Could this airy loft asking $193K make diehard Atlantans consider Marietta?

About three-fourths of a mile from Marietta’s celebrated downtown square, this airy loft from the 1990s is being marketed as a rare chance to own something both hip and move-in ready for less than $200,000.

And according to listing agent Eric Baker, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta, it’s indicative of insatiable demand for urban-style living in Cobb’s largest city and county seat.

Built in 1999, the Sessions Street Lofts unit might not be authentically really old, but it does bring impressive volume and square footage (1,120) for a one-bedroom. It listed in recent days for $192,500, with monthly HOA fees that might not crush budgets at $215.

Baker relays that the property had 12 showings the first day and, as of last evening, two offers—activity he calls “overwhelming.”

“I just think it’s quite the comparison to intown markets,” he wrote via email, “where this loft would likely be 50 percent more.”

Some exposed brick, the towering living-room ceiling, concrete floors, and a roof of corrugated metal aim to echo the lofts of, say, Castleberry Hill, where smaller or more humdrum one-bedrooms can be had for the same general price point right now.

Driving demand, says Baker, is a dearth of condo and loft ownership opportunities around Marietta’s burgeoning core. The community’s gated, the master bathroom’s been overhauled and expanded (there’s a half-bath downstairs), and dedicated, covered parking comes with.

He poses the question: Would Atlanta buyers sacrifice ITP living for the value, if a full condo development should rise in the walkable, historic square area?

“Marietta has landed quite a few new things, like the Marietta [Square] Market, which has brought a lot more young millennials to the area with the desire to stay and live there,” wrote Baker. “But the housing isn’t there for them to buy, being that it’s mostly detached [single-family] that starts in the mid $300,000s, with a ton of work usually.”