Conversion Sparks Fast Sales

CHARLOTTE, NC - Buyers snapped up a phenomenal 95 condos within eight days at uptown Charlotte's Fourth Ward Square. The owners of the 154-unit apartment community at 501 N. Graham St. disclosed just before Easter that they were converting it to one- and two-bedroom condos priced from $99,900 to $221,900. That touched off a buying frenzy that drew more than 700 people to the sales office and model unit. "I was astonished," said broker/owner Dennis Donahue of Center City Realty, which is handling sales. "Yesterday morning (Wednesday) it was so crowded that you could not walk."

Multifamily analyst Emma Littlejohn of The Littlejohn Group said, "This is what we have been saying: There is pent-up demand for product at the right price."

Prior to the Fourth Ward Square offering, condos in the center city were priced generally from the $150,000s to more than $1 million.

Littlejohn estimates that about 500 condos are available in the center city.

Sales and construction have slowed over the past 18 months. Three uptown projects converted recently to apartments; three high-rises were postponed, and two towers were halted by legal disputes.

At Fourth Ward Square, Tom Thornburg, whose firm is managing the conversion for owner Fourth Ward Square Associates LP, had planned to start the phased project by redoing two of the complex's seven buildings.

Responding to the demand, he added a third building on Saturday. This week, he released a fourth and it sold out within 24 hours.

Thornburg said 59 units will be converted in the remaining three apartment buildings, but they're not ready for sale yet.

Meanwhile, Donahue is compiling a waiting list. "We have buyers lined up," he said. "There's enough interest I could sell 500 of these." The price, of course, is a big attraction, but so are $8,000 tax credits for first-time buyers and low interest rates.

Donahue said 75 to 85 percent of the people who signed contracts were renters living in the uptown area.

Thornburg's JLT Partners earlier had planned to replace Fourth Ward Square with four high-rise residential buildings, but financing dried up in the economic downturn.

He's still working out a conversion schedule, but he hopes to move the first condo buyers in by late summer or early fall.

Condos range from 560 to 1,212 square feet. The exterior will get a new roof, new paint and other improvements. A major emphasis will be on upgrading interiors with new appliances, cabinets, flooring and finishes.