Lofts are a hot new item in Atlanta today. Many old buildings in our downtown area are being gutted out and converted into lofts.

There is a dearth of housing downtown that leaves many who work there to fight it out twice a day in Atlanta's infamous traffic snarls; thus, downtown lofts are being eagerly snapped up. As Lisa O'Connor, Loft Manager for a real estate firm called The Condo Store, and salesperson at Kessler City Lofts, says, "People who work at Coca-Cola, IBM, Georgia Pacific, Ted Turner, CNN, often don't want to drive all the way from Alpharetta or other suburbs to work so they buy or rent lofts to live near their jobs."

As is true of housing of any type, the price of a loft condominium varies widely, starting from $50,000 and running all the way up to $800,000. Rental loft prices also vary, depending on factors like size, floor, and the location of the building. The Lofts at Muses run from $700 to $1600. William Oliver units go from $400 to $1230. Trammel Crow Properties is opening lofts in June that will start at $695 and run up to the $1300s.

There are disadvantages to be considered by people interested in these lofts. Simply because they are in downtown Atlanta, parking is likely to be a problem. Furthermore, folks who are coming out of houses (rather than apartments and condos) will want to carefully consider the lack of storage areas like basements, attics, and garages, as well as the absence of yards.

Many people love lofts for the wide open space and the opportunity to be especially creative with furniture and decorations. Alan Spry thinks that lofts are easier to decorate than other dwellings. "You can have something in a house that's old and ugly," he says, "and it looks good in a loft. These lofts are built of historic brick so the old chair or the old table or the weird metal stand goes well with the historic look of the brick walls."

Bridgette Boylan is an interior decorator and owner of Bridgette Boylan Interiors. She believes that there are special considerations in decorating lofts. "The first thing I would consider is the lighting," she says, "whether you have any natural lighting or only artificial. Lofts are often dark, with low ceiling pitch, so you need to add track or recess lighting into the ceiling area. You also need to select a lighter tone of paint for the ceiling. I would also suggest utilizing as much of the angle space as possible to your advantage. Often dormer or cubbyhole areas can make fun window seats."

The more classical lofts, which lack enclosed space, are best suited to single occupants and couples because privacy can be a vexing issue for families and roommates in such housing. David D., who shared a loft with a roommate for a month, says, "It drove me nuts because the rooms weren't partitioned off so there wasn't any privacy."

However, there are lofts and then there are lofts. According to Kevin McDaniel, Associate of The Novare Group, which is re-developing Peachtree Lofts from apartments to condominiums, "There are two main loft styles. One is the New York-style, like the Gaskets, which is a lot like warehouse space with everything wide open except the bathroom. Then there is Chicago-style, which is somewhat more similar to other apartments. The ceiling, electrical, and ductwork are exposed; the kitchen is in a little island, not a walk-in room. Peachtree Lofts are like this. You couldn't put a family of four in there because of all the open space."

The lofts that Trammel Crow Properties, a company which manages apartment communities, will open are also closer to Chicago-style. The Trammel Crow lofts will be within a group of four buildings at the corner of 5th and Peachtree St. The new community will be called The Legacy and will include both loft and apartment homes. There are 13 different floor plans for The Legacy lofts, all of which are named after famous artists, i.e., The Matisse, The Degas, The Picasso, etc. They include both one- and two-bedroom homes. According to Candace McGee, Marketing Specialist for Trammel Crow Properties, "They have exposed concrete floors, nine-foot-high ceilings, gourmet kitchens and exposed brick walls. They are very open but have half-walls so you could easily have roommates living in them."

The Lofts at Muses, according to Property Manager Conswellar Hall, have qualities of both New York and Chicago-style lofts. "There are 28 different floor plans," she states. "We have one-bedroom apartments in which there is a wall separating it from the living space which doesn't extend all the way to the ceiling. The ceilings are 14-feet high and the windows are nine feet tall. Some of the two-bedrooms have walls that go to the ceilings, although most of them do not. Some bedrooms don't have doors, some do."

Finally, there are lofts which are quite like regular apartments and condominiums in the issue of enclosed space. William Oliver is one such loft apartment complex. Its units are distinguished by very high ceilings but have regular walled-in rooms with doors. As leasing agent Jerri Willis says, "We have families and roommates as well as singles and couples."

For anyone who works in downtown Atlanta, a residence in the area can be a tremendous convenience, although an expensive convenience in dollars and a peculiarly inconvenient convenience with regard to parking. Couples and singles who want to live in the heart of this city should definitely consider lofts of any and all sorts, while families and roommates may find the more "normalized" lofts congenial.