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Bill Horne says there's a simple scheme to the way the Healey Company is adding apartments to its South Side building.

"We just sort of try to let the space decide the way the apartment should be," says the head of asset management for the real estate development firm. "If there are windows there, well, let them stay and make the apartment live on it."

That attitude seems to have lured John and Bonnie Culbertson to their one-bedroom loft, which will be part of the South Side House Tour next weekend.

"We came in and knew this was it," Bonnie says of their home since November. "It was us almost to a 'T.' "

The apartment is on two levels that rise into the rooftop structure the Healey firm added to its building -- built in 1897 -- at 13th and Sarah streets. The upstairs level features a deck that wraps around the bedroom.

The living area is dominated by nine windows that spill from the dining area, through the living room to a den-entertainment space. It has brick walls and a hardwood floor, but the kitchen adds a modern look with its black and stainless-steel appliances.

Horne talks energetically about how all the window spaces were original and how he and Michael Healey, the firm's president, insisted they be used to create the loft.

The Culbertsons admit they leased the apartment without really seeing it. Bonnie Culbertson, 26, a Greenfield native, and her husband, 28, from Orlando, Fla., had finished their education at Florida State University and were looking for a home in Pittsburgh.

They contacted the Healey Company and began checking out available units.

Their apartment was "under heavy construction," John Culbertson says, but they liked it immediately. "I think it was the openness that attracted us the most."

His wife agrees, noting it was in stark contrast to the "tight" apartments they had experienced in college.

Horne calls the apartments "hybrid lofts" because they have the "charm of the warehouse with the slickness of something new."

He gives Healey credit for steering the development on its course. "Mike was good not only allowing this to happen, but also in insisting that it did," he says.

Healey says that nine apartments are in various stages of completion in that building and an L-shaped one next to it. It is part of the $1.8 million Phase I of the 13th Street Commons Project.

Phase II of that work will develop condominiums in an 11,000 square-foot building next door on 13th Street. He says a price has not yet been set.

"People are trying to buy them already," Horne adds, "but we want to wait so we end up doing them right. I think it's safe to say we'll be under construction in the year."

Healey says the main advantage of the Sarah Street site is its nearness to Downtown and the business area of the South Side, along with features that normally are huge attractions for renters.

"It has indoor parking and," he says, pointing across Sarah to a ballfield, "you can look out your window at grass you don't have to cut."

He says all of the apartments will have their own decks or access to a shared one because he believes city-dwellers always are looking for "a way to grab a little fresh air."

The apartments range from one bedroom to three and rent from $800 to $2,500 a month, which Horne admits is "aggressive" for the Pittsburgh market.

"But we try to do this by creating a great turnkey apartment that has everything you need," he says.

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