We are excited to announce the acquisition of a property on the Boardman River at the corner of State and Pine Streets across the River from Hannah Park and the History Center. A prime location, right smack in the heart of downtown. Conceptual plans are under way for up to 10 townhomes along the river and several live-above-work units along the sidewalk on State Street.

Classic brick storefront units with rear entry garages and luxurious, spacious living quarters above

Classic brick storefront units with rear entry garages and luxurious, spacious living quarters above

You will be impressed with the projects approach, its sense and simplicity. The ability to completely customize and design a townhome to taste and style of living and sized to fit is incomparable, not to mention the 2 car attached garage, private elevator, expansive riverfront terraces and, of course, location. As these are individual townhomes, they can be constructed quickly and without waiting for a high percentage of commitments before we begin construction. Another advantage is that you are not paying the cost of construction or maintenance of common elevators, stairways and parking.

Uptown Phase 1 Looking South West from Corner of State and Pine Streets

Uptown Phase 1 Looking South West from Corner of State and Pine Streets

Townhome features classic brick exteriors and urban architecture. Be sure to view all posts in the Uptown-Riverfront living downtown Category (in sidebar on right). Call or email to get the latest breaking news. Click HERE for a preliminary flyer.

OUR APPROACH

In spite of the current, long recession, Midtown has been successful, not only because of the demand for our product, but because of our innovative, but simple business model.

We avoid traditional apartment-style condominium projects, as they are difficult to finance, both for us and the end user. In doing so, we also avoid major factors that drive up cost to build and maintain, time to construct and risk. Our townhomes are functionally independent of other units. There are no shared hallways, elevators multiple egress stairways, parking structures or mechanical equipment. Vertical separation walls are sound-proof and there is no one else living above or below.

Each townhome has its own attached garage, internal stairs and private elevator. This provides the individual owner freedom in design within his “footprint” and flexibility in choosing mechanical systems and features. It also gives great comfort in the ability to control utility and maintenance costs, especially for those who are not year-round residents.

Midtown continuously searches for, identifies and negotiates the purchase of infill opportunities and private investors who like our projects and our approach buy and hold the land on our behalf. Midtown does the due diligence and works through the design and approval process, our objective being to precisely determine the building footprints and generate site condominium documents and surveys as quickly as possible. Once finalized, we are in a position to sell and close on the lot. The land investor releases and is paid for each lot as sold and the remainder of the purchase price goes into an escrow account that funds the land improvements and infrastructure.

The site work will be done in two phases, which reduces capital requirements to an easily managed internal level, which then gets paid through lot sales. The west parcel, with units A thru E will be phase 1, the east parcel, with units F-L will be phase 2. We intend to have pilings and foundations in place on Phase 1 during the winter so that we can construct the riverfront group starting first thing in the spring for occupancy in the fall of 2014.

Concurrent with the Purchase Agreement for the lot, the buyer enters into a construction contract with Midtown to build their townhome at a set price per square foot based upon a defined set of specifications, but with freedom to customize the size and plan of the unit. At Uptown, this includes the ability to go vertical up to 80 feet!

Each buyer provides the financing for the construction of their unit. Since we are not building multi-unit condos, owner financing for their home on their lot is relatively simple and common. Thus, we do not need to reach a large number of reservations to begin construction. Most buildings consist of just a couple of connected but independent (except for a party wall) townhomes, so we can build with just one or two sales per building and our land investor will finance the shell of an unsold unit.  For example, we expect that the riverfront building consisting of units C, D and E will be the starting point. With commitments on two of the three, we will self-finance the third, finishing it on the outside so the whole building appears finished, but only constructing the bearing walls on the inside until that unit is sold.

Early market exposure through media announcements and the internet raises buyer awareness and inquiries as we develop conceptual plans and we quickly get to a point where we have enough definition to take deposits and reservations. We maintain a very deep database of prospects and enjoy tremendous referrals from previous clients, so we have ability to quickly get the word out. We also contract with Century 21 Northland to represent our project with marketing, internet presence and MLS listings.

We expect full build-out to occur within three years or less.