140 West apartments popular among UNC community

Across the street from University Square, blue cranes no longer tower over Franklin Street.

The vertical construction phase on 140 West Franklin has been completed, revealing a building that’s eight stories at its peak.

“The exterior of the building is taking shape,” said Shari Meltzer, director of marketing at Ram Realty Services.

Meltzer said they expect to finish construction by April. She said the project in total will cost $55 million.

“Instead of just concrete, the brickwork is being installed on the Franklin Street side,” she said. “You can see the emerging architectural elements.”

As of Tuesday, 91 of the 140 condominiums have been sold.

The condos range from one-bedroom residences to two-story terrace homes. Prices range from $325,000 to $1,525,000.

“The sales are pleasantly picking up,” said Meltzer. “We are getting more serious buyers coming in.”

She said the amount of walk-in traffic has increased significantly since last summer.

“The fact that people can come now and touch it and see the progress is spurring more people to come back and write contracts,” Meltzer said.

She said many of their customers so far have ties to UNC.

“You’ve got a loyal group of Tar Heels,” said Meltzer. “More than two-thirds of the folks who buy have some connection to UNC, whether as professors or as administrators.”

Former Chapel Hill mayor and future 140 West condo owner Ken Broun was picking out carpeting and cabinets for his new residence Friday.

He said he bought a condo in the new building because he wanted to take advantage of the central location.

“We do a lot of things at the University — concerts and lectures and things — and we are within walking distance of most things,” Broun said.

“We’ve met some of the people that we will be living with, and we felt it would be a nice community,” he said.

The building will house both retail and residential spaces, and will create a public plaza.

Mike Hammon, director of Ram Real Estate, said they wanted to bring to life a low-key area between West and East Franklin Street with the development.

He said when 140 West is completed, it will help do to that.

“We’ve built many condominiums in the past, and we found our Chapel Hill customers to have the highest level of education,” said Hammon.

He said the apartments are targeted towards the affluent and educated demographic of Chapel Hill.

Hammon said 95 to 99 percent of the buyers have a college degree.

“They really take their time; you don’t have many impulse buyers,” he said.

To help build a community, Hammon said they’ve taken potential customers to musicals, lectures, art galleries and other cultural activities.

“One of the things we’re selling is a lifestyle choice,” said Hammon. “We really tried to create a community.”

“It’s not your typical condominium.”

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.