As you all know the Mormon church in all its wisdom built three large luxury condo buildings as part of their City Creek Center and put them on sale in the middle of a great recession. You don’t have to be a prophet to know that sales would be weak. But what seems to be hurting sales even more, is the apparent cheap construction and design of the condos.

The current sales figures of the different condo buildings are as follows.
The Promontory: 27% sold.
Richards Court: 31% sold
The Regent: 32% sold

The curious thing is that back in July, 59% of the Regent was reserved by prospective buyers with deposits. Last month the building was completed and those prospective buyers could finally see their units. After seeing their unit almost half backed out and got their deposits returned. Apparently the actual condos didn’t live up to the renderings or the hype. As evidence of this, here’s a quote taken from a thread from an urban development forum about City Creek Center.


“My mom's cousins and husband had put a deposit down on a unit, my mom couldn't remember which one, but they were finally able to go tour the actual building units just last week, (assuming Regent based on timing) and they were disappointed in the size and construction and finished materials quality, so they got there deposit back. I was surprised on the quality issues as I have seen the mock ups in the sales suite several times, and seen the Richards court finishes in unit several times as well. It does appear based on the numbers though that once the units were actually viewable by perspective tenants that the number of reserved units dropped DRASTICALLY.”

expected, and they had to chop costs on finishing condos too.

Poor guys, they can't catch a break. How rude of members not to take whatever they are given and be grateful. Who could have expected that reaction from sheep?

My guess is that a year or more from now, they'll be putting blocks of these condos up for auction, and the condos will go for considerably less than they're going for at present. People would be foolish to buy now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2011 11:07PM by summer.

I'd rather have a double wide in the middle of the west desert than one of those damn pigeon holes in that stupid CCC.

I'd put about as much stock in the BOM as I do those sales figures.

Agent was a nevermo who grew up in Manhattan, so she had no reason to be cowed by LDS Inc. We both thought the show units were pricey, but the fit and finish was first-rate.

Regent was even more expensive than Promontory, and was not even built 6 months ago, so I am a little skeptical of numbers showing that more of Regent is sold than Promontory. I'm considering moving downtown, and if I had the money, I'd move into Regent.

aspect to the entire endeavor.

Miami had a major condo building frenzy for years just before the recession. Investors and people wanting to live in great new condos paid deposits before the buildings even started. When the recession hit, thousands forfeited their deposits rather than go through with the purchases. There are literally hundreds of thousands of condos in Miami--even the nicest buildings overlooking the ocean--struggling because so many units are vacant and the buildings can't keep up with the maintenance costs if half the apartments don't have paying tenants.

There's even a huge problem with squatters living in vacant luxury condos and turning them into crack houses.

I think the Salt Lake condo boom is in the same boat. People wanted these condos before the recession and they imagined heaven on earth. The builders too have been very greedy in expecting luxury prices for what amounts to an apartment on stilts overlooking temple square. Reality hit because of the economy. People might blame it all on the quality of the units because they're hoping to get their deposits back. But the buildings were built relying in part on having enough buyers. I smell major litigation going back and forth.

Ah, the power of prophesy and prayer before making major life decisions.

are not interested in loaning money for high end condos. They don't want to end up owning them.

Some of the people who put down deposits may have had trouble finding a loan.

Much as the board seems to enjoy sticking it to the mormons, downtown condos recently built seem to be a bust everywhere. Drdad and I used to live there and made a couple visits this past spring and summer and heard all about this issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2011 04:08PM by msmom.

Here's a genuine prophecy (meaning one that concerns future events, not Mormon prophecies about the past):

Real estate prices falling: another 5 years or so;

Real estate prices booming again: another 20 to 30 years.

Anyone who buys before 2016 will be under water for a looooong time.

Cheap construction quality??? This is nothing new with TSCC. I remember reading about the poor quality of the construction and finished product at the church office building. I work in a building owned and built by the Mormon church that is barely 15 years old. It has had so many problems, it's laughable.