The house tour is a good excuse to visit Trenton and take a look around. Mill Hill is adjacent to HHG's Lamberton Centre Development, the Broad St. Bank Building and other potential loft sites.

I'd like to schedule a lunch for potential Trenton Loft dwellers. I could have some of the developers come visit with us and maybe a politician or two. Of course I won't go to the trouble unless there's some firm interest.

Please email me if you're interested at dan@trentonlof ts.com

I've known "Ice House" developer Dan Brenna for several years but have never sat down with him and really talked about his company and his projects. Today I had the opportunity to have lunch with Dan (at Mill Hill Saloon) and take a tour of the finished product at 20 Swan.

The Broad St. Bank Building will house 124 units ranging in size from 600 SF up to 1500 SF. The upper floors have commanding views of NJ and PA. To the west you look down on the NJ State Capitol building. In addition there are 8 retail spaces on the ground floor with one of most impressive restaurant sites in the county.

There's by far too much to put in this email so please click through to an updated write-up of this granddaddy of Trenton Loft developments.

Trenton Lofts write-up of the Broad St. Bank

Also, the long mentioned rental application has just been finalized and Victoria Libby should be sending me a copy soon, which I'll immediately pass along to those of you who've expressed an interest.

We've finished what we hope will be the first of many more contemporary conversions of Trenton's row housing stock. By removing many of the interior walls, an otherwise claustrophobic space can be altered to become open and therefore more flexible for the owners.

Originally, the 1st floor of our unit had a small closed- in kitchen, a dining room and living room none of which were dramatic and suitable for large scale entertaining. By knocking out all the walls and dropping the floor in back of the building to grade, drama and flow were created.

The 2nd floor benefited from creating a large sitting room from 2 of the 4 bedrooms on the floor. The sitting room provides a more intimate space to entertain and space for a small family to spend time together. A third floor apartment has been reclaimed and turned into a large master bedroom. The previously dingy basement is now a glamorous screening room and bar area.

We're glad we did it. A week after moving in we had our first big party (The 2006 Martini Revue). We're hosting another dinner party on on Saturday and so it goes.

Meanwhile, the next door building has been demolished (it was actually leaning on our fire escape). Hopefully, the owner will see fit to create more open loft space here in beautiful Mill Hill.