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Multifamily housing development has been the salvation of some urban areas brought back to life by pioneers willing to take a chance on remodeling old, often historic, buildings into cosmopolitan apartments. Adaptive use helps to keep a sense of an area's history and, as Preston Snyder, president and principal of Atlanta's Braden Fellman Group, puts it, "We always look for projects with unique qualities. It's a thrill to turn these wonderful, old buildings around. Renters get caught up in the enthusiasm."

Braden Fellman Group specializes in small- to medium-sized projects, a unique mix of renovation or adaptive use properties and both commercial and residential infill in downtown Atlanta. Its recently completed 350,000 square-foot project, known as the Mattress Factory, sits on ten acres in downtown Atlanta and contains buildings that date from 1863 to 1950. The buildings housed the Southern Springs Bedding Company in the 1970s and 1980s and, according to Snyder, they also stabled General Sherman's horses when Sherman's troops occupied and burned Atlanta during the Civil War.

Loft units ranging in size from 635 to 1,800 square feet lease on average for about $1.10 per square foot. The 170 lofts feature 42-inch-high maple cabinets, stained concrete or tongue-and-groove heart-of-pine, digital stainless steel appliances (Snyder remarks that the stainless steel package was extremely well received, well worth the extra cost), improved lighting, and Italian tile on the bath floors and tub surrounds.

Regarding EPA standards, Snyder explains that there is still a labyrinth to work through but says, "Everyone involved has become more savvy to infill situations." The Mattress Factory residential units are more than 90 percent leased, while the 175,000 square feet of creative commercial and retail space currently is leased to artists, artisans, and entrepreneurs.

Long leader in developing garden apartment complexes in suburban Atlanta, where it is headquartered, Post Properties developed in midtown Atlanta in 1999. with Post Parkside, Post established a niche in midtown and identified it as a hotspot for retail development anchored by residential development. "Each location in midtown has a character of its own," says Dave Stockert, president of Post, "We are adding street-level excitement by bringing residents to areas that need them." John Williams, chairman and CEO at Post, believes that, in the near future, midtown Atlanta will experience the same residential, retail, and office space growth as have Georgetown in Washington, D.C., and Uptown are in Dallas, Texas.

Post Biltmore, capitalizing on its location next door to the historic Biltmore Hotel in Atlanta, provides another example of urban apartment development. Post converted the old hotel into Class A offices and condominiums. The location is an easy walk to Bell South Corp's recently opened Midtown Center for 2,800 employees, Georgia Tech's business school campus, the Fox Theatre, and the North Avenue MARTA station. The complex caters to an upscale renter with rents ranging from $890 for a 540-square-foot studio apartment to $1,795 for a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath loft. Amenities include a courtyard, a rooftop terrace with outdoor fireplace, a fitness center, ten-foot-high ceilings, antique hardwood floors, and stained concrete or Berber carpets.

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Adaptive Use In Atlanta