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PAC Lofts: Mixing New With the Old Adds Up to Fabulous
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Concrete ceilings and exposed pipe reminiscent of the building's origins as an adding maching factory add an eclectic touch for young professionals. |
The first in a series on the secrets of The Nationals model home merchandising winners.
By Jan Mitchell
The Gold model home winners in the 2006 Nationals Awards have secrets to share about the different aspects of model home merchandising. Whether it’s use of materials or colors, the scale of the project or just breaking the rules, all of them reveal hot trends that are emerging today.
Among the winners are two condominium communities, one low-maintenance villa, a vacation home and an executive home in a gated community near open space. Whether today’s buyers are looking for city conveniences, low maintenance, luxury or recreation, builders are offering choices like never before — as The Nationals winners clearly demonstrate.
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Quirky contemporary furniture, along with place settings that suggest a casual dinner party, appeal to professionals in their 20s and 30s. |
Community: PAC Lofts
Award: Best Model Merchandising Under $250,000
Builder: The Bond Companies
Merchandiser: Riha Design Group
Location: Chicago
Built in 1908 as an adding machine factory, the 96-unit PAC Lofts is located in what has become one of the hippest areas of Chicago. Modern touches of granite countertops and European plumbing fixtures are juxtaposed nicely with yesterday’s exposed brick walls and 12- to 14-foot concrete ceilings.
The developer, The Bond Companies, created this urban reuse project after building a mixed-use development in Los Angeles at the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.
Prospects can tour two models at PAC Lofts, a standard model and one fully loaded. The fully-loaded model, replete with luxurious upgrades, is the one that impressed the 2006 Nationals judges, according to Laura Basich, senior designer at Riha Design Group.
Basich used greens, large black-and-white patterns and eclectic furniture to appeal to the sophisticated, young professionals in their 20s and 30s that the developer sought at this location close to the city’s elevated mass transit system. She chose furniture with clean lines, contemporary sofas, ornate dining chairs and a flat-screen TV to lure young buyers. An Asian-inspired dinner in progress completed the look.
The model was not only a hit with the judges, the lofts are at least 75% sold out.
Jan Mitchell is the senior editor of NAHB’s Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine. She also writes about model merchandising, interior design, architecture and consumer trends for other industry and consumer publications, including Professional Builder magazine and its online counterpart, Housingzone.com. Her bestselling book, “Sales and Marketing Checklists for Profit-Driven Builders,” is available through BuilderBooks.com. She has served as a judge for regional and national builder marketing competitions and is a member of the National Association of Real Estate Editors. For more information, e-mail Mitchell at mitchell.jan@comcast.net.
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Designer Laura Basich paired a bold, modern green with black-and-white graphics in this sophisticated bedroom. |
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