Santa Fe-based Chapman Companies expects to break ground within the next week or so on the last two buildings at its office condo project in Journal Center.
The one-story buildings - 8,139 square feet and 5,841 square feet - are scheduled for completion by the end of the year at the corner of Masthead and Bartlett NE, west of Jefferson.
The $8 million Masthead Pointe project will be built out one year ahead of its original four-year schedule, said president Mike Chapman.
"We thought it would go fairly quickly, being in the Journal Center," he said.
When completed, Masthead Pointe will have a total of 38,000 square feet in seven buildings on three acres. Although better known in Santa Fe as a custom home builder, Chapman Companies is a veteran developer of offices in Albuquerque.
"They were one of the first companies to come in and do office condos in this market," said Martha Carpenter, who is marketing Masthead Pointe with associate Karen Hudson of Maestas & Ward Commercial Real Estate. "Now, a lot of people are."
Chapman Companies' approach is to construct a shell, then have its design team work with buyers to design the interior. About two-thirds of the project's existing 24,000 square feet of space is medical offices, Carpenter said.
"Physicians like the attention to their specific needs," she said about the interior design process. "Plus the location is central for patients on both sides of the river."
The asking price for a condo with a standard office build out is $200 a square foot, which Chapman said was a 15 percent increase in two years due to the rising cost of construction material.
