Loft districts in Boston & DC?

[STLgasm]

These are two cities with a wealth of old buildings, yet we don't hear much about their loft districts. I'm interested in any info about emerging residential loft living in Boston & DC. Any pics are appreciated!

[crisp444]

In Boston, lofts are spread out all around the city and the inner, urban suburbs on the sites of former factories and warehouses. However, the most notable of these districts is called the Leather District, near Kneeland Street and I-93 in central/south Boston if you look at a map. It's near Chinatown and the Financial District. The area is pretty dead at night, but hopefully with people moving in the lofts it will improve. A good site to view for lofts is http://loftsboston.com/boston_lofts-listings.php?class=1
Let me know if you have any questions about that area.. if it's for a good reason (research project, investments, etc) I'd be glad to photograph the area during the day for you, as I sometimes have to go into the Financial District near there.

Other notable places for lofts:
South Boston
East Cambridge
Chelsea

[STLgasm]

^^Very cool-- thanks!

[Shasta]

The South End/Lower Roxbury area has a few lofts too. Some of them are old but many of them are new and are lining corridors on Washington Street and Harrison Avenue near the Boston Medical Center.

My biz (www.boxxfurniture.com) is in an artist loft building at the corner of Washington @ Waltham. There are several artist lofts in the area and first fridays (open studios) have become a pretty big deal.

[crisp444]

Off-topic but I want to say this:
Shasta, your office is right down the street from Stella (South Washington between Brookline and Dedham), one of my favorite restaurants in the city! Washington gets decidedly better as you go from Stella towards your office and decidedly worse as you go from Stella to Melnea Cass Blvd and Mass Ave. I was very surprised that a restaurant as upscale as Stella would open in that location, but it is full all the time, so I am happy with its success. Hopefully Washington will continue to attract development all the way west to Mass Ave. and beyond. I can honestly say that I would have never ventured to that neighborhood had Stella never opened, and I know many people who would be the same if it werent for the opening of restaurants/stores/galleries on South Washington.

[STLgasm]

Does DC have a loft district? It must, right?

[Crawford]

No, DC does not have a loft district. Remember that loft districts were 19th century manufacturing districts. DC has never been a major center for manufacturing. There are a couple of loft-like new construction buildings throughout the metro area, but I can't think of any major concentration.

Sometimes developers claim that converted older office buildings are loft apartments, apparently for no other reason that they have high ceilings. DC does not have many office buildings converted to residential use because along with NYC, Boston and SF, office space has always been at a premium.

[SouthJersey7]

There's a pretty big loft-type development in Alexandria, VA called the Torpedo Factory although it's mixed-use rather than just residential. It's about a 10-15 minute Metro ride from DC proper.

http://www.torpedofactory.org/

[VivaLFuego]

Yeah, Crawford beat me to it. Generally, you'll find the most loft districts in cities that were largely industrial with major manufacturing, like NYC, Chicago, and other midwest cities (there's decent potential conversion stock in cities like KC, STL, Detroit, Cleveland etc if memory serves). Boston and DC were never really known as manufacturing meccas and thus don't have many convertible areas. Of course the new trend are "soft lofts", new construction concrete condos designed to look sort of like lofts, and I'm sure there are ample supply of these everywhere.

[STLgasm]

Even newer cities such as Houston and Atlanta have some historic loft conversions, so certainly Boston and DC, as old and big as they are, have at least as many warehouse lofts as those Sunbelt cities?

[J. Will]

Funnily, the loft craze in Toronto really took off after the movie "Philadelphia" in the early 90s, which had characters living in lofts. Dozens of old brick buildings were converted to lofts (often with ground-floor retail). After the supply of old buildings started to dwindle, new "loft-style" buildings begun to be built, which continues to this day.

[Shasta]

Off-topic but I want to say this:
Shasta, your office is right down the street from Stella (South Washington between Brookline and Dedham), one of my favorite restaurants in the city! Washington gets decidedly better as you go from Stella towards your office and decidedly worse as you go from Stella to Melnea Cass Blvd and Mass Ave. I was very surprised that a restaurant as upscale as Stella would open in that location, but it is full all the time, so I am happy with its success. Hopefully Washington will continue to attract development all the way west to Mass Ave. and beyond. I can honestly say that I would have never ventured to that neighborhood had Stella never opened, and I know many people who would be the same if it werent for the opening of restaurants/stores/galleries on South Washington.

Don't be fooled by the look. Washington Street from Berkeley to Mass Ave is pretty well gentrified.

You can find restaurants like Oishii (Boston's trendiest sushi joint), the Red Fez, Union, Pho Republique, Stella, Code 10, Flour Bakery, Toro, Equator, Mike's Diner, and Seiyo.

You can find new living spaces at the Gateway, Laconia Lofts, the Savoy, Wilkes Passage, Rollins Square, the Allen House, Penny Savings Bank, and more. In fact, the movement has spread to the area that used to be the last truly sketchy place, BU Med Center.

You can find shopping like Devi Home, Lekker, Red River Trading Company, Garage Sale, Boxx Furniture, Simplemente Blanco, Brix Wine Store, Voila, Michelle Willey, and Vessels Gallery.

Now, that said, one of the reasons I love the South End is that it cannot be totally gentrified. In the same blocks as the things listed above, you can also find the Cathedral Projects, Cathedral High School, a fairly sketchy park (after dark), the Salvation Army, and a host of things just like that. But, that's the beauty of a neighborhood like the South End!