Finished units all leased in Birmingham's District Lofts

The District Lofts in Birmingham are filling up fast now that the development in the city's emerging Rail District has gone rental.

All of the project's available units, nearly one third of them, are currently 
leased. The next third set of units will come online in January and the rest are expected to be finished in March.

"The leasing is going quite well," says J.C. Cataldo, developer of The District Lofts.

The development originally started out as for-sale units with a starting price of $400,000. The tough real-estate market and even worse credit market made it nearly impossible to complete the sale of some of the units.

That prompted Cataldo to make the switch to rentals, following other prominent luxury developments like The Fifth Royal Oak and New Street Lofts in Mt. Clemens. Urbane Apartment's redevelopment rentals in downtowns are going fast, too.

The District Lofts appear to be following suit. Rents in the 24-unit development start at $2,700 a month for a 1,550-square-foot loft. That includes all of the utilities and an underground parking space. They go as high as $3,400 a month for just under 2,000 square feet.

The development consists of a 4-story, mixed-use building where the homes are located above ground floor retail space and an underground heated parking garage. They are a few blocks east of downtown Birmingham on South Eaton Street.

The old industrial corridor is dotted with old factory buildings that are being converted to lofts and businesses as the city redevelops the neighborhood. A stop for a northern extension of the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line is also planed for the area.

For information, call (248) 593-6000.

Source: J.C. Cataldo, developer of The District Lofts
Writer: Jon Zemke
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