Lofty goals begin downtown

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Mike and Laura McMurray have written their names in the latest chapter of downtown Yakima’s history.

The Selah couple, owners of the Yakima Bears baseball club, Wednesday became the first owners of a condominium in The Lofts, the more than $10 million project that turned old North Third Street retail buildings in the Yakima Mall into living spaces.

The McMurrays, whose business already occupies the first commercial space on the four-story project’s street level, said they always wanted to live in a downtown setting.

To them, The Lofts became that place.

“This is the downtown we want to be part of,” 58-year-old Mike McMurray said.

The couple looks forward to the convenience of living downtown, the ability to walk to entertainment venues and restaurants.

“It has a lot of character. Every unit is different,” said Laura McMurray, 60. “They have retained the character, yet it is definitely modern.”

Such words are music to the ears of Gary Bodenstab of Seattle and Joe Morrier of JEM Development, who developed The Lofts as a joint venture.

The Lofts has 27 residential units on the three upper floors, both one- and two-bedroom units. Each has a distinct floor plan.

Eleven units exist on each of the second and third floors and five units are on the top floor.

Four commercial spaces are available on the ground floor, one of which houses the Bears office. The remaining three are for sale or lease, Morrier said.

In addition to the living spaces, each condo has its own storage unit and access to an entertainment room on the first floor, an exercise room on the second floor, and private below-ground parking with a shop for residents to work on their vehicles.

The condo units range in size from 916 square feet to 1,881 square feet. Prices for the units range from nearly $318,000 to $618,000.

Bodenstab said the developers were able to meet their deadline of having the project nearly complete by the end of 2008. Delays occurred with the decision to add a fourth floor and some of the surprises that can occur in remodeling an old building.

Bill Kloster, owner of prime contractor MSI Construction of Yakima, said the project included removing tons of concrete that had gone into the buildings’ original construction.

Work is still going on in some units, which do not have cabinetry and other features.

Both developers struggled to find words to describe their project beyond being unique in the state.

“It is hard to find anything, even in Seattle, that compares to this type of lifestyle,” said Bodenstab during a tour the developers provided the Yakima Herald-Republic on Wednesday.

Bodenstab said the complex will appeal to “empty nesters” who want  to be able to live downtown part of the year and winter elsewhere.

The tour occurred in advance of an open house scheduled for this weekend to launch marketing efforts to sell the condo units. The developers said they held off aggressively marketing the project until the final costs are known.

The developers did not disclose total construction costs other than to say they exceed $10 million.

Morrier said he wanted The Lofts to avoid shortcomings of other condominium complexes by including wide hallways, extensive windows for an open feel and close access to large storage areas. High ceilings have been left open to show steel and wooden beams and mechanical equipment.

The main entry door leads to a foyer with a see-through fireplace next to the entertainment room. For those familiar with the old Bon Marche building, the fireplace sits next to where the store’s escalator once stood.

While the escalator had to go, the developers tried to retain features of the building like brick walls on both ends of the building.

“This is really one of the coolest projects I have ever worked on,” Bodenstab said, “to take a department store and convert it into condos.”

* David Lester can be reached at 577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.

Open house Saturday

An open house for the public to tour The Lofts condominium project on North Third Street in downtown Yakima is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. each day.