BUSINESS Rocky Mountain News: September 22, 2007
Priciest condos excite most interest
By John Rebchook
Rocky Mountain News
The $165 million Pinnacle at City Park South luxury condominium community, which boasts the classic Chamber of Commerce view of Denver - capturing City Park, the downtown skyline and the mountains - is entering its final phase.
It is following the trend of other luxury Denver condo developments, with buyers showing the most interest in the biggest and most expensive units.
The Pinnacle has three separate buildings with a total of 271 units on the former Mercy Hospital site between East 16th and East 17th avenues and St. Paul and Fillmore streets.
The first buyer in the first 142-unit Pinnacle tower, with 27 stories, is scheduled to move in this weekend.
Nine of the 18 ParkHomes town- homes have been sold, and construction is expected to be completed in less than a month.
Next week, Opus Northwest will officially celebrate the construction of the third and final phase, a $70 million, 22-story high-rise with 111 units.
"More than 32 percent of them have already been pre-sold," said Scott Menefee, a senior director at Opus Northwest. "I think a lot of empty nesters want to move into a smaller home, but they are not really ready to downsize into a tremendously smaller home," Menefee said.
With that in mind, Opus Northwest redesigned the units in the second tower to make them bigger than originally planned. The units will range from 826 square feet to 2,393 square feet and are priced from $279,500 to $1.7 million.
The units at the Mondrian City Homes, a former office building at 1800 Glenarm Place downtown, hit the market Wednesday evening at an invitation-only party aimed at prospective buyers.
"We signed two contracts and received six reservations," at the party, said Erik Osborn, the developer. "We feel pretty good about having activity on eight of the 14 units."
The contracts were for a 3,623-square-foot penthouse, priced at $2.16 million and a 4,168-square- foot condo on the 14th floor, at $2.44 million.
The penthouse buyer owns a nearby office high-rise and the 14th floor buyers are a couple who own a home in Aspen and have a smaller unit downtown but are looking for a much bigger condo, Osborn said.
"The six reservations are from a group of friends - three locals and three from the East Coast," Osborn said.
The smallest unit in the building has 2,258 square feet and is priced at $1.075 million.
With the exception of the penthouse, the other units have 4,168 square feet and are priced from $2.026 million to $2.442 million.
Osborn said the biggest and most expensive units went first in his nearby One City Park high-rise, which is under construction.
Rick Palese, marketing director at the Ritz Carlton, said that about half of the 25 units have been placed under contract or reserved.
The contracts include one for a 4,800-square-foot penthouse on the 19th floor of the former Embassy Suites hotel at 999 18th St.
"It's right at $5 million," Palese said.
It may seem counterintuitive that the most expensive units are being snapped up quickly, going against the old real estate saw that the best investment is the smallest house on a nice block.
"With a condo high-rise, all of the units outside look the same; what differentiates them is what you have inside," Osborn said.
rebchookj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5207
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