News Release

Goler Community Development Corp. Names Co-Developer for $18 Million Lofts

WINSTON-SALEM—Goler Community Development Corp. has partnered with a Baltimore developer to convert the former Brown & Williamson building into loft condominiums with high ceilings, hardwood floors and dramatic views of the Winston-Salem skyline.

The $18 million joint venture with Landex Corp. is another step in Goler’s plans for a thriving, mixed-income, multicultural neighborhood on 12 acres between the downtown Arts District and Piedmont Triad Research Park. The lofts will be across Chestnut Street from Goler Manor, a new six-story apartment community for seniors.

“The Gallery lofts are essential to our vision for Goler Heights,” said Michael Suggs, chairman and co-founder of Goler Community Development Corp. “We couldn’t be more pleased that a noted urban developer like Landex shares that vision with us.”

Judith Siegel, president of Landex, said that her company is convinced that this new multicultural community, to be known as “The Heights,” will be the “new town downtown” with a bright and exciting future ahead. “We’re very impressed by the CDC’s vision and its plans to revitalize this neighborhood,” she said. “Michael and his board have done things right. We’re delighted to have been selected to work with them in Winston-Salem and to participate in the city’s renaissance.”

The former tobacco plant will be renamed The Gallery, emphasizing its ties to the Arts District. There will be 64 one- and two-bedroom loft homes starting at $180,000. The on-site sales office will open at the end of next month, and the new loft homes will be ready for occupancy in early 2007.

The Goler Heights community has a rich tradition. Anchored by Goler Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church on Patterson Avenue, the bustling area was the heart of the African-American community for decades after the turn of the 20th century. The area fell victim to urban blight in the 1960s and 1970s, but in 1996, the Goler congregation voted against moving the church to another site. The community development corporation was formed two years later to revitalize the area. It commissioned the nationally renowned, award winning Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh to prepare a long-range master development plan for the community. Working with many stakeholders to obtain input and feedback, Urban Design Associates unveiled a plan that called for a variety of housing types—lofts, apartments for seniors, Georgetown-style row houses, luxury apartments—as well as shops, offices and businesses.

At a reception for the North Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations next week, Suggs will share Goler’s vision for this new multicultural community. “We hope our insights will prove valuable to CDCs throughout North Carolina,” Suggs said. “It takes people of all ages, from diverse backgrounds and different walks of life to make a community that will prosper for years to come.”

Information about The Gallery is available at www.thegalleryliving.com.