Brewer Lofts developer pushes ahead with model unit

The developer who wants to transform the old Northern Breweries building in Sudbury into residential lofts hopes a display suite will help get the project off the ground.

A model unit for The Brewer Lofts is now under constructioninside the cavernous building on LorneStreet.

The hope is the model unitwill help people envision themselves living inside the old brewery, said developer and ownerGreg Oldenburg.

"There has been some skepticism by a variety of people in town," he said.

"The conceptual version of what a model is allows people to really see what they are telling them. Not all people can see in 3D and some like to see that it is actually happening."

Oldenburg said he remains confident the 50 loft development, whichincludes commercial space, will get built.

He said12 units are spoken for so far, but he needs to sell about 35to finance the start ofconstruction.

Oldenburg said he also hopes to one day attract a brewery to the commercial area of the building, in keeping with the heritage of the site.

The residential loft units range in price from about $200,000 for 500 square feet to about $400,000 for 1000 square feet, he said.