The Vue

[cinco]

And gee, all the flaws seem to downplay the competition. Do you think it is coincidence?

i stopped by the vue office on saturday to look @ the model. i personally think it just has flaws in scale overall... but that doesn't diminish its effect. for instance the model has trademark almost dead equal in height with carillon bldg.... i thought that to be a little generous. a couple of the wachovia bldgs looked obviously smaller...even the vue was a tad smaller than i had thought. having said this - it is a brilliant model and the people who work @ the office are 1st class. this project will be a success.

neo, i think i saw you sat. which is weird b/c i only base that off of the couple pics on UP... mainly your avatar. if it was you, you were walking with a lady friend and camera in tow. i was with my wife and i think she took comfort in the fact that she is not the only one who runs with a UP addict.

Edited December 5, 2005 by cinco

[Neo]

neo, i think i saw you sat. which is weird b/c i only base that off of the couple pics on UP... mainly your avatar. if it was you, you were walking with a lady friend and camera in tow. i was with my wife and i think she took comfort in the fact that she is not the only one who runs with a UP addict.

It was probably me you saw then as I was with my fiance. She usually goes with me when I head downtown or anywhere else to snap some photos. Some other pictures I snapped that day at up at Flickr with a timestamp of December 3rd.

[Rickydavisfan21]

the epicenter still really gets to me, how short it is in this picture, and that it has the second building in this picture, the guy working at the sales center was convinced there was a second tower, I thought they had ruled it out.... Anyways, gorgeous models, I can't decide whether the incorrect scale is about lack of research, or just a marketing scheme, as cheesy of a marketing scheme as that'd be. But still everyone in the Runnings for a condo of this magnitude probably wants to be bigger and better, so no matter how small of a marketing scheme it could be, it is still quite powerful.

[dxartist]

cool model.... However, it looks like 2 Wachovia, 3 Wachovia, and the 400 S Tryon are really short and not even close to being in scale

[dubone]

As earlier comments indicated that the marketing costs are being rolled into the price of units, maybe it is a good sign that it wasn't an exact scale model of the city, which would have been much more expensive .

Honestly, I'll bet few people care about the exact scale except for us scraperphiles.

[dxartist]

As earlier comments indicated that the marketing costs are being rolled into the price of units, maybe it is a good sign that it wasn't an exact scale model of the city, which would have been much more expensive .

Honestly, I'll bet few people care about the exact scale except for us scraperphiles.

that's a good one

Perhaps I could go in and add the additional height to the model with some super sculpy modeling clay when no one is looking

[CATFAN]

not sure if this is already posted.

Here is the starting prices for Vue.

Studios $229,900 +

2 Story Lofts $319,900 +

2BR/2BA $429,900 +

3BR/2BA $519,900 +

3BR/3BA $979,900 +

Add 10k for every floor up.

[Nomanizan]

That is crazy!

[CSP]

not sure if this is already posted.

Here is the starting prices for Vue.

Studios $229,900 +

2 Story Lofts $319,900 +

2BR/2BA $429,900 +

3BR/2BA $519,900 +

3BR/3BA $979,900 +

Add 10k for every floor up.

ugh..

[Norm2]

So uh, The Vue is gonna shoot off fireworks on New Years to help promote their condo tower? Interesting advertising strategy to say the least! I wonder what it would be like to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July from the top of that building when its finished.

[ElricSeven]

So uh, The Vue is gonna shoot off fireworks on New Years to help promote their condo tower? Interesting advertising strategy to say the least! I wonder what it would be like to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July from the top of that building when its finished.

Sounds to me like they're getting desparate. Is this another version of the Park?

[dubone]

Sounds to me like they're getting desparate. Is this another version of the Park?

No. The Park didn't put very much money at all into marketing. All accounts have The Vue already selling much more than The Park did. The issue is that The Vue has significantly more units to sell, and they have a somewhat distant completion date, which limits their market somewhat.

[Norm2]

Sounds like The Vue marketing team has a lot of $ to spend on their marketing. With this much $ for marketing I doubt they will have any trouble attracting buyers for their tower.

[Hotlanta]

not sure if this is already posted.

Here is the starting prices for Vue.

Studios $229,900 +

2 Story Lofts $319,900 +

2BR/2BA $429,900 +

3BR/2BA $519,900 +

3BR/3BA $979,900 +

Add 10k for every floor up.

Why the heck is this so expensive? It's not like we live in New York or something, plus who in Charlotte really has this amount of money unless you live on the lake or over on Rea Rd.

[Rickydavisfan21]

Are you kidding me? Who can afford that? what are you talking about charlotte is full of rich people, I hope you knew that. The people moving into this town (1000 a week) are all like 30 year old rich childless couples.

[Hotlanta]

Are you kidding me? Who can afford that? what are you talking about charlotte is full of rich people, I hope you knew that. The people moving into this town (1000 a week) are all like 30 year old rich childless couples.

????? I'm not understanding you?

[dubone]

I think what our fervent friend is saying is that there are thousands of people in this city, and moving to this city who can afford those prices. There are many of those that are willing to trade a large lake house, or a large country club house, for a slightly smaller home downtown. Many, in fact, have been making that trade off all over the country.

This project has an incredible view, it is in a prestigious old neighborhood with Victorian-era homes, it is blocks from the workplaces of most of the highest paid jobs in the state, and is blocks away from much of the city's best night life and cultural amenities.

This project only needs to find a few hundred people who are willing to buy into that value proposition.

However, I think they'd do better if they dropped prices a little bit.

[ElricSeven]

I think what our fervent friend is saying is that there are thousands of people in this city, and moving to this city who can afford those prices. There are many of those that are willing to trade a large lake house, or a large country club house, for a slightly smaller home downtown. Many, in fact, have been making that trade off all over the country.

This project has an incredible view, it is in a prestigious old neighborhood with Victorian-era homes, it is blocks from the workplaces of most of the highest paid jobs in the state, and is blocks away from much of the city's best night life and cultural amenities.

This project only needs to find a few hundred people who are willing to buy into that value proposition.

However, I think they'd do better if they dropped prices a little bit.

Yeah, but they're stuck now. Can't drop prices now that others have locked in at higher prices. There would be a huge outcry.

I dunno, they might have a bigger marketing budget, but if they can't unload enough units to be able to begin construction within a reasonable timeline, they might start losing existing contracts like the Park. I'm concerned that I haven't heard the people from the Vue trumpeting any numbers indicating strong sales.

[monsoon]

I think what our fervent friend is saying is that there are thousands of people in this city, and moving to this city who can afford those prices. There are many of those that are willing to trade a large lake house, or a large country club house, for a slightly smaller home downtown. Many, in fact, have been making that trade off all over the country.

Well actually that is what the "money challenged" people do. The rest of the Lake people, who purchase something downtown, do it in "addition to" their 10,000 sq/ft lake house. It's a good place to spend the night for downtown events.

I heard a statstic this weekend that said that population around the Lake Norman is soon to approach 150,000 people. That is particularly mind boggling when you consider that when I moved here 13 years ago the entire town of Huntersville barely had 4500 people.

[Rickydavisfan21]

is that a case of white flight?

[monsoon]

is that a case of white flight?

I have no idea. Given that a huge percentage of the people living at the Lake have lived in NC less than 5 years I don't think so. I moved here from CLT because I like to boat and living at the Lake makes that very convenient. It's like being on vacation every day, its hard to explain. However I think smaller government, lower taxes, peace and quiet, very low crime, etc are all other reasons that people move to this area. And there are a significant number of employers up here so it makes sense for people to live near their work. Remember, Iredell county is not even in CLT's MSA which means few people commute down to CLT for work.

Unlike many cities, Charlotte has never really suffered from White flight. My last neighborhood, where I lived for 8 years, had a mixture of 50% White & 50% Black and we all got along, and I was fine with living there. And when I sold that house, I made a quite decent profit so I don't think that plays a lot into people's decisions to purchase a home here. I will say however that racial polarization seems to be getting much worse in the USA, including CLT, so this may change in the future. The younger generations seem to make much less effort to get along.

[MZT]

If the Vue doesn't get off the ground, maybe more developers will take a look at what has been a successful model and pricing strategy, and follow it...... . . . . . (Furman).

I will add, that I think Vue's "nosebleed" approach, if successful-- will be hard to repeat. They'll probably wring out nearly all the highest dollar buyers from the market for several years. Future luxury condos, will be smaller buildings.

Here's something to watch out for, as an indication of a problem: Free upgrades to higher floors, to the people who are under contract. That indicates they need the lower priced units again to sell.

Edited December 31, 2005 by MZT

[dubone]

Or maybe that isn't a problem, but rather an indication that the high price per square foot was not able to stick in this market.

I think there is some headroom for profits, but I could be wrong.

[appatone]

Well actually that is what the "money challenged" people do. The rest of the Lake people, who purchase something downtown, do it in "addition to" their 10,000 sq/ft lake house. It's a good place to spend the night for downtown events.

It's also a good place to crash for the work-aholic exectutive who stays in the office until 2 and 3 am to be able to buy their spouse and children a 10,000 sq. ft. home on the lake. I know many a BofA employee who works so late they crash at the Omni at times. I really do wonder how many Charlotte area execs are buying uptown condos in addition to thier area homes. I can see some of these smaller units being fairly popular with the folks at the lake and in Union County where drive times home can reach an hour or so. Not a fun drive after working until 2 only to be back at 9.

[Hotlanta]

Now that I went ot the website I can really see why this is worth so much, but not quite every penny of it. Very modern and I like it, now all we need are some upscale modern furniture stores in Charlotte, or do we already have them?