Buyers high on high-end residential property

Pre-sales of condos show strong interest

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Pittsburgh may be struggling to retain residents and get its fiscal house in order, but that doesn't appear to be deterring interest in a number of high-end condominium, townhome and apartment complexes.

The high number of so-called pre-sales come on the heels of similar results at developer Ralph Falbo's 151 First Side condominium project, Downtown. The $26 million, 18-story high-rise that will overlook the Monongahela River already has 30 of 82 units -- ranging in price from $200,000 to $1 million -- under contract even though it will be 15 to 18 months before the first units will be completed.

Other higher-end housing ventures are experiencing healthy volumes of pre-sale activity, as well. A fifth of the units in the 61-unit Carlyle condo project arising out of the old Union National Bank building at Fourth and Wood, Downtown, have been sold, even though construction won't start for another 60 days.

And inquiries about 100 Seventh Street, Lincoln Properties' apartment high-rise under construction at the corner of Seventh Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Downtown, have been overwhelming, said Vice President Kevin Keane. While Lincoln will not begin taking rental applications until next month, more than 1,000 people have expressed interest in leasing units.

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"In the past, developers have proposed buildings and they have waited for them to sell before they started building," said Helen Hanna Casey, of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services Inc., which is marketing The Metropolitan. "It's very exciting that now developers are going ahead and building, and it's been a long time since a building has had this kind of pre-sale activity."

Walnut Capital expects to get started on the $30 million, 42-unit condo building on North Neville Street on the border of Oakland and Shadyside next month, with projected occupancy for The Metropolitan slated for spring 2007. The project is geared toward buyers that the fast-growing developer describes as having "an upscale, mobile lifestyle."

Plans call for mostly two- and three-bedroom units, with high ceilings, large windows, and balconies and patios, ranging in size from 1,570 to 3,405 square feet and priced at $499,000 and up.

Some of the building's more unusual amenities will be a caterer's kitchen that residents can reserve when they wish to host a catered affair and a wine room in which residents can store favorite vintages in a personal refrigerated locker.

It also will offer 24-hour concierge service; a fitness center with facilities for weight training, cardiovascular training, aerobics and yoga; and a first-floor conference room and library.

The project is the latest in a series that have made Walnut Capital one of the city's largest, busiest and most notable developers since its launch in 1997 by chief executive Gregg Perelman.

Between 1997 and 2002, Walnut Capital developed 26 Eckerd drugstores, 19 of which were sold in 2003 as a package to Oak Brook, Ill.-based Inland Real Estate Group for $59.5 million.

It also owns some 15 shopping centers, developed within the last three to four years, as well as a string of commercial buildings on Walnut Street that house such upscale casual retailers as Banana Republic and the Pottery Barn.

But it's perhaps best known for developing or rehabilitating more than 2,000 apartment and townhome units throughout Western Pennsylvania, including several high-profile projects in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside, such as Beacon Commons, Walnut on Wightman and Walnut on Forbes.

Its last residential development, the 12-unit Beechwood Commons townhome complex at Beechwood and Wilkins avenues at the site of the former Darlington Nursery, was completed in late 2003. Half of the units, which started at $540,000 for basic shells and run to $895,000 and up for fully built units, have been sold.

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