The 72,000-sf Iron Flats project at Spruce and 23rd Sts. is the first project by Silk Purse LLC, which plans to team with other developers in the future, Janet R. Fogg, an Oz principal, told GlobeSt.com. Silk Purse is an urban infill development group created by Oz, which helped to design the Pearl Street Mall 18 years ago.

Iron Flats, slated for completion in 2002, will include 35,000 sf of commercial space and 27 condominium units, priced from $280,000 to $450,000 each. Unit prices could rise, says Phillip Shull, a Deneuve principal, who has been a general contractor and developer since the 1970s. "I think buyers will cut across all demographics," Shull says. "I could see everyone from young professionals to empty nesters, who want to be able to walk to stores and restaurants buy here."

Condo units will range in size from about 1,000 sf to 1,700 sf, with an average size of about 1,300 sf, he says. Nine units are targeted as live-and-work space, according to Kelly Davis, an Oz associate principal. "It's an important component that offers a lot of flexibility," she says. "With the high-speed Internet connections I could see someone build out an office to support day trading, or you could have someone who spends three days working in the unit and goes to an outside office twice a week, or even have someone set up a pottery wheel and do ceramics."