Loft Living

Who wants to live in one, big room? You might be surprised. The market for loft apartments remains steady and strong, even during real estate downturns. And while they’ve traditionally been located in major cities such as New York, Chicago;, Washington DC, and Atlanta, they’re also showing up in markets outside the nation’s urban cores. One of the newest rental options in York PA, a city 40 miles outside of Baltimore, is Codo, a 1910 building that has been a grocery warehouse, a roller rink, and an auto parts warehouse over the years and now has two new, decidedly contemporary buildings, thanks to developers.

“The project just works,” says Bill Swartz, co-developer of Codo, which rented 23 of its 35 apartments in four weeks. “It’s a metaphor of what’s happening in York. There are new people coming here and new developers, taking this old town and making it relevant to a whole new generation.”

A Creative History

Loft apartments made their debut in the 1800s in Paris, where they were occupied by artists who saw the potential of old warehouses and other commercial buildings as places where they could live and work cheaply. The large, open spaces and high ceilings made it easy to set up a studio; the large windows let in an abundance of light; and there were no neighbors to bother as the artists worked through the night.

The U.S. “loft movement”—identified as such by its proponents—grew out of SoHo in New York, says John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute. Today, they’re an integral part of a renewed interest in urban living that’s been underway for several years, according to a recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s a great way to reuse old buildings,” McIlwain says.