Last night 10News featured a story about downtown condos, mentioning a one-day sales event at Icon, a tower near the ballpark, where the developer has promised to cut prices by hundreds of thousands of dollars for one day later this month.
Reporter Juliette Vara also visited Vantage Pointe, a project I’ve written about, and toured the under-construction building with Allan Thompson, vice president of construction in the United States for the Canadian developer, Pointe of View.
Vara points out that while Icon is dropping prices, Vantage Pointe has not budged from the prices the 288 contracted buyers have committed to pay. And she mentions the tight deadline the building is on. From my story on the clock that’s ticking at the building:
Now everyone’s watching one date next year: May 2009. If the developers fail to finish the building and make it ready for move-in by then, some of the current buyers could walk away from their contracts, with a refunded deposit.
In the 10News interview, Thompson acknowledges the deadline:
It’s kind of a wait game.
And even though Icon’s having a sale (not to mention other discounts on new units around the city core), Vantage Pointe won’t soon be, Thompson says.
You gotta ride it out. A fire sale isn’t the answer.
Over on the Vantage Pointe message board, some committed future buyers at the project commented on the television spot. Brad Willis, the moderator of the forum, didn’t see the spot but commented on the developers’ stated aversion to cutting prices:
I know of *zero* buyers who are committed to following through with their purchase. Just to be clear, it is not my job or the role of this group to tell people what to do or to encourage them to cancel their purchases. Each buyer needs to do what makes sense for them on a personal basis. However, I will say that the messages that I receive are *universally* and *overwhelmingly* negative. If they want to make this project work as a condominium then they had better come forth with some substantial price changes backed up by written assurances in a hurry. If they won’t do that, then please figure out plan B and give us our money back.
If you have any thoughts on this project or other issues in downtown real estate, drop me a line: kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org.