Lofts are great – if you are single. They offer a hip lifestyle with a hip sounding name. Telling your friends that you live in a “Loft in LoDo” couldn’t sound more cool. Lofts also offer immediate access to the downtown attractions and nightlife.
The problem with lofts are that in many cases, the buyers market is made up of couples and familes with children, and having a wide-open floor plan and floor-to-ceiling windows doesn’t leave much for family privacy from outside, and from within. It’s also very challenging for a family to live in a loft since usually there are lots of stairs, and hauling small children out of the loft building and to the nearest park can seem like a trek up and down the Hillary Step.
In response to this, builders have been shifting to loft-condominium style units in recent years to try to accommodate these folks who don’t like to live in an urban fishbowl. The word “loft” is left in there in many cases for marekting reasons – that word alone can help jack the price up significantly, and many builders are starting “loft” properties in the suburbs to try to appeal to this family, or “non-single” market. There are a handful of these popping up near where I live (in the suburbs) and from what I can see, they aren’t selling like hotcakes – which can also be a sign of the times with the terrible housing market. Only time will tell if these projects can attract young families away from the spoils of having a suburban home with a yard, a fence, and privacy.