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Anticipating Nolde
richmond.com has the fairly indepth article ‘Baking Up a Rebirth’ about the Nolde Bakery Condominiums.
As the primary realtor for the Nolde units, Meitz may seem a little biased regarding the renovation of the bakery, but as a former history teacher, he seems to be as interested in bringing new life to the historical area as he does about selling condos, which start at around $200,000.
“When you talk about what separates us here [from other new condo projects in Richmond], the surrounding neighborhood is probably the biggest deal,” Meitz recently said while showing one of the units facing Broad Street. “This is not just an apartment building. This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the country. Going back to when I was teaching history, if I said, ‘Give me liberty,’ even if [the students] weren’t passing their [Standards of Learning] tests, they could finish that quote. And you can see St. John’s [Church] right out your window.”
That’s all very commendable, but the truth is the Nolde condos are substandard in design and overpriced. So much for respecting the historic character of the building and neighborhood The St. Patrick’s condos are a much better example of historic redevelopment.
I’m curious — how are the Nolde condoes substandard? or to rephrase — what does St.Patrick’s do better?
First of all, some of the layouts for their one bedroom/studios look like hotel rooms. The materials look cheap, there’s no attention to detail and they want over 200 grand for basically a big living room.
St. Patrick’s is better thought out, and much better quality materials. Granted, they have more to work with in terms of existing structure – a lot of original millwork, chalkboards, staircases, etc. You get more for the price, and better location.
Also, and this is something they had no control over (at least that I know of), I would have made the Nolde a mixed use property with restaurant/office/retail on the first floor. There is no way I would buy a condo at street level with those size windows without a grating/bars over them. Besides, it’s like living in a fish bowl!
God, at those prices, maybe I’ll sell my tool shed as a condo and offer it at $150,000!
i could have sworn that there was supposed to be retail on the first floor of nolde. wasn’t that in the original plan? that would have been pretty darn cool.