NEW RISING: A $3.5 million, three-building office development soon will rise in Old Germantown, on a 1.4-acre parcel at 7656 and 7658 Poplar Pike. -- Rendering Courtesy Of Looney Ricks Kiss

Old Germantown soon will have a new office product when The Salvaggio Group LLC completes its $3.5 million, three-building development at 7656 and 7658 Poplar Pike, in the heart of town.

The company - whose partners are former Germantown Mayor Charles Salvaggio and his sons, Tony and Jerome - has sold the three lots that comprise the 1.4-acre property and will begin construction within the next few weeks with completion set for Oct. 1.

The Salvaggio Group's development arm, Germantown Investors LLC, bought the land in May 2006 for $255,000 from Anita Johnson, Emma Jean Combs and Kenneth Harrell. The property is on the north side of Poplar Pike and south of Southern Avenue, abutting the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

Each roughly 0.4-acre lot will house a two-story, 5,000-square-foot building that resembles an urban residence more than a suburban office.

"Our goal was to take a street like Belvedere or Peabody in Midtown, pick three houses up and drop them," said Tony Salvaggio. "That's what we wanted it to look like, that these buildings had been there for 100 years. We didn't want the monotone, all the same brick, all the same roof, everything the same. We wanted it to look like three individual structures."

'It just works'

Salvaggio said marketing the lots wasn't difficult because of the product they were offering to build, and because of proximity to the center of Germantown. Both were easy selling points for the tenants his company targeted.

"I knew it was solid because our office is on Poplar Pike too - just a stone's throw away - and I knew it would be well-received by the business community," he said. "But it even surprised me to a small degree that it was received as quickly as it was. What a great area. I think people want that comfortable old feeling. It just works."

The lots sold for $365,000 each to Tri-State Orthopedics, Advanced Dermatology and Skin Cancer Associates, and John Waddell. Waddell is using the purchase as an investment opportunity.

"We got exactly what we thought we would get," Salvaggio said. "Professionals who wanted to reinvest, who were tired of leasing or renting, who wanted to turn their hard-earned dollars into an investment in an area they knew they could get a good, consistent return on every year."

Waddell, a commercial real estate agent with Crye-Leike Property Management Inc., is marketing his building for lease. Though he didn't have a specific tenant in mind - other than some kind of professional group - when he bought in, Waddell figured it was too good of a deal to pass up.

"The first reason is location, location, location - that's an absolute truth in real estate," Waddell said. "The other was the fact that the Salvaggios were involved in it, and we know what quality is associated with their name. It's a great location with a very soundly built building with the best of materials and workmanship. It's going to be a great investment."

Smart for Old Germantown

Salvaggio's group bought and developed the land and will serve as project builder. He said the company wanted to maintain control of the Poplar Pike office development "because it's real important on these projects in Old Germantown. We'll keep a lot of control over the architecture."

Memphis-based Dalhoff Thomas Daws handled landscaping for the property, and Memphis-based architecture firm Looney Ricks Kiss handled the architecture.

The buildings are "1920s-style, Midtown-looking, low-impact," Salvaggio said.

They are four-square structures that are complementary yet have variations in brick, color, window patterns and doors.

The property includes a common open space and 60 parking spaces, all of which are behind the buildings per the city's "O-G" - or Old Germantown - zoning code. It falls outside the city's recently implemented Smart Growth initiative. Salvaggio said these buildings will fit the O-G zoning perfectly.

"It's a very dynamic zoning," he said. "It allows the developer to be very open-minded and bring different things to the city. One property might be conducive to an attorney's office; one might be conducive to a restaurant. It's a wide range of usages."