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GREENSBORO — The high life may soon be available downtown.

A 26-year-old real estate broker from Charlotte says he wants to build a $30 million high-rise downtown that would include a restaurant, day spa, a boutique hotel with 60-80 suites and 28 condos.

The residences would include three penthouses that would likely exceed $1 million each.

The building's residents would have access to housekeeping, valet parking, room service and a concierge.

"It's similar in concept to a Plaza Hotel," said John B. Adcox, who grew up in Greensboro and plans to return to the city from Charlotte. "It's a great concept."

Adcox said he's looking at two sites for the tower, which could stretch up to 13 stories. One site is at the southeast corner of Davie Street and Friendly Avenue, diagonally across from Center City Park. He would not identify the other.

He said he hopes to make a formal announcement within 90 days and begin construction five or six months later.

This would be Adcox's first venture into real estate development.

"I have spent time in Charlotte putting deals together for other brokers," Adcox said. "I said, 'I need to be doing this for myself.'"

Adcox said he has wanted to do a project downtown for a year and a half. An earlier deal in the center city fell through.

He asked Ray Gibbs, former president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., who now works as a senior urban planner for a company in Moores-

ville, for help in finding sites.

"He kept pursuing it," Gibbs said. "It appeared that he was talking to the right people and was trying to get everything in hand before making it public."

Some wonder how much housing downtown can support, especially at the high end.

"I think what we need ... is a reasonable-priced product," said Chester Brown, of Brown Investment Properties. "That's the market we need to be playing to right now."

Other major condo projects are under way or being considered downtown.

Developer Roy Carroll is converting the former Wachovia Building into 99 luxury condos that will range from $182,000 to more than $500,000.

His Center Pointe project also will include custom-built penthouses ranging from

$1.4 million to $6 million.

Another downtown project, the proposed $300 million Triumph Center, could include about 50 luxury condos.

"I think the market can eventually absorb all of this," Gibbs said. "It is how much of it comes online at one time."

Adcox said 25 of his condos would range from $550,000 to $850,000. Square footage would run from 2,500 to 4,000.

The penthouses would run between 6,000 and 7,000 square feet.

And the prices?

"It depends on what the buyer wants to spend," Adcox said. "We have got potential buyers who have found out about the project. They are coming out of the woodwork. I think people underestimate that market segment."

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or donpatterson@news-record.com