I luv the rendering with the mix use building in the rear with a theatre...Would of been a much better deal than the dull two story parking ramp with the blank walls and a few block glass windows.
I luv the rendering with the mix use building in the rear with a theatre...Would of been a much better deal than the dull two story parking ramp with the blank walls and a few block glass windows.
These units still re-sell at a reasonable price. They are often listed in the 270K range (2BDR 2BA) for all of you posters that are always frustrated by the high end condo market.
when this project was started the area was pretty bad, hookers on chippewa and not much else. it was risky, downtown areas now are not so risky. lets see more......
This is a highly informative article. The detailed reasearch on this one is amazing. Tremont Corporation was run by James Michalek, the attorney that was put in jail in the late 1980s. The corporation owned the large tract of land now being developed in Orchard Park as Birdsong.
When the City of Buffalo sold those 7 units at a loss through BURA, the prices were ARTIFICIALLY DEFLATED. I can't tell you how many times I tried to tour those units while the city held title. For those of you who were not around in Buffalo while the city was "trying" to sell these units, just try to purchase the prime residential lot it currently owns at the northeast corner of Nottingham Terrace and Elmwood Ave known as "00 Nottingham." You'll encounter the same lame excuses for not developing the city as was given to me then.
Yes, this article hits on one of the main reasons I am a Florida resident who works in New York.
The prices here are reasonable but the association fees are high. That drives down the prices. I have a friend that sold and moved because his association fee was $1,000 per month.
I find it amusing that one of the ideas to rejuvenate the site was to build a theatre next to an old theatre and use the old threatre for offices and condos. Gotta love hindsight. We need a theatre,,, but we just demolished the threatre... well lets build a new one...
Sometimes we have the luxury of hindsight when looking at a project. Thank god that office building version didn't get done! What an eyesore.
I have to agree with Texpat...the association fees, along with property taxes, kind of do hurt the value of these units. I looked at one last year. The interiors of the units were pretty dated. The unit I looked at was 1,100 sq/ft, $199,000. Not too bad at all for a "luxury" condo in the downtown region of a city, with indoor parking and concierge. At $199,000, my mortgage only payment would have been around $1,200 a month at 6%. Not bad. Now, here was the scary part. The association dues were close tp $600 a month (yes, they included water and heat, but still....), and the proerty taxes were $2,400 a year(somewhat reasonable by Buffalo standards) When all was said and done, my monthly payment was going to $2,000 a month.
With that said, I still keep my eye on these units. Within the last 3 months, 4 were on the market. I just checked today, and only one is left still for sale. That tells me that someone is buying these units, and that there is demand. They really do have a great location, within the theatre district, on the Metro Rail line, and downtown. With that said, $2,000 a month to live downtown in most other major US cities would be a steal. Aren't apartments (which don't apprciate, and you can't get equity in) at Sidway rent for around $1,200?
600/month incl heat and water does not sound that bad with indoor parking and door man. General expenses and maintenance on a single family house are going to be more than that per month.
600 a month sounds great with heat and water. Maintenance fees in new york are usually around $1 a square foot and have been climbing. And with the unit including a parking spot, that all sounds like an steal, even for Buffalo.
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