It's a question every real estate broker hears, and for some new residential developments in Boston, the answer may well be: Are you open-minded?

The market is strong for properties that abut structures once considered deal breakers. With demand high and space at a premium, paying luxury prices doesn't guarantee a tony location, free from the urban fixtures like airports and highways that buyers typically shun. But those who value the vitality of city life are transforming the market's definition of what constitutes a desirable location.

Meredith Baumann, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority, said developers who have recognized that demand are finding ways to make overlooked locations winners.

''It's a function of the market," said Baumann. ''As people are understanding the need for more housing in they city they become more creative."

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Mountford Place, a luxury condominium development being constructed on the Boston-Brookline line, is one such property: It rises directly above the Massachusetts Turnpike. But Michael Grappo, senior brokerage consultant at Boston Realty Works, the marketing agent for Mountford, admits they've had ''a certain resistance" from buyers considering the units on the building's front side, which faces the Pike. But with move-ins not expected until August, the 37-unit building is already over 40 percent sold. Asking prices span the mid-$300,000s to the low $900,000s, a range that has been moved up once because of strong demand.

''We very confident it's going to be very preferred and very quiet on the front of the building," said Grappo, who predicts that once the building is enclosed and sound insulation is installed, buyer concerns about being awakened by 18-wheelers, will be assuaged. ''It's not like you're in the front row of the Indianapolis 500."

Developer Robert Fox said the property's proximity to the busy roadway wasn't a deterrent.

''[Boston] is like any metropolitan city," he said. ''Buildings are all on busy streets, whether they are on the Pike or not."

Grappo said young professionals have shown particular interest in the units, calling them an alternative to Back Bay. Mountford owners can still be close to all of the action but at a lower price.

Young professionals like Carrie McCracken, 31, of Brookline, are just the type of buyers developers are tapping into to make projects succeed in challenging locations.

''I wasn't ready to move out into the suburbs just quite yet," said McCracken, a first-time homebuyer, who chose Mountford for its location to the city. The presence of the Pike doesn't worry her.

''Since I'm on the backside hopefully a lot of that won't be heard," she said. Besides, as a former Beacon Hill resident, she lived with the sirens that surround Massachusetts General Hospital and developed a pragmatic attitude: ''You adapt to it."

William Anderson, vice president of development for Metric Development, said Porter 156, a rehabilitation project in East Boston that is turning a former bra factory at 156 Porter St. into 217 condos, is reaching a similar market. Buyers have run the gamut, he said, but ''a lot of them are young professionals and have a sense of adventure about them."

Those buyers are drawn to the units' loft floor plans, some with skyline views, and are not scared off by its noisy neighbor, Logan Airport.

''For a loft-type space proximity to Logan certainly didn't scare us away," said Anderson.

Though jets are visible from the building, which sits between Logan and the Callahan Tunnel, ''you can stand on the roof and not hear anything," said Scott Jenkins, president of ELV Associates, co-developer on the project. Massachusetts Port Authority officials confirmed the section of East Boston in which the condos are located is not beneath major flight paths. That fact may not be apparent to all buyers, some of whom may think all of East Boston is plagued by jet noise, Anderson said. ''I think it's something they experience and discover for themselves," he said.

Buyers have snapped up approximately 80 percent of the units, which are priced from the mid-$200,000s to the high $500,000s. That spirit of adventure will pay off further as the ongoing Logan improvements replace the highway ramps behind Porter 156 with green space.

Tapping the lofty mentality is also the strategy for a South Boston development. The town house development First + First sits on the cusp of a light industrial stretch, and abuts properties more typical of the neighborhood's past: Auto body shops, commercial shippers, and construction firms ring its triangular lot.

But Tim Pappas, executive vice president of Pappas Enterprises Inc., said that won't deter their target audience, mainly young families, ''because the type of people who typically buy this type of unit are the sort of loft dwellers, the type of people who buy early and are pioneering."

The first phase of construction, at 404 West First St., was recently completed and includes 26 units of affordable housing, but the second phase, First + First, will include 20 three-bedroom town house units with prices starting at $685,000. ''I think that the location and the area is changing and it's a good buy," said Pappas.

Buyers near the intersection of Albany and Berkeley streets in the South End have a widely diverse group of neighbors. On any given night, approximately 500 of them share the address of 444 Harrison Ave., headquarters of the Pine Street Inn, the city's largest homeless shelter.

In the past five years several large, residential developments have gone up on the blocks adjacent to Pine Street, a compound of three buildings near the Albany and Berkeley intersection. In the evolving neighborhood now known as SoWa, where the interests of affluent newcomers often conflict with those of lower-income existing residents, developers and brokers of these properties are finding that some buyers and renters are prepared to embrace unvarnished city life.

Among the first of the new developments was Dover Lofts, a project of New Boston Housing Enterprises. Principal David Goldman said when his firm pursued the project ''a lot of people thought we were nuts."

''We felt pretty confident going in," said Goldman. His firm believed its track record of working in overlooked areas inured them from the ''cynicism" other developers might feel.

Goldman said that by offering the residences at ''a price point for people who might otherwise be faced with leaving the South End and also for people returning to the neighborhood," the project was a winner. All units in the $5.3 million development were sold prior to the completion of construction, with prices ranging from the mid-$300,000s to the low $600,000s.

Carl Valeri, president and chief operating officer of The Hamilton Co., says the presence of Pine Street didn't hinder his company from meeting its goals, either. Hamilton built, owns, and manages The Lofts @ East Berkeley, a $11.5 million complex of rental units that sits diagonally across the Harrison-East Berkeley intersection from the Pine Street Inn.

''It didn't inhibit us from achieving a very quick lease up," said Valeri, noting rental rates have stayed competitive -- starting at $1,900 for one-bedroom units -- and the building has had no difficulty maintaining full occupancy. Perhaps the biggest test is yet to come.

''I think we're a little less affected than the new development across the street," said Valeri, referring to Gateway Terrace, a complex of three buildings encompassing 266 residential units under construction across East Berkeley with a total development cost expected to exceed $50 million.

''The timing of [Gateway Terrace] is good," said Valeri, who says that six years ago such an ambitious project ''might have wallowed."

With move-ins not expected until this spring, and despite some of its views of the Southeast Expressway, Gateway Terrace has already sold 90 percent of its units at prices ranging from $320,000 to $1.25 million, said Brian Perry of Gibson Domain Domain, the firm marketing the buildings.

Perry said few buyers have been reluctant because of Pine Street's presence. A resident of the neighborhood himself, he said most people familiar with the area are prepared for and want all aspects of city life. ''The people who get it, get it," said Perry.

Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of Pine Street, said there have been few conflicts with the new neighbors.

''People had done their homework," said Downie. ''They understood that they were moving to an urban environment."

''Our plan is to do some outreach and invite people over" when Gateway Terrace opens, said Downie. That's a strategy that has paid off before. While attending the opening of Dover Lofts, Downie got several offers of assistance from the new neighbors.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.