Jan. 23, 2024

This Loft Life piece is sponsored by Pendar Properties.

The house was big, the kids had grown, and Ann Nachtigal knew it was time for a change.

“I loved the neighborhood, but other families kept reaching out, and the neighborhood was transitioning,” she said.

She easily found a buyer, and then it was time to find her next home.

“I didn’t know if I wanted a mortgage again,” she said.

When she saw a story on SiouxFalls.Business about the new Railyard Flats development downtown, “I said, ‘That’s totally me.’ When I first started looking, it was still a shell, but I could tell even then it was great because of the high ceilings and high-quality touches.”

It now has been three years, and Nachtigal couldn’t be happier with the move.

“It’s been great. It’s been fun meeting my neighbors, who are all ages. They say downtown is a community, and it really is,” she said. “I rarely venture outside of downtown other than work. I always meet friends down here on weekends. I walk over to Queen City Bakery and other places, and it’s been fun getting to know the owners and understand what ‘shop local’ is really all about.”

She offers a look inside her loft through this first in a series of videos:

“The people who bought my house also bought a lot of my furniture, so I kept certain things – a chair I had redone from my dad, a lot of the art from my parents, so the things that mattered,” she said. “It was fun to start new, and it was a mixture of what I had, while incorporating my style.”

She describes her taste as simple and traditional meets eclectic.

“And at Railyard Flats, the wood mixed with concrete floors was such a nice mix of material,” she said. “That’s what I do with my furniture, and so it was a really fun space to put together. If I built a house, I would probably incorporate a lot of this. And Pendar Properties is super responsive and very good landlords.”

Her adult children enjoy visiting, and she hosts groups of friends in the building’s community lounge and rooftop deck.

“I’ve had numerous people say they want to move downtown and are exploring it but not sure if they can do it,” Nachtigal said. “You just have to say you want something different. People ask about trains – I don’t hear it – and I feel safer here than I would in my single-family home.”

In her spare time, you’ll often find her walking her dog, Frankie, socializing with him at the dog park or riding on the bike path.

“There are a lot of downtown dog people, so that’s been fun, and what’s coming is going to be amazing,” she said. “I can’t even imagine downtown in five years. It’s going to be unrecognizable.”

Pendar Properties has move-in ready lofts available at Railyard Flats and soon will open brand-new mass timber apartments next door at Cherapa Place. Hard-hat tours are available now! To take your next step toward downtown living, click here to connect with Pendar Properties.