Office adjustment turns into roomy condo
The newly renovated condo at 414 Commercial St. in the North End — just near the waterfront and historic Hanover Street — shows what can be accomplished with a little creativity and good craftsmanship.
Now a slick and modern threebedroom home, the first-floor place in unit 1A was previously zoned for business use, said Giancarlo Tiberi, the broker selling the $1.6-million condo.
“This was a chiropractic office,” Tiberi said during a tour of the home this week. “But he couldn't sell it for two years. So, I said, `Let's change the zoning to residential.'”
The result is a spacious new city condo with a quirky layout, lots of sunlight and a cool design that offers open eating and living areas and sectioned-off rooms for sleeping.
“Once we pulled it back to its bones .... it was a great space to work with,” said the condo's developer, Nicholas Leo of Leo Development Group.
Renovating the health-care offices — which were divided into several small rooms — into a home came with several challenges, but also uncovered many pleasant surprises, Leo said. The brick walls and granite support columns in the living and dining room, for example, ended up looking better bare than covered in wood or drywall, and now give the place an anchored, urban appearance that pays respects to the low-rise brick building's century-old construction.
The heavy, earthy stones also contrast with the white and light gray coloring of the rest of the rooms.
If looked at from above, the condo would look like a triangle, with the contemporary living area and kitchen — and one room that could be an office or bedroom — on the big end, and the bedrooms, hallways and bathrooms on the narrowing midsection, and a third bathroom set in the pointed tip. This configuration makes the place feel maze-like at first, but it keeps rooms distinct and separate, without feeling boxy or divided up like so many old city apartments.
It also makes good use of its 2,096 square feet.
“We had to get creative to get to three bedrooms,” said Leo, “but it worked out well…. In a lot of places in the North End, the bedrooms are right off the living rooms. If you want to watch TV you're right next to a bedroom. But here there's great privacy throughout the home.”
While the place has depth and texture, and some architectural frills such as the tray ceiling in the master bedroom and builtin shelves and cabinets in the hallway, it goes mostly without crown molding and other elaborate mill work.
But the condo still feels luxurious, especially in the kitchen and the master bedroom. The latter feels like an upscale hotel room.
In the kitchen, the milky quartz countertops and high-end stainless steel range and fridge create a striking backdrop for the darkgrained wenge wood cabinetry. Echoing the wall colors are the wide 7-inch planks of engineered oak lining the floors.
“We tried to do everything with a good contemporary feel, to keep everything clean and simple,” Leo said.
For information, contact Giancarlo Tiberi of Core Property Group at 617-909-9191.