Neighbors: Who will live in condos?

CHAPEL HILL -- Short Street resident Kim Hoppin is not quite convinced about Ram Development Co.'s marketing plan for a condominium complex in the heart of Franklin Street.

"You're talking about putting high-end empty nesters next to bar row," she said. "It seems like an odd sort of combination to me."

But Ram Senior Vice President John Florian said luxury condos have been popular in other college towns, such as Madison, Wis., where he traveled with about 100 other Orange County community leaders last fall.

"They were not student housing," he said. "They were professional housing."

A handful of neighbors gathered Thursday evening for a public information meeting on the Parking Lot 5 project. They wanted to know who was going to live in the planned eight-story buildings.

"This looks to me like what it's going to end up being is an off-campus dorm," Hoppin said.

Hoppin, who lives a block north of Rosemary Street, said downtown needs more residents who can support businesses such as a grocery and a pharmacy. She said more students will not do the trick.

"The Gap couldn't stay in business," she said.

But Florian said students likely could not afford to live at Lot 5. He also said the first-floor retail shops, such as a gourmet grocer, would attract more mature clients.

"I don't anticipate that it's going to be filled with students," Florian said. "Professional empty nesters are the majority of the inquiries that we've had.

"They are not investors," he said. "It's not going to really make sense from an investment perspective."

Ram is not quite ready to set prices on the 137 condos it plans to build on the town-owned parking lot. But Florian said similar projects in other bustling college towns have commanded $300 to $350 a square foot. In Ram's case, that would mean the largest penthouses could top $850,000, and the typical condo could rise above $500,000.

Florian also said the prices will be competitive with Greenbridge and East 54, two developments that the Town Council approved earlier this week.

The Greenbridge developers have estimated their units will sell for $350,000 to $1 million, and developer Roger Perry has said the most expensive condo at East 54 would approach $600,000.

"It's certainly going to be upscale," Florian said. "We'd like to be a little less than the competition and offer a little bit more."