Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette The Turkases' living room in the Cork Factory offers a panoramic view of Downtown. Click photo for larger image. More information For more information on The Cork Factory in the Strip District, call 412-281-5556 or go to www.thecorkfactory.com.

After nine years, Roberta Turkas grew weary of living over a Strip District business and answering calls at 10 p.m. asking if Farmers Choice Poultry and Meats was still open.

"I felt like I never left work. I went right upstairs and did bookkeeping. I'd look up and say, 'It's 10 o'clock. Time to go to bed.' "

Then her husband, Raymond Turkas Jr., noticed a leasing sign on The Cork Factory, 2349 Railroad St., a few blocks away from the couple's business at 2123 Penn Ave.

"He looked out our back door, and he pointed to it," Mrs. Turkas recalled.

Three buildings made up the Armstrong Cork factory, which produced flooring, life jackets and bottle tops for Old Grand Dad whiskey and Heinz ketchup bottles before closing in 1974. Now, the historic structures designed by architect Frederick Osterling have been renovated and turned into 297 loft apartments with 35 different floor plans.

"I was the first person to move in. I was the third person on the list to sign up," Mrs. Turkas said, adding that she donned a hard hat to see the one-bedroom loft the couple have lived in since November.

The star of the Turkases' sixth-floor apartment is a breathtaking, panoramic view. Through three arched 10-foot-high windows, a visitor can see the glittering golden domes of St. Stanislaus Kostka church in the Strip District, all of Downtown, Mount Washington and the Allegheny River.

At night, Mrs. Turkas curls up on a curved chocolate brown sofa with Max, her miniature schnauzer, to watch the city's lights cast their luminous spell over the skyline and rivers. Her husband uses a telescope to appreciate the city's wide range of architecture.

"When the baseball stadium is lit up at night, it's really pretty," Mrs. Turkas said, adding that they invited friends over for their first Light-Up Night in November.

"My husband and I both love to cook. We love to entertain," she said.

Mrs. Turkas walks to work every day and often comes home at lunchtime to start dinner. On Thursdays, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the couple join fellow residents for happy hour in The Factory's Engine Room, a spacious area with a coffee bar, pool tables, poker tables and comfortable leather furniture.

A 24-hour concierge is at the front desk, and a business center with computers and a fitness center adjoin this hub of activity. Bits of graffiti are visible in the buildings' common areas, a reminder that the once-abandoned structures served as a brick canvas and shelter for the homeless.

	Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Above: The dining room in a model apartment at the Cork Factory. Below: The kitchen. Click photos for larger image.

"I'm 57 years old, and I feel alive again," Mrs. Turkas said, adding that she even likes hearing the whistle of trains. At least two evenings a week, trains packed with food for nearby Consumers Produce blow their whistle at 9 or 9:30 p.m.

"They have to blow the whistle because they are so close to the streets," Mrs. Turkas said.

Between 1978 and 1998, the couple lived in Robinson. They put their home on the market the day after their daughter, Christie, graduated from Montour High School. Now, Christie lives over the store and teaches school, an arrangement that suits her lifestyle.

Living just a few blocks away from her work has made a major difference for Mrs. Turkas. The couple's sleek, one-bedroom apartment features 969 square feet of space and was decorated by Kathy Johnston, an interior designer from the North Hills.

"She thought of everything. Everything that's here is used every day," Mrs. Turkas said. "It's contemporary, but it's a little bit elegant."

The foyer features a large silver mirror and a small credenza that holds wine, liquor and silverware. The chest doubles as a bar when the couple entertain, which they do frequently. A large foyer closet hides a full-size washer, dryer and storage shelves. Usually, storage spaces in these buildings are hidden by curtains, but Mrs. Turkas wanted folding closet doors.

"It gave it such a clean look," she said.

Off the foyer is a long, galley kitchen that runs the length of one exterior wall and a dining room table that seats eight. While the kitchen, dining room and living room are all open, a wall divides the couple's bedroom from their public living space. The concrete ceilings are exposed and so are some of the building's pipes.

A closet in the living room holds a pantry, rods to hang guests' coats, a sweeper, cookbooks and room for pet food storage. Mrs. Turkas hired Space Planning to build the pantry. A flat screen Samsung television hangs on the living room wall.

The bedroom, which has half of an arched window, holds a bed from Z Gallerie and a spacious closet. When the couple had out-of-town guests recently, they rented the building's second-floor guest suite.

	Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Above: Roberta Turkas looks out her living room window. Below: Bedroom in a model apartment. Click photos for larger image.

The rent for one-bedroom units at The Cork Factory start at $1,170 per month. Two-bedroom apartments with two baths start at $1,499 and three bedrooms, two baths, start at $2,380 per month. Parking is available in an adjacent structure, a three-story building with 427 parking spaces and 47,000 square feet of retail. For tenants, the first parking space is $25 a month and a second, $100 a month.

With all of its amenities, The Cork Factory feels a little like a resort. The complex has an in-ground pool, a large patio with deck chairs, a gas fire pit and a grassy pet park set aside for residents' dogs.

Once a contractor rebuilds two blocks of the river wall eroded by floods, pilings will be driven for a marina with 64 slips. It's scheduled to open in mid-June, said Chuck Hammel, one of the owners of the complex, along with Strip District businessman Bob Beynon and McCaffery Interests, a Chicago developer.

"A water taxi service is interested in having a permanent location there," Mr. Hammel said.

Two other companies -- York-Hannover Development Inc. and Preservation Investments Inc. of Boston -- tried to redevelop the former factory but failed to raise the necessary $40 million. During a bankruptcy auction in 1996, Mr. Hammel, who runs Pitt-Ohio trucking in the Strip District, bought the factory.

"Our trucking company was growing, and I didn't want to become land-locked," he explained.

At that time, he also owned a block of land across the street from the former factory. On that site sits the brand new silver building containing parking and retail space. Mr. Hammel said he has three letters of intent from businesses that plan to lease space in the new building and hopes there will be one, and possibly two, restaurants.

The Cork Factory complex is 47 percent leased, Mr. Hammel said, adding that many of the tenants are new to Pittsburgh.

"A lot of residents have pets. It's neat to see them walking their dogs in and out of the lobby," he added.

The project, which cost more than $60 million, was completed using historic tax credits from the National Park Service. The developers sold those credits to Sherwin-Williams. The contractor also used that company's paints during renovation.

Sherwin-Williams, Mr. Hammel said, can apply those historic tax credits "against certain taxes they pay as a corporation."

To obtain the historic tax credits, the developers had to agree that the building's ownership would not change for five years.

"You can't sell the whole building. You can't turn them into condos," Mr. Hammel said.

Once those five years pass, Mr. Hammel added, one of the buildings could become condominiums while the other two could remain rentals.

"Somebody might want to buy the entire complex, too, and leave it as apartments," he added.