A company called Urbanito LLC, of whom Pamela Haberman is listed as an officer, of Haberae fame, just snatched up 400/490 Mill Street, the two run-down commercial buildings with a lot of potential and a suite of old homes, from Ryder Homes. The purchase price was $1.3 million.
This can only mean good things for this property, as Haberae is not known for snatching up properties and sitting on them. I don't want to get too excited yet, so I'll get just a little excited haha.
Ryder Homes previously wanted to convert these into lofts. But much like Grant's Landing across the street from it and a host of other projects, the housing market crash killed demand for the project. I was bummed, because this property has so much potential, and could be an essential 'connector' project between Midtown and downtown.
I love Haberae's projects, they've done wonders for my immediate neighborhood, with 8 On Center, Sodo 4, 2 Cubes on Stewart, 2 on Holcomb and a handful of other projects practically framing my house like a square.
Even if they don't have any immediate plans, I'm still excited this property is in their hands.
UPDATE: The project will be called 'Urbanito', and feature "five Craftsman bungalows, one adaptively repurposed 2-story loft building and one adaptively repurposed single story loft building" according to Haberae's page about the project. They plan on restoring the five Craftsman bungalows, stating "original wood flooring, original glass doorknobs, original wood built-ins, a beautiful small dining area filled with light in each of the homes and wonderful gathering spaces on all of the front porches facing the street. The homes will have exterior paint schemes that honor the craftsman architecture and not be debased by trendy colors."
Yes! This is amazing. The plan is to begin this fall, with a summer 2016 move-in date.
Yyyyyeeessssssss. I'm excited Mike, so I give you permission to be overly excited (not that you need it). I've always thought this building had great potential. I feel like I'm on a similar wave length with Pamela and Kelly.