Meg Lawrence is getting a lot of new neighbors soon --maybe as many as 140. And she's happy about it.

"I think it's great," she said. "We welcome them."

Lawrence is president of the Ginter Park Residents Association, and the new Ginter Place project is set to bring 69 condominiums to her tree-lined North Side neighborhood by mid-September.

Nothing was torn down to make way for the buildings. And no parks have disappeared. Instead, Ginter Place is being built inside the old Richmond Memorial Hospital, which closed in 1998.

"Most of the exterior is as it was except for window replacements and the balconies," said Edwin Gaskin, one of Ginter Place's six owners. Other owners include James E. Ukrop, chairman of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. and First Market Bank, and his son, Ted Ukrop.

At Ginter Place, the lobby and the chapel are being restored to their original designs. From there, the building has changed dramatically.

"We took about 500 Dumpsters away to get back to the original core of the building," Gaskin said. "That gave us a blank canvas to start anew."

The canvas was 224,000 square feet. The 69 condominiums occupy about 125,000 square feet, leaving room for a two-level parking garage and ample storage for the condo owners.

On-site amenities include meeting rooms, a grand clubroom and a 1,635-square-foot visitor/guest suite that condo owners can reserve on a first-come, first-serve basis. The chapel, whose limestone walls rise four stories, will be converted into a reading room.

"A lot of people talk about downsizing," Gaskin said. "This is one of those situations where you still have parking and storage, and you have room for the kids when they come to visit."

The condo floor plans, in twoand three-bedroom options, are 1,500 square feet to 2,300 square feet. The average size is 1,840 square feet. Condos on the bottom level have terraces; the others have balconies.

Prices range from the low $300,000s to the high $400,000s. The average monthly fee is $264 and includes natural gas, water, sewer, trash pickup and landscaping.

"The design for each of the 69 units is unique because of the architecture of the building, and each one has its own personality," Gaskin said.

Although the building's facade is modern, the condos' interior details take their cues from a 100-year-old house next door. Large, traditional crown molding runs around 9-foot ceilings. Living rooms feature gas fireplaces, and the doorknobs on the solid-wood doors are glass.

Floor coverings vary from tile in the foyers and solid wood in the living rooms and dining rooms to carpet in the bedrooms. Bathrooms feature beadboard wainscoting, dual pedestal sinks from Kohler and cast-iron tubs.

Modernist architecture, which began in the early 20th century, is attractive, but tenants want to live comfortably, Gaskin said.

"It's a contemporary living unit inside a historic envelope," he said.

Gaskin declined to disclose how many units have sold. To attract more buyers, the ownership group is offering a $10,000 incentive that can be used for upgrades and closing costs. The incentive is good through July 15.

"In addition, if someone buys a condo and then refers another person to us who ends up buying a condo as well, we'll give them a $5,000 gift card," said Joel Groover, the Long & Foster real estate agent representing Ginter Place.

Ginter Park resident Anne Thorn said this is not the neighborhood's first condominium project.

The Bryan family, who owned the Laburnum House next to the hospital, built Laburnum Court in 1919 one block away from the current Ginter Place. A descendent is J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman of Media General Inc., which publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"Laburnum Court had a steam plant that provided heat and electricity for the 24 houses" in the development, Thorn said. "It was really like an early condominium project."

The Ginter Place project also involves restoring the back of the Laburnum House, which had been part of the hospital. The house was connected to the hospital by a two-story building, which will be torn down.

The space will be turned into a courtyard area with a patio, private terraces, greenery and landscaping.

Lawrence, with the Ginter Park Residents Association, said she is pleased with this aspect. "That is really a wonderful thing," she said.

The project as a whole reuses a once-blighted building, making the neighborhood whole again, Gaskin said.