By Charlotte Balcomb Lane Journal Staff Writer Downtown is getting
its very own Flying Star restaurant as well as a set of
live-and-work loft condos at Eighth Street and Silver
SW. The restaurant site, designed by famed
local architect John Gaw Meem, is being restored and the Southern
Union Gas Company Lofts are being built by Infill Solutions, a
local partnership between architect Christopher Calott and
developer and commercial real estate broker Jay
Rembe. The $3.5 million restaurant and loft
project has won high praise from both city planners and Downtown
neighborhood groups. "This is very good news
for the Downtown area," said Perry Wilkes, chairman of the
Downtown Neighborhoods Association. Wilkes
said that, despite recent construction of lofts and condos
Downtown, the area still has 3,000 fewer residents than 30 years
ago. "We need to have the full economic
spectrum to support our Downtown businesses," he
added. City planning director Victor Chavez
said the project is significant because it anchors the western
edge of Downtown. Heretofore, most of the development has occurred
at the eastern edge. "This is the first time
we've gotten development at the west end of Downtown," said
Chavez. THE FLYING STAR: The Flying Star is
going in across the street from the lofts in the former Southern
Union Gas Co. building at 725 Silver SW. Architect John Gaw Meem
designed the historic building in 1949 as a modernist showcase for
the company then based in Dallas. Completed
in 1951, it had soaring 17-foot ceilings, a swooping staircase
that led upstairs to a hospitality room and huge plate-glass
windows on the south and west sides of the 9,900-square-foot
building. The ground floor housed sales and
display space for the company's cutting-edge gas appliances. The
hospitality room was used for cooking lessons to teach consumers
how to use the appliances and for community
meetings. When the building reopens next
summer as the fifth Flying Star in Albuquerque, it will once again
be a showcase, said Jean Bernstein. She owns
the local restaurant and coffee chain with her husband, Mark
Bernstein. "We're certainly not going to
make huge changes," Bernstein said. Look for
the interior to be updated, colorful and slightly quirky, she
said. "We're going to twist the dial a
little bit," she added. Tucson architects
Richard Ansaldi and Lee Shaw, who designed the playful Satellite
Coffee on Alameda, will design the restaurant
restoration. "They're very conscious of
every corner and human detailing," Bernstein
said. The main dining room will be on the
ground floor, and Meem's elegant staircase will lead to a magazine
mezzanine on the second floor. An elevator is being installed to
comply with the Americans with Disabilities
Act. A balcony on the second floor that had
been enclosed will once again be open to the
air. What was once the hospitality room will
also return to its original purpose. The second floor will be
available for community groups or private lunches. The space will
have mobile walls so it can be reconfigured to suit different
party sizes. "We want an informal place to
meet that won't cost an arm and a leg," she
said. The building has been vacant for years
and must undergo significant renovations, including adding new air
conditioning, heating and electrical systems, bathrooms and
construction of a kitchen. Bernstein said
she wanted to move into Downtown for at least two years but
couldn't find the right location. When Rembe bought the Southern
Union Gas building from Downtown philanthropist Ray Graham III,
she knew it was the right place. "We didn't
want to be in the bar district. This is nestled right up against
the neighborhood. We're good for neighborhoods," she
said. THE LOFTS: The live-work loft condo
concept is new to Albuquerque but has been successful in many
other cities, said architect Chris Calott, who is building the
Southern Union Gas Company Lofts with partner
Rembe. "You live upstairs and you have the
ability to have a business downstairs," explained Calott, who
researched similar retail-residential arrangements in Minneapolis,
San Francisco, San Diego and Denver. "It
makes it really affordable because you don't have to pay rent on
your shop," he added. Phase One scheduled
to begin sometime this fall will have 18 three-story loft
condominiums that include retail space on the ground floor. Rembe
and Calott envision a small take-out deli, a flower shop, an
artist's studio and maybe a barber shop or beauty
salon. The second and third floors are
residential, with decks on the third floor. Some models have a
loft overlooking the living and dining rooms on the second
floor. Three configurations are available,
said Rembe, and sizes vary from 1,672 square feet to 1,058 square
feet. Most of the condominiums also include one- or two-car
garages. Prices will range from $300,000 for
the largest to $150,000 for the smallest.
The building is U-shaped, so each condominium has windows facing
the street. "We've done 15 different site
plans and floor plans," said Rembe. The goal
was to maximize square-footage. Phase Two
will produce 40 units built on vacant land on the east side of
Silver. Those units will face the Phase One lofts. Phase Three
will produce 20 condominium lofts next door to Phase
One. Each condominium includes either
on-street parking or a garage, but the idea of the lofts was to
encourage pedestrian activity among Downtown
residents. "The whole idea of this plan was
park and walk," said city planning director
Chavez. "We don't have housing like this yet
in Albuquerque," added Rembe.
