September/October 2007
Lofty Ideas
Successful bachelor has always dreamed of living it up downtown.
By Betsy DiJulio
With his eye, it's no wonder that Mez Espiritu ended up working in real estate. As a young teen, Espiritu would amble down and around Granby and Main streets—where his mother owned two successive Filipino restaurants between the late '70s and mid-'90s—thinking what a great place downtown Norfolk would be for an apartment. Fast forward nearly three decades, and some visionary developers had the same lofty idea. All grown up, that erstwhile little boy now lives in one of them.
"I was always into architecture," recalls Espiritu, a licensed real estate agent with 1st Colony Realty and a vacation ownership sales associate with Gold Key Resorts. When it came time to buy his first place, Espiritu looked at single-family homes. But when he stepped inside the stylish loft-style residences at The Welton Lofts, located above Bobbywood on Monticello Avenue, he knew it was home.
And what's not to like? The mere 950 square feet of space lives large, offering one-and-a-half baths, a utility/laundry closet, a large walk-in closet, and a coat closet in addition to the main living spaces of kitchen, living room and bedroom/office. The loft's characteristically open floor plan is laid out in an "L" shape that feels light and airy due, in large part, to high ceilings, a wall of westward-facing windows, a color palette of both warm and cool blues and the homeowner's expert feel for exactly the right number and scale of furnishings and accessories.
Another selling point of the loft: features that look like upgrades weren't. Granite countertops and maple cabinetry with brushed stainless pulls in the kitchen and master bath; black kitchen appliances, laminate faux-cherry flooring throughout, tiled baths; and exposed brick, ducts and pipes all came standard.
Also standard, but especially sexy, is a stainless steel-topped eat-in kitchen island with an ultra sleek stainless hood. Four rattan and metal stools provide the only formal seating for dining, as Espiritu eschewed a dining table in favor of another table: a pool table that belonged to his parents. "Filipinos are into boxing and billiards 'cause we're not tall enough for basketball," he laughs.
For the rest of this interview, see the September/October issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.
