Downtown Condo Dream Sits And Waits

STOCKTON, CA - Terry Hull Sr., who is in real estate, renovated an apartment complex, put up a For Sale sign and announced last summer downtown's first condominium conversion. It was to be an accomplishment, however modest, in Stockton's bid to draw homeowners to the city core. But the condominiums, each one-bedroom unit costing $135,000, went on the market just as it was collapsing, and less than a year later, the For Sale sign came down.

"We decided that it didn't make any sense at all in this marketplace to keep going on the condo thing," Hull said. "We'll just wait until the world turns around." Meanwhile, the 33 units of Parkside Condominiums, at Oak and Van Buren streets, just north of Stockton Ballpark, are for rent. Six units are occupied for $650 a month each, Hull said. "I think the market was part of it," he said. The other part, he said, is that "there's still this feeling about downtown Stockton."

Hull started on Parkside two years ago, when not only was the housing market robust, but there also was the expectation that a greater number of people would be willing to live downtown. Grupe Investment Co. Inc. was to build 150 condominiums and town houses on the south bank of the Stockton Deep Water Channel. A Sheraton Hotel - with 42 condominiums on top of it - was being built north of the channel, near Parkside.

Grupe announced last year the postponement of its project, saying it will go forward when the market rebounds. As of last month, none of the condos at the Sheraton had been sold. The neighborhood, however, has improved. Near Parkside are some houses and apartment buildings that were recently or are in the process of being renovated.

Arturo Flores, a Hull employee who lived at Parkside when it was being shown to prospective buyers, said he was "a little apprehensive" about the neighborhood when he arrived, though he said that feeling passed. He walked with his girlfriend to the movies, and he could see the ballpark from outside. "It was a home feeling," he said. Hull said the market will return. When it does, people will want to live downtown, he said. "It's going to happen someday," he said. "I think there will be a time when it will be quite in vogue."