Archive for the 'Condos' Category
777 Main Street – Your Future Home?
Kenneth Gosselin’s piece about the Bank of America building in today’s Courant noted that the owner of 777 Main Street had considered converting some of the building to condos in 2006, and ended with a quote making it clear that a residential conversion was back on the table.
Although the current situation can be viewed as a loss for the City – nobody wants to see a business downsizing – it can also be seen as an opportunity. Numerous Downtown office buildings are looking for tenants, so consolidating the companies is a good thing because it makes the “winning” buildings more stable. In this case, the owner of the “losing” building seems to have anticipated this possibility and is actively considering alternatives.
Of the underutilized office buildings Downtown, 777 Main seems like one of the more attractive candidates for conversion:
- Most importantly, the footprint of the tower is a good shape. The structure is much longer than wide, with windows on all four sides, so hopefully an architect could lay out the floors such that all the rooms in each unit had windows.
- The building is positioned well in relation to the other towers, so that there are views in all directions. Views are especially nice to the east, overlooking the Old State House, the Science Center, and the Connecticut River. The closest tower is the Gold Building, south across Pearl Street, which is one of the narrow sides of the Bank of America building. Hopefully there will also be a neighbor to the north one day in the surface lot on the northwest corner of Asylum and Main, though it would not be immediately adjacent.
- 777 Main is centrally located in Downtown Hartford, making it a short walk to any of the numerous museums, theaters, restaurants, or other attractions. It would also be a short walk to any of the office buildings downtown, and ideal for commuting since there is convenient access to major highways in all directions.
- Buyers … well, everyone … complains about parking all the time, so the fact that there is a sizable attached parking deck should alleviate that concern of potential buyers.
Downtown Hartford is more active and vibrant than most assume. It is undeniably the center of the arts and culture in the region, and is bustling with activity during the day thanks to the large number of businesses. What many don’t realize is that the number of residents has been increasing in recent years thanks to apartment projects like Hartford 21, The Lofts at Temple & Main, 915 Main, 55 on the Park, Trumbull on the Park, and the Hollander Foundation Center. These have been a nice complement to the more established condo options, which are mostly located south of Gold Street.
Converting 777 Main to a residential use would be a huge win for the continued evolution of the Downtown Hartford neighborhood. Each new project puts more feet on the street, which helps support a larger base of businesses. Additional residents can also make a big impact on the perception problems that the City faces in the Greater Hartford region by talking about their decision to move Downtown and their experiences with friends, family, and co-workers.
Most encouraging of all is that Hartford leadership seems to be on top of the situation and supportive. At the One City, One Plan meeting focused on the Downtown neighborhood last fall, the City brought a map of Downtown identifying opportunities to add up to 4,500 additional housing units (see page 11 of this presentation). One of the sites highlighted was 777 Main.
HCPR: Increasing Activity in the First Quarter
Hartford County’s housing markets saw an increase in the number of closings in the first quarter of 2010 versus the first quarter of 2009. This continued the positive momentum from the second half of 2009, but is still well below the sales pace from the early and mid 2000s. Median sales prices were up slightly, while median days on market fell sharply.
Single-Family Homes
First quarter sales of single-family homes increased 16.4% compared to the year-earlier period. However, the 1,024 total sales for the quarter were still below Q1 2008 levels and the 1,596 average Q1 sales from 2001 — 2007.
The median price for single-family homes in the County increased by 6.4% from $206,700 to $220,000. Sales price per square foot, another valuation metric, increased 2.2% during the quarter from $137/sqft to $140/sqft. Finally, the median time on market decreased from 59 days to 45 days.
Condominiums
The condominium market trended in the same general directions as the single-family market. The number of sales was up 13.3% over the first quarter last year, though the total of 315 for the quarter was well below the average of 583 from 2001 through 2007.
The median sales price was flat during the quarter, increasing slightly from $172,500 to $173,000, and the median price per square foot fell 2.1% from $139/sqft to $136/sqft. Condominiums also experienced a decrease in sales time, with the median days on market falling from 67 to 55 days.
Trend Towards Faster Deals
The extended Federal Tax Buyer Credit has pulled much of the traditional spring activity forward. Buyers must have a property under contract by the end of April in order to capture the credit, which has motivated them to start looking sooner. Sellers have also gotten an early start by listing their properties in hopes of attracting the credit-seeking buyers. The decrease in days on market is the main result of the credit this quarter, while there will likely be a large spike in closings next quarter.
Open House Amnesia
Another spring Sunday has passed, and with it another round of open houses. We have been hosting them regularly over the past month and have noticed that as soon as people get inside, they begin to have memory problems. Everyone that comes to our open houses is asked to sign-in. Our goal is to have an accurate count of the number of people that visited the property, and a way to follow up if needed.
Unfortunately, many of our guests develop sudden bouts of amnesia when faced with our sign-in sheet. We’ve seen an epidemic of incorrect information recently. The worst instance was when three different groups came through a property at very different times all wrote down the same physical address – a single family house in West Hartford. We were curious about the situation and decided to find out if any of them actually lived there. It looked like no – the first person must have made up the address and then the next two copied it.
We understand that people are hesitant to give out their contact information, and can only assume that they are concerned we will follow up too aggressively.
Our primary goal with open houses is to show buyers the interesting and unique properties that are currently on the market. A secondary goal is to meet new people and be a resource for them as local real estate knowledge experts.
Harassing our guests during, or after, an open house is counterproductive. We want them to have a good experience in the home and feel comfortable contacting us with questions after they leave. We may send a thank you note, but beyond that will only reach out to visitors for legitimate reasons. We won’t make up reasons to call, we won’t stop by your house, and we definitely won’t spam you via email.
Of course, we are just two of thousands of agents in Greater Hartford. It’s possible that others approach open houses differently. Out of curiosity, what sort of experiences have people had at open houses? Anything interesting to share?