Skeptics might question the depth of
the Valley's luxury condominium
market but developers in
downtown
Scottsdale remain confident
their projects will succeed.
Townhouses, lofts and condos are
stacking up on the downtown skyline
like chips in a no-limit poker game.
The first 300 of about 1,500
downtown condos under construction
will open as early as next month.
That includes 250 units at
Optima Camelview Village, 37 in the Valley
Ho Residential Tower and the first
33 units at Main Street Plaza.
Sales for those three projects alone
could be as high as $150 million.
There is an overlap in the luxury
niches that each developer is
targeting, but all say they are
satisfied with sales of condos that
range in price from $300,000 to $4.5
million.
"We're getting about one sale per
week," Bob Flaherty, a vice
president of luxury homebuilder Toll
Brothers, said about sales at its
Residences on Main.
"That's where we thought we'd be. We
didn't plan on the fevered pace that
was in the market last year."
Buyers have a lot to choose from
with eight projects under way and
others in the pipeline.
They range from the 18 condos at the
W Hotel Scottsdale & Residences to
the 750 condos at Optima Camelview
and the 13-story twin towers of the
Scottsdale Waterfront Residences.
More than 1,500 condos are under
construction and at least 500 more
are planned in downtown Scottsdale.
About 8,000 condos and lofts are
planned or under construction
Valley-wide.
Housing analyst RL Brown has
predicted that only about 20 percent
of those units will be built.
Scottsdale's condos are "selling
reasonably well, but not as quickly
as promoters would have you
believe," he said earlier this year.
What remains to be seen is how
committed buyers are for luxury,
urban homes.
Not all the projects have their
public reports, so the reported
sales are not final.
Optima Camelview, northeast of
Camelback Road and Highland Avenue,
reports that it has sold two-thirds
of its 750 condos under
construction, and that 62 of them
went for more than $1 million.
The first 250 condos will open by
early summer.
Scottsdale Waterfront, southwest of
Camelback and Scottsdale roads, also
is nearing completion of the first
of its twin 13-story condominium
towers.
Together, the two towers will house
198 condos.
All but about 15 units are sold,
including four penthouses that sold
for $3.3 million to $4.5 million,
said Jeff Roberts, vice president of
development for Opus West, one of
the development partners.
The southwest tower has nearly
reached its zenith of 143 feet,
which will tie the nearby AmTrust
Bank building as Scottsdale's
tallest building.
Residents will start to move into
the Waterfront by year's end,
Roberts said.
The Residences on Main, just south
of the Valley Ho, expects its first
residents to move in next spring,
said Flaherty, the Toll Brothers
executive.
Toll Brothers is building its
six-story condo building, with 84
units, and will start in July on 62
townhouses. About 25 percent of the
homes have been sold, he said.
Vanguard City Homes has just
launched its 206-unit Safari Drive
project east of Scottsdale Fashion
Square.
Scottsdale-based Grace Communities
has buyers lined up for about half
of its 144 condos at Portales Place,
said Ryan Zeleznak, a company
principal. It expects to turn the
key on its first units in January
2008.
Grace has also submitted building
plans for its X Wine Lofts, an
82-unit project northwest of
Scottsdale and Osborn roads.
Zeleznak said Grace Communities,
which is also building downtown
Phoenix condos, is confident there
is enough demand for its homes.
The market can absorb 8,000 urban
units, given that as many as 65,000
permits have been forecast for this
year, he said.
Houston-based Arruth Associates Inc.
is equally optimistic.
Arruth is opening the first phase of
its Main Street Plaza project this
summer and plans to start the second
phase in the fall, said Madeleine
Ferris, Arruth president.
"Downtown Scottsdale has an allure,"
she said. "There is a certain
population that wants to live
there."
Peter Corbett
Arizona Business Gazette
May. 4, 2006 12:00 AM
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