The McKinney Avenue Lofts had broken ground in September, but isjust nearing the structural stage in CLB's strategy to constructnew buildings with the look and feel of historic warehousemakeovers. "Here in Dallas, there's not a whole lot of olderbuildings that you can convert," Ron Cibulka, a CLB developmentpartner, told GlobeSt.com. The projects are being done in a jointventure with Olympus Real Estate, also of Dallas.

CLB's latest undertaking is situated on slightly less than anacre at the intersection of McKinney and Harwood, in keeping withits focus to build upscale housing on urban in-fill parcels. The$25-million, 62-unit McKinney Avenue Lofts will have a sellable155,000-sf, with units averaging 2,400 sf and carrying price tagsfrom a high $300,000 to $950,000. For that, owners will have apremium view of downtown Dallas from living rooms and mezzaninesvia 20-foot-square windows incorporated into the utilitarian designby Dallas-based HKS Inc. architects. The sister project, 2011 CedarSprings, is the design of Corgan and Associates, also in Dallas.L.A. Fuess Partners is the structural engineer for the projects;C.F. Jordan Co., the general contractor; and SWA Group, thelandscape architect. All are based in Dallas.

CLB, founded 2 1/2 years ago, has found its niche by buildingfor-sale warehouse lofts that are designed for young professionalsand empty nesters. The 2011 Cedar Springs, which has 105,000 ofsellable sf in 45 units, has been sold out for some time, a featthat has sparked CLB's McKinney Avenue project. Clearly, saysCibulka, the concept is in demand - a proving ground for the formerColumbia Realty Trust executives who had launched the developmentcompany after Post Properties bought the REIT in 1997.