Live-work condos offer dual-purpose space
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Restrictions
on work space uses
For the unit owner, attorney Spall says, "the threshold zoning issue is that clearly only certain uses are going to be allowed in an area that also allows residential use. Buyers need to understand what uses they can and can't have."
These uses are generally spelled out in condo association
documents -- or sometimes by the municipality. Portland's Andersen envisions the
range in occupations by residents at the Metropolitan as "attorneys to artists,
counselors to massage therapists." At Kolter City Plaza,
says Spall, "some uses are preapproved, a second set has yet to be approved
by the condo association and a third set is for uses barred under any circumstances
-- medical, for example, or an adult bookstore." Another
caveat for buyers of dual-use condominiums, Spall says, is to make sure the condo
documents protect the rights of the unit owner. "Generally
there are fewer of these units than there are strictly residential units within
the project," she says. "You need to look very carefully at the governing
documents to make sure that any amendments to them that would affect your rights
would have to be approved by the majority of the live-work unit owners, so your
rights don't get trampled on by the majority. For example, make sure that you
have the right for perpetuity to do the kind of work you thought you could do
when you bought the unit." Price
prohibitive properties
Can the young professionals, often cited as
the likely target market for live-work condos, afford to purchase them? A study
of affordability prepared by The Live-Work Institute, a nonprofit organization
in Oakland, Calif., founded by architect Thomas Dolan, says the idea is that the
owner of such a unit saves money by not paying separate rents for living space
and work space, as well as reducing transportation costs.
For instance, the report estimates that couples who can get by with one car instead
of two are saving approximately $500 a month in costs related to maintenance,
gas, insurance, etc. That formula may hold true for units
in converted properties, but the Institute's researchers found that the math doesn't
always work with new construction. "As live-work has
moved into the mainstream and becomes an accepted real estate product, prices
for such units have gone up, often astronomically, and the likelihood of finding
an affordable live-work space has decreased," the report says. Live-work
lofts at Hollywood Station begin in the $400,000s. The units in Portland's The
Metropolitan are being marketed from the low $500,000s to the low $600,000s. At
Miami's Kubik, they run from the $400,000s to $2.5 million. For
the developer, Freeman points out, price is not a problem. If units within a project
are marketed as live-work but don't sell, they can eventually be converted to
conventional units. "There is nothing about the type
of unit itself that is more costly," he says, adding that location, as always
in real estate, is important. "It has to be in a walking
district," Freeman says, "because if part of the savings comes from
not having a car, people need to be able to walk to whatever retail needs they
have."
But if they're affordable and well-situated, condo
units custom-designed for at-home workers should thrive, say most
experts.
"In a way, it's a bit of a hype," says Urban Land Institute's McIlwain,
"because a lot of people work at home at least part of the time. So you could
say most Americans reside in live-work units. The difference is that some are
designed specifically for different kinds of activity." | 
