The property also contained a large clubhouse, which we converted into a leasing office and amenity building. In short, while we needed to make a very large investment of time and capital to complete the adaptive reuse of The Metro, we had good “bones” and a very attractive site plan to work with.

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GlobeSt.com: Were there any unusual constraints or challenges during the renovation at The Metro?

Edwards: The previous owner had changed the zoning of the property to allow for a conversion from an extended stay hotel into for-rent apartment units. The approved zoning variance had specific conditions, requiring the conversion of the 280 hotel units into no more than 200 apartment units.

The zoning variance also contained strict design parameters to work within. Thankfully, most of the requirements were included within our renovation plan. However, we did ultimately go back to the Zoning Board of Appeals to amend the original variance and allow minor design changes that followed standard class A compliance in multifamily developments.

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GlobeSt.com: What was the most challenging aspect in transforming the extended-stay to a multifamily community?

Edwards: By far the most challenging aspect of the project was designing the apartment unit layouts. Being a hotel—and before that, corporate housing—the property previously had central boilers for hot water, hotel-styled through the wall PTAC units and an absence of washer and dryer connections.

Adding all of these elements to individual units required extensive planning and incorporated all the components of new construction—architectural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and structural engineers, as well as design. It took us nearly six months to design and fine-tune the unit layouts, and in the end, we believe the apartments are modern, efficient and indistinguishable from new construction in the area.