9 units are being auctioned off at 210 Rock. (Photo by Burl Rolett)
A Richmond development company is trying to fast track its way out of the first phase of a riverfront condo project finished during the depths of the recession.
The WVS Cos. is auctioning off the remaining 25 condos at three Rocketts Landing buildings next week. The auction will attempt to sell the final 10 percent of the company’s condo stock, and some will be unloaded at a loss, said Jason Vickers-Smith, a vice president at WVS.
“Even with conventional sales, sometimes we end up at that point,” Vickers-Smith said. “We had a successful construction phase, but once you carry them for a couple of years, those carrying costs mount up.”
Vickers-Smith said he believes the condo market is heating up, but he said WVS is still probably two years away from selling out all of the remaining units.
Waiting to try to capitalize on the upturn – and paying the accompanying real estate taxes, utility, maintenance and upkeep costs in the meantime – would be less profitable than selling now, he said.
The Fall Line building at Rocketts Landing. (Photo by Burl Rolett.)
The condos for sale are in the Sky Line, Fall Line and 210 Rock buildings. The buildings, along with a fourth one, called Cedar Works, were constructed from 2007 to 2009 and had a total of 248 units.
WVS had every unit of Fall Line, Sky Line and Cedar Works under contract during development, with about 25 percent of 210 Rock spoken for. But many of those contracts fell through before the first round of construction wrapped up. By then, only about 50 percent of the units had been sold.
Rick Jarvis, a broker with One South Realty and author of a website focused on the local condo market, said 210 Rock especially had a rough time as it opened at the bottom of the recession and amid a tightening in condo lending rules.
“That probably didn’t help them, even though I think it was probably one of the best buildings they built,” Jarvis said. “There was a lot of product down there, and the market just couldn’t absorb all the product that was available at that point in time.”
WVS has whittled down its vacancy rate over the past five years, managing to unload another 40 percent of the condos that weren’t presold. Cedar Works is full. Fall Line and Sky Line have 16 unsold units between them, and 210 Rock has another nine condos remaining. All 25 of those are up for grabs on Tuesday.
WVS has aggressively marketed the auctions, taking out large, color ads in several media outlets beginning weeks in advance. The campaign cost WVS about $250,000, Vickers-Smith said. That’s twice the starting bid for the least expensive one-bedroom units WVS is offering at auction.
“What we were trying to do is get a year’s worth of traffic and sales in a month, so we spent a year’s worth of our marketing budget in a month to get out there and make sure everyone knew this was happening,” Vickers-Smith said.
Interest for the sale has been strong, according to Dan Gollinger of Accelerated Marketing Partners, the Boston-based firm handling the sale. He added that potential buyers have taken multiple trips through the properties and submitted rankings prioritizing the units they like. Auctioneers will call the most in-demand condos first at the May 20 sale.
Investors and potential residents have looked at the Rocketts condos, Gollinger said. Investors may buy and then turn around and rent condos at 210 Rock. Fall Line and Sky Line are at their limits for condo rental, however. Investors may still buy a unit in one of the latter two buildings, but they may not be able to rent them out post-sale.
The Rocketts Landing condos will go under the gavel beginning 7 p.m. May 20 at the Westin Richmond Hotel on West Broad Street.
The least expensive units will start at $125,000. At the high end, four Fall Line and Sky Line units will open at $300,000. A 2-bed, 2 ½-bath, 2,188-square-foot unit in Fall Line last marketed at a $625,000 asking price will start at $375,000 at auction.
HHunt plans to build 82 townhomes at Rocketts. (Photo by Burl Rolett.)
WVS in the meantime is looking ahead to the next round of Rocketts Landing development. HHHunt has begun work on the first of an 82 townhomes it will build at Rocketts. A 150-unit apartment building and a new riverfront restaurant row are the next projects on the drawing board.
So far, only about 12 of Rocketts Landing’s 50 acres straddling the Richmond-Henrico line have been developed. The master plan calls for a restaurant on a former Yuengling brewery site, more condos, apartments and townhomes, a clubhouse and a fitness center. The Henrico County Economic Development Authority also advertises a site for a corporate headquarters of up to 200,000 square feet at Rocketts Landing.
“Rocketts is only about 25 percent complete as a project, so we have a lot of everything in future phases,” Vickers-Smith said. “The program hasn’t really changed, although the project has gone a little slower due to the recession.”
9 units are being auctioned off at 210 Rock. (Photo by Burl Rolett)
A Richmond development company is trying to fast track its way out of the first phase of a riverfront condo project finished during the depths of the recession.
The WVS Cos. is auctioning off the remaining 25 condos at three Rocketts Landing buildings next week. The auction will attempt to sell the final 10 percent of the company’s condo stock, and some will be unloaded at a loss, said Jason Vickers-Smith, a vice president at WVS.
“Even with conventional sales, sometimes we end up at that point,” Vickers-Smith said. “We had a successful construction phase, but once you carry them for a couple of years, those carrying costs mount up.”
Vickers-Smith said he believes the condo market is heating up, but he said WVS is still probably two years away from selling out all of the remaining units.
Waiting to try to capitalize on the upturn – and paying the accompanying real estate taxes, utility, maintenance and upkeep costs in the meantime – would be less profitable than selling now, he said.
The Fall Line building at Rocketts Landing. (Photo by Burl Rolett.)
The condos for sale are in the Sky Line, Fall Line and 210 Rock buildings. The buildings, along with a fourth one, called Cedar Works, were constructed from 2007 to 2009 and had a total of 248 units.
WVS had every unit of Fall Line, Sky Line and Cedar Works under contract during development, with about 25 percent of 210 Rock spoken for. But many of those contracts fell through before the first round of construction wrapped up. By then, only about 50 percent of the units had been sold.
Rick Jarvis, a broker with One South Realty and author of a website focused on the local condo market, said 210 Rock especially had a rough time as it opened at the bottom of the recession and amid a tightening in condo lending rules.
“That probably didn’t help them, even though I think it was probably one of the best buildings they built,” Jarvis said. “There was a lot of product down there, and the market just couldn’t absorb all the product that was available at that point in time.”
WVS has whittled down its vacancy rate over the past five years, managing to unload another 40 percent of the condos that weren’t presold. Cedar Works is full. Fall Line and Sky Line have 16 unsold units between them, and 210 Rock has another nine condos remaining. All 25 of those are up for grabs on Tuesday.
WVS has aggressively marketed the auctions, taking out large, color ads in several media outlets beginning weeks in advance. The campaign cost WVS about $250,000, Vickers-Smith said. That’s twice the starting bid for the least expensive one-bedroom units WVS is offering at auction.
“What we were trying to do is get a year’s worth of traffic and sales in a month, so we spent a year’s worth of our marketing budget in a month to get out there and make sure everyone knew this was happening,” Vickers-Smith said.
Interest for the sale has been strong, according to Dan Gollinger of Accelerated Marketing Partners, the Boston-based firm handling the sale. He added that potential buyers have taken multiple trips through the properties and submitted rankings prioritizing the units they like. Auctioneers will call the most in-demand condos first at the May 20 sale.
Investors and potential residents have looked at the Rocketts condos, Gollinger said. Investors may buy and then turn around and rent condos at 210 Rock. Fall Line and Sky Line are at their limits for condo rental, however. Investors may still buy a unit in one of the latter two buildings, but they may not be able to rent them out post-sale.
The Rocketts Landing condos will go under the gavel beginning 7 p.m. May 20 at the Westin Richmond Hotel on West Broad Street.
The least expensive units will start at $125,000. At the high end, four Fall Line and Sky Line units will open at $300,000. A 2-bed, 2 ½-bath, 2,188-square-foot unit in Fall Line last marketed at a $625,000 asking price will start at $375,000 at auction.
HHunt plans to build 82 townhomes at Rocketts. (Photo by Burl Rolett.)
WVS in the meantime is looking ahead to the next round of Rocketts Landing development. HHHunt has begun work on the first of an 82 townhomes it will build at Rocketts. A 150-unit apartment building and a new riverfront restaurant row are the next projects on the drawing board.
So far, only about 12 of Rocketts Landing’s 50 acres straddling the Richmond-Henrico line have been developed. The master plan calls for a restaurant on a former Yuengling brewery site, more condos, apartments and townhomes, a clubhouse and a fitness center. The Henrico County Economic Development Authority also advertises a site for a corporate headquarters of up to 200,000 square feet at Rocketts Landing.
“Rocketts is only about 25 percent complete as a project, so we have a lot of everything in future phases,” Vickers-Smith said. “The program hasn’t really changed, although the project has gone a little slower due to the recession.”
I would like to see a story written about how this move effects current homeowners who are trying to sell their units and can’t possibly compete with these prices, what impact it will have property values.