Condos continue to be hot property in downtown. Most of the residences coming onto the market are apartments, like Marble Alley, and even those seem to be snapped up as soon as they become available. But if you want to buy, it’s pretty tough. That was eased a bit by a decision just a few days ago. The JC Penney Building is offering most of its units for sale. This is a reversal of what was planned and I reported.
This beautiful space has come a long way since my original article on the building last March. The seventeen spaces offered by Hatcher/Hill website are not all available for purchase, however. Two will have to be leased because the smaller building (the Federal Bakery Bldg, to the left looking from across Gay Street) received historic tax credits which require that the units in that portion be leased for at least five years.
That leaves fifteen in the main building and the top of the one to the right. Of these, three were leased before a decision was made to sell these units as condos. The sale of the units became possible when historic tax credits were not granted for this portion of the project. This leaves twelve units which could be sold. Two are under contract and another has an offer. The most expensive unit offered for sale in the building, at just under $700,000 went before the listings hit the MLS.
There are ten now in the MLS, which you can find on the Downtown Properties link above. Of the ones listed on the MLS, the bottom end of the price range is $369,600 for either of two identical units on the second and third floors. They have identical floor plans, 1400 square feet and two bedrooms and two bathrooms. I believe the photographs of the smaller unit included here would be one of those.
At the top end of available units, the price tag will run $682, 440. This includes a massive (for a city) 2420 square feet and three bedrooms with two baths. It’s hard to find anything like this downtown and I believe the view is of Gay Street. I think the larger one pictured here may be this unit or one very similar. The finishes in all the units are beautiful, high end materials. From the floors to the exposed original beams, they really are sweet spaces.
The other development I wanted to update is The Mews. I first wrote about it last April. It seemed a bit speculative, at best. The development faces Magnolia, and it’s an area that has a traditionally rough reputation, but which is transforming rapidly into a residential and retail hot spot. It’s just down from Public House and Tennessee Valley Bikes.
There are ten units which were only studs when I toured before. Most of what I had to offer was the vision via the renderings. Well, the reality is as beautiful, if not more so than the renderings. And the prices will be more affordable to many. Of the ten units, however, seven were sold or under contract when I toured last Friday.
The three remaining units are on the front side of the development, facing the beautiful courtyard which is still under construction and will have beautiful landscaping when it is finished. They each have two levels and feature two bedrooms and two baths, though the second bedroom could be an office. The smallest, at just over 1300 square feet currently lists for $259,000. The largest at 1456 square feet lists for $279,000.
The finishes, like the JC Penney Bldg, are all high-end. Construction is still underway on the units and on the courtyard behind them, but as you can see from the photographs, the end is in sight. It’s remarkable that before they are finished, seven of the ten are sold – and possibly more by the time they are completed.
So, there are condos on the market, but not many, and the ones that appear disappear just as quickly. You can see details and, in some cases, photographs and floor-plans of each of these and other condos in the downtown properties section above, which includes all MLS listings for downtown. Choices are extremely limited and prices are clearly trending upward. So far neither the apartment or the condo markets seem to be close to sating demand. We’ll know more when we see how quickly Marble Alley fills up, but I’m guessing the answer will be rapidly.