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The Plaza


Tim3167

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^^

I love that place.

the Bento boxes are pretty good. great ambiance; great off the path but not too far location on Court St. with a view of Solaire's lobby and the dumpster... very urban. they improved the outside column and the trim on both sides of the unit with some coating and a maroon-ish color with black highlights.

^^

Corona put in the tables and chairs over the weekend. the shelves are up. and the inventory is in storage inside of PTP. it's just a matter of a few days now...

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looks reeeeeal hoppin. :ermm:

went there saturday night/sunday morning at 3am when they were running a trial of a 4am closing time. . .and you literally couldn't move inside, that's how packed it was

on a daily basis i'd say lunch is a hit there, and the 630-9pm dinner crowd, with things tapering off outside those hours.

i have no doubt with those prices that that place isn't gonna be much of a sleeper for long if it still is one.

Edited by frankieb96
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went there saturday night/sunday morning at 3am when they were running a trial of a 4am closing time. . .and you literally couldn't move inside, that's how packed it was

on a daily basis i'd say lunch is a hit there, and the 630-9pm dinner crowd, with things tapering off outside those hours.

i have no doubt with those prices that that place isn't gonna be much of a sleeper for long if it still is one.

where in the plaza is it?

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Anyone else go do the walk thru for the auction?

Yesterday was the first time I've been in the Solaire. The two beroom units have two smallish bedrooms. One should be a clear master and there really isn't. I really liked the A5A unit. It's only one bedroom, but seemed large and the most roomy and open. The views from the East side are great, but if TT ever gets built the best part of the view disappears. The Western view is blocked more by buildings than I would have thought. The view to the Southwest is nice and to the Northwest is good too, although not as much to look at. They seemed priced right at $170,000 or $250,000. Definitely paying a premium for the convenience and location. The glass walls seem well insulated against noise, but it's loud on the balconies, even mid day on a Sunday afternoon. Even on the higher floors.

Can't imagine living in the East side of 55W with Latitudes right there every night.

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Anyone else go do the walk thru for the auction?

Yesterday was the first time I've been in the Solaire. The two beroom units have two smallish bedrooms. One should be a clear master and there really isn't. I really liked the A5A unit. It's only one bedroom, but seemed large and the most roomy and open. The views from the East side are great, but if TT ever gets built the best part of the view disappears. The Western view is blocked more by buildings than I would have thought. The view to the Southwest is nice and to the Northwest is good too, although not as much to look at. They seemed priced right at $170,000 or $250,000. Definitely paying a premium for the convenience and location. The glass walls seem well insulated against noise, but it's loud on the balconies, even mid day on a Sunday afternoon. Even on the higher floors.

Can't imagine living in the East side of 55W with Latitudes right there every night.

Seriously, I do not mean to offend anyone, but saying that a new luxury 2/2 unit with 2 parking spaces is just "priced right" at $250K is a bit much. Over the past 2 years construction material costs have shot up over 30%. A 2/2 at The Paramount sells for over $400K with one parking space, a second space is an additional $35K.

I am willing to bet that the $250K starting bid is below what it cost to construct (or at least what it would cost to construct today - can anyone in the construction industry verify this?) and the reason the developer is offering it at that price is that he is hurting for money and these units were already sold once and the buyers walked away, losing their 10% deposit, so the developer already has over $30K towards these units. Note that the developer is offering about half of his inventory in this auction, not all. If my money wasn't tied up in other projects, I would grab one of these babies. As for the noise, that's part of living in a downtown area. You want noise? Come stay in my Manhattan apt, in the city that never sleeps. Hard to believe, but you get used to it and don't notice it after a while. BTW, a 2/2 like this in Manhattan without any parking or a pool and maybe an exercise room would sell for around 1.5 mill. The only noise I experienced INSIDE my Solaire unit came from the balcony door which had no weather stripping and a single pane window. The developer weather stripped the door and the noise has been cut down tremendously. As for the small bedrooms, again, welcome to downtown living.

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I guess value is in the eye of the beholder. I personally wouldn't pay much more than the $170,000 or $250,000 for these units. I just can't balance the sacrifice in space and extra price for the downtown living. Until downtown gets more amenities there really isn't much to justify it for now. I live in the suburbs and have more around me within 2 miles than Solaire has to offer. That may not be the case in the future but it is now.

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I guess value is in the eye of the beholder. I personally wouldn't pay much more than the $170,000 or $250,000 for these units. I just can't balance the sacrifice in space and extra price for the downtown living. Until downtown gets more amenities there really isn't much to justify it for now. I live in the suburbs and have more around me within 2 miles than Solaire has to offer. That may not be the case in the future but it is now.

it's worth it if you work downtown. takes the commute out of the equation.

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If my money wasn't tied up in other projects, I would grab one of these babies.

'Grab' one of these 'babies'? You would seriously invest in a depreciating asset with a heavy carrying cost in both interest and condo fees?

Not to mention the other issues with the building and downtown.

Even the realtors admit the market will not recover this year.

Edited by neon9
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it's not always necessarily about purchasing an "asset," some people genuinely like the places, and would like to call them home at the right price. if you can get in there sub/lower 200's. . .i think you've done halfway decent. as far as the "asset" side of things, if you can carry the place for 4-5 years, i doubt it'll be worth LESS than what you paid for it.

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The prices will only go up, but you have to be in for the VERY LONG term.

It will be 10 years before a Solaire Condo is at a good resell level after you include associaition fees and other costs after paying the 170,000.

My wife and I discussed buying one, not to live in, but to invest. After talking to a good friend who is in the know, he talked us out of it.

As the flippers/investers have learned, condos can be a tough market.

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I totaly agree! That's what upsets me the most whenever I hear talk about real estate, it is spoken in the conext of an investment when it is actually a place to live. I enjoy living at the Solaire, but the one thing I can't help but notice is how empty it is. At any given night most of the windows are black and I rarely see the same people on a daily basis. At times the building feels almost dead, like there's no life.

it's not always necessarily about purchasing an "asset," some people genuinely like the places, and would like to call them home at the right price. if you can get in there sub/lower 200's. . .i think you've done halfway decent. as far as the "asset" side of things, if you can carry the place for 4-5 years, i doubt it'll be worth LESS than what you paid for it.
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I totaly agree! That's what upsets me the most whenever I hear talk about real estate, it is spoken in the conext of an investment when it is actually a place to live. I enjoy living at the Solaire, but the one thing I can't help but notice is how empty it is. At any given night most of the windows are black and I rarely see the same people on a daily basis. At times the building feels almost dead, like there's no life.

[/quote

I agree with you and that is for some of us we have bought into the Downtown Lifestyle more as a place to live then an investment. Of course, longterm wise i am sure it will be a nice property to have and keep in your portofolio.

As for it being dark, as a real estate agent i am in and out of several Suburb communities and i can tell you that it is not any different outhere. Single family homes/townhomes are sitting dark and neglected. It is happening just about everywhere. The plus side for us is that we dont have to deal with the overgrown yards, or just homeless people living in those homes while the banks take their sweet time foreclosing. Another plus, is that since i moved downtown i am saving over $350 bucks in Gas, Tolls, Utilities, Gym Membership/month. This after paying my association. And to those that will say that my association fees will go up, so will your HOA.

The thing with condo's is that everybody can see it and it has amore of a visual effect. I tell those people that like to talk bad about downtown to go look in their own neighborhoods. Take a walk (yes i know this may be tough for some of you suburbanites :) and see how many of the homes around you are sitting empty!

Edited by MAntoniazzi
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The prices will only go up, but you have to be in for the VERY LONG term.

It will be 10 years before a Solaire Condo is at a good resell level after you include associaition fees and other costs after paying the 170,000.

My wife and I discussed buying one, not to live in, but to invest. After talking to a good friend who is in the know, he talked us out of it.

As the flippers/investers have learned, condos can be a tough market.

Meanwhile, not to boast, but I made 20% in the past 3 months buying oil trusts (PBT) and a precious metals ETF (DBB), both of which I should have held. There was a time you could probably have done that with real estate here.

But talking about real estate in general, and condos in particular, being an 'investment' at this point is not a good finanical move, IMHO.

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