Silo Point -- a question, an answer
Wonk reader Andy thought about buying in Silo Point last summer and decided against it, but he's still curious about the project, which turned a grain elevator in Locust Point into a 24-story luxury condo tower with 24-hour concierge service and penthouse units as large as exurban McMansions.
He emailed recently with a question in the subject header: "Silo Point Empty?"
"I was driving on 95 the other night and noticed that Silo Point looks about 90% empty," he wrote. "I just checked real property, and it looks like only 50 units have sold and the majority are on the lower floors."
I checked with a spokeswoman for the developer, and she says 74 condos have sold -- it takes a while for the deals to show up online. Almost 40 more are under contract, including 15 scheduled to close in less than 30 days.
That means a third of the 228 units are in the hands of new owners. Add in the units under contract, and developer Patrick Turner is about halfway done with sales -- if all the deals close, of course. Units have been for sale since the fall of 2008.
(Fun fact: a quarter of the 208 condo sales in Baltimore last year were Silo Point deals, according to Turner's spokeswoman. It hasn't been an easy road for Baltimore condo builders, though sales numbers have been improving this year.)
Andy was also curious about the asking prices these days, so I asked. They range from $269,900 for the one-bedrooms to $4.2 million for one of the penthouses. The monthly condo fees start at $300.
Silo Point kicked off a long-running conversation amongst yourselves. Check it out here.
Categories: Housing market experiences
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Comments
I'm waiting for our Silo Point expert, baller, to weigh in with his thoughts. What's your assessment of Silo Point now?
Posted by: Kevin R | April 17, 2010 8:17 AM
If you have money to blow on a glorified apartment - I say buy in Silo Point. Enjoy the granite counter tops, new carpeting and $2,000 refrigerator. Oh - and also enjoy the condo fees and the smile on the bankers face who is "loaning" you money!
The housing crash in these parts has not even started yet. Buying now is not a good investment. Goldman Sachs is betting against you!!! and knows more than Goldman Sachs!!
Posted by: Pete Dwyer | April 17, 2010 11:04 AM
Financing on these projects can be a bit of a quandary as most of the lending rules require a certain percentage of the development to be sold and often owner occupied. This can understandably be a difficult initial hurdle to overcome. Finding comparable sales for the appraisal that are outside the development can be next to impossible as well. As a practical matter, only the highly liquid should consider these.
Their sales center was quite nice with an impressive floor map and cool model.
Posted by: Josh | April 17, 2010 3:52 PM
Wonk Andy might want to double check how to use the MD SDAT. It appears that he only looked at the sales on page 1. Scroll to Page 3 and you will see additional units (the list is alphabetized). As of this morning they showed 61 listed as closed.
Posted by: Ann | April 18, 2010 1:05 PM
He emailed me several weeks ago, so that might also have something to do with it. But I do remember checking at the time and finding more.
Posted by: Jamie Smith Hopkins | April 18, 2010 2:08 PM
Turner had Carlyle as an equity partner in the deal. Their strength and equity allowed the principals to negotiate away pre-sale requirements.
Posted by: Frankie Sez | April 19, 2010 9:36 AM
And my guess is that Baller has short-sold. Either that, or he has far less disposable to blow @ Mad River, Milan, and Mist.
Posted by: Frankie Sez | April 19, 2010 9:58 AM
I just used the state site, is there no better resource for sales and analysis?
Posted by: Alwyn | April 29, 2010 3:36 PM
You people are retarded. Silo Point is doing fine, learn how to properly use SDAT and you'll see...Silo Point is the only condo unit in Baltimore worthy of selling units. Every other condo building is a joke and merely a scam on benefits of location. And once you realize Harbor East is more expensive to live, it's not worth it. Also, Harris Teeter development and additional retial stores (Dunkin Donuts / Green Turtle) are scheduled to arrive when constructions is complete. And yes, before you give me a glorified rebuttle, I know it is still BEING CONSTRUCTED (As is the rest of Locust Point)...
Grow up and quit feeling sorry for yourselves...Make something of your lives and maybe you could afford Silo Point...
Or better yet...
Your suburbanm house w/ no condo fees...
You people make me laugh though...
Posted by: Baller | May 3, 2010 8:20 AM