel and more room than he had in his Midtown efficiency. The moment he found Castleberry, the search ended.
“I immediately felt that this was downtown living,” Flynn said. “It had an open floor plan but you enter in the middle, so there’s room for a private bedroom area on the left. The main room is flooded with light from the windows. It’s only about 930 square feet but because of the layout and the 12-foot ceilings, it feels much bigger.”
In the three years he’s been in the unit, Flynn has applied his expert makeover skills to create various looks. The latest is what he calls “experimental.”
“I wanted to make it a showcase for myself so I sold every piece of furniture I had and started from scratch,” Flynn said. “I wanted to marry two styles: urban, gritty, downtown loft with Southern country. Then I added my own style, that’s more pop. I went with all 1960s and ’70s furniture and a summer palette with red, green, dark brown and bright white. And there’s pop art, leather and vinyl everywhere.”
Flynn turned old ladders into art on the wall above his bed. He copied old barn doors, had them built with frosted glass panels and hung them on a stretch of brick wall and windows. The new elements add to the existing exposed ductwork and 5-inch heart pine plank flooring.
Outside his unit, Flynn is delighted with the neighborhood’s camaraderie. “People really do look out for each other here,” he said. “I feel safer here than I felt in Midtown.”
OTP to ITP
Carrie Burns and her husband, Steven, were living in Roswell when they decided to make their dream of living in an urban loft a reality. It wasn’t an easy transition: They traipsed through 60 units before they found exactly what they wanted in Castleberry’s Mueller Lofts seven years ago. Three years ago, they moved to a larger unit with 2,000 square feet in the same building that gave them more room to work from home.
“We loved that you can live here and not have to drive,” said Burns. “MARTA buses pick up in front of our door, and we can walk to the train in a few minutes. A few years ago, we gave up one car because we just don’t see the need.”
After seven years in residence and a few as the head of the neighborhood association, Burns says the neighborhood has come a long way.
“When we moved here, it wasn’t where it is now,” she said. “But I could see so much potential. It already had proximity to everything in Atlanta and great skyline views. It’s exactly what you want out of intown living, but it doesn’t have the craziness of being right in the middle of downtown.”
Along with art galleries, the neighborhood has a framing shop, an accessories boutique, a home decor store and restaurants such as Slice Pizza, Wasabi, Pascal’s and No Mas Cantina. For the last eight years, the neighborhood association has staged an annual loft tour and a chili cookoff to benefit the local fire station. Proceeds have gone to beautification projects and lighting. Residents also work closely with Atlanta police in Zone 5 on any safety issues affecting the area.
“We’re a very involved group,” said Burns. “And we have everybody: singles, married couples, gay and lesbian couples, even some kids. This is a great place for people who like to be in the thick of it.”
Castleberry Hill real estate
Like so many intown communities, Castleberry Hill has a limited amount of land. Most of it is covered in old warehouse and factory buildings, many of which have already been converted to lofts.
“There are very few freestanding buildings that offer opportunities for people to build to suit,” Wellborn said. “That’s the great thing about it being a historic district like this: You can’t create more original lofts. That’s one of the things that gives it value and helps maintain that value.”
The units that already exist in Castleberry are so unusual, with sizes ranging from 600 to 3,500 square feet, that it’s difficult to compare by traditional real estate standards, such as bedrooms, baths and lot size. Instead, agents working in the neighborhood use the price per square foot as a guide.
“In Castleberry, a one-bedroom could be bigger than a three-bedroom, depending on how the space is carved up,” Wellborn said. “But if you look at the amount of square footage, the finishes and the amenities such as parking, gym or rooftop deck, you can get a good idea. Generally, an average price per square foot here is around $200.”
Many of the older buildings were first converted in the 1980s and ’90s and don’t feature the level of finishes that some of the newer rehabs have. If a unit hasn’t been upgraded recently, buyers are apt to find vinyl countertops and white cabinetry. Newer units and those that have been updated by owners may feature granite counters, glass showers, tiled baths and stainless steel appliances.
“Those finishes have a big impact on the price,” Wellborn said. “Then you have some unique properties that go as far as having a private elevator. So you’ll find everything from a simple studio to a million-dollar urban paradise.”
With so much variety, how do buyers begin to decide which loft is right for them?
“I start out by asking them what about the kind of finishes they want,” Wellborn said. “Do they want personal outdoor space, a rooftop terrace? Those things are going to narrow it down to a few different buildings.”