Real Estate Editor

It was a carriage house for storing horse-drawn buggies in the 1860s, and soon the structure at 709 Dauphin St. will be condominium units for downtown residents.

Construction is under way on The Carriage Works on Dauphin, which will include seven condo units in the historic carriage house and four new townhomes to be built on an adjacent lot at 701 Dauphin St.

The 11 units are priced from $229,000 to $399,000, according to Todd Drummond, who is developing the units with former Alabama state Sen. Ann Bedsole and Michael Kopf of Kopf Construction. Kopf is also the contractor for the project.

The new, three-story townhome building will face Washington Street. Two-car garages on the first floor and iron balconies overlooking the Mardi Gras parade route are planned, Kopf said.

A parking lot will separate the old and new buildings, and the entire project will be gated, the developers said. The units should be complete in April.

Several units have sold to buyers who either don't work downtown but want to live there, or who plan to use the unit as a second home, according to Drummond.

"We don't want to sell it to investors who want to buy up a bunch of condos and resell them, or save them as an investment," Bedsole said. "We want to see people living there."

"Our finishes will be high-end and put us over and above what others have done downtown," Kopf said.

Carriage Works is one of at least seven condo or townhome projects under way downtown at prices from $166,000 to $500,000. The complexes include historic warehouse reworks and new construction. Drummond and Bedsole have partnered with contractor Tilmon Brown to renovate the O'Gwynn building at Conti and Conception streets into 10 condo units.

The Carriage Works' townhome building will be similar in style to the 10,000-square-foot carriage house, according to architect Nick Holmes III, who designed the 11 units. The townhomes will feature painted brick, old brick details and iron balconies.

Amenities will include marble baths, antique hardwood floors, 10- to 12-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances and an elevator in the carriage house, according to Kopf.

"I really believe downtown is coming back, and I'm putting my money into it," Bedsole said. "I thought this was an ideal building, with those exposed brick walls inside. It has a gracefulness that a lot of old buildings don't have."

About The Drummond Group, Inc.
The Drummond Group is a full service corporate real estate advisory and property management/investment services firm based in Mobile, AL. The firm specializes in contract lease/sale negotiation, site selection, and investment transactions. The company manages a variety of office, industrial and hospitality properties in locations across the Gulf Coast. For more information, please visit www.drummondgrouponline.com.

The Drummond Group is the leading online Mobile commercial real estate broker network, connecting Mobile commercial real estate brokers to tenants, brokers and investors. The Drummond Group offers Mobile commercial real estate broker services catering to the national and local needs of the commercial real estate industry. The Drummond Group specializes in all Mobile commercial real estate broker types including Mobile office space brokers, Mobile commercial land brokers, Mobile industrial real estate brokers, Mobile retail space brokers, and Mobile businesses for sale brokers.