Core to develop apartment building near Hillsboro Village

Nashville-based Core Development Services and local real estate investor Donald Seitz will co-develop a three-story 15-unit apartment building that will anchor the southwest corner of the 17th/Magnolia Boulevard and Wedgewood Avenue intersection.

A name for the Hillsboro Village-area building has not yet been determined, according to Core partner Aaron White. The price tag is estimated to be $2.5 million and the land is already zoned to accommodate residential, he added.

“What makes this a compelling project is its pedestrian access to Hillsboro Village retail,” White said.

The project’s summer start date — demolition of an existing two-story building is slated for July with construction to begin tentatively in August — will come as Core partners White and Hunter Connelly are overseeing the completion of the $10 million, 60-unit apartment building Midtown Place (located on 18th Avenue across from Scarritt-Bennett) and the 79-home Gale Park in Melrose.

Seitz, with whom Core is working for the first time, owns the nondescript two-story building at the .4-acre site.

White said the site is attractive for many reasons. In addition to Midtown Place (which is located no more than a half mile from the site) Core developed The Glen, which opened in 2009 on the northeast corner of Wedgewood and 18th avenues.

“It’s a very important site — a gateway site to a degree,” White said. “This building and The Glen will highlight the transition from Belmont into Hillsboro Village. Given the prominence of the corner, this will be a high-profile development. It will set the tone for the eastern side of Hillsboro Village.

“It will respect the built environment context set by the Belmont University buildings on Wedgewood and the materials and forms seen on the buildings throughout Hillsboro Village,” he added.

White said the unnamed apartment building — the exterior for which will feature contrasting brown brick, unobtrusive balconies, vertical forms and a noteworthy corner element — will offer 12 two-bedroom units and three one-bedroom units. The living spaces will include granite countertops, 10-foot ceilings and hardwood floors. A summer 2013 completion date of is tentatively set, with the building’s upscale units likely to eventually be converted to condominiums, White said.

Rents have yet to be determined, he said.

DA|AD, which designed Midtown Place and The Glen, is the architect for the project. Phillip White Engineering will cover structural design, Dean Design Group will handle civil engineering duties, with Avenue Bank to provide financing. A general contractor has yet to be selected.

The project will represent Core’s approximately 20th to date within Nashville’s urban core.

“With the economy improving and with in-town apartment living gaining popularity, we are very optimistic,” White said.