Back in February we told you this was coming. The 27-story, 462 unit Catalyst tower has flipped from condos to apartments. In addition original developer Novare Group has been edged out, replaced by Crosland and Lehman Bros., according to The Charlotte Business Journal.
Other fascinating little tidbits:
- Looks like only 30 of the units were ever under contract as condos, not the 60 units claimed back in February. Nothing like getting your sales data 100% wrong when doing spec development.
- Starting rents have already crept down to $1050 a month from $1200, a 12.5 percent drop in eight months. You know they want to hang onto the four-figure price point, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some “introductory” rents hit $900 in the next few months.
- Anyway you look at it, Uptown now has nearly a 10-year supply of condos sitting empty or about to come online. The pressure to convert at least some of those to apartments will be tremendous, otherwise lenders cannot get repaid. More apartments means more downward pressure on rents, however.
Of course the ultimate driver of Uptown residential real estate — in any form — is Uptown jobs. Until there is some indication that thousands of high-paying jobs will be added to the Uptown office towers the fundamentals will continue to worsen.
