Three new projects, with price points for new homes ranging from $80,000 to $350,000, likely will target three different types of homebuyers that mirror the area's eclectic, diverse mix of businesses and residents.

Filled with older homes and renovated residences, Cooper-Young now has new residential developments on Seattle Street, Young and New York, and Elzey and Barksdale.

The neighborhood non-profit Cooper Young Development Corp. has purchased 11 lots just west of McLean on Seattle and Euclid, with the first acquisition in 2001.

CYDC is building nine 1,200- to 1,500-square-foot homes, which will be priced starting at $80,000.

"Our work in the core of the Cooper-Young neighborhood has been successful," says Sutton Mora-Hayes, executive director of the CYDC. "We saw a lot of opportunity west of McLean."

Home development on the 10 lots will be subsidized by the City of Memphis and the project is intended to preserve the diversity and affordability of the Midtown area.

"We want to transition some of the renters in the area into homeowners," Mora-Hayes says. "And we'd like to attract some new residents as well."

Describing Cooper-Young as an "it" neighborhood, she says the Seattle Street location is kind of isolated and CYDC is trying to create a development that will be sensitive to the historic character of the area.

On the east side of Young, developer James Rasberry, a partner in Lewis & Rasberry, is developing condos at New York and Young. Lewis & Rasberry, a real estate firm with strong Midtown and Downtown connections, manages and leases a number of properties in Cooper-Young.

Rasberry's 32 condos at Young and New York will be one- and two-bedroom units, fully equipped with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen, Rasberry says.

"It's going to be an interesting development with unique open floor plans," he says.

The condos, which are scheduled for completion in August, will sell between $125,000-$160,000, Rasberry says.

Cooper-Young is such a desirable area right now, he expects demand to be strong.

The mix of new housing in the area gets even more upscale with Bernard Cowles' Cooper Young Place development.

The Cowles Co. sold out its development in the Evergreen Historic District and is on pace to do the same with Cooper-Young Place.

With 14 of the 33 lots sold, according to The Cowles Co.'s Web site, the $280,000-$350,000 homes will be the high end of recent residential development in Cooper-Young.

Cowles Co. president Bernard Cowles could not be reached for comment.

"With all of these different developments in the area, we're addressing a lot of different price points," Rasberry says. "It gives you a whole mix of different people in the neighborhood."