Very interesting. Developers have thrown in the towel on Chelsea South End, a good frisbee throw from the East/West Blvd. light rail station. Plans were for 75 condo units priced between the mid-$100s to the $300s. This is obviously a pretty middle-of-the-pack price point. No condos, the $20 million mid-rise willl be apartments instead. For now.
Interestingly, the developers would not tell Doug Smith how many of the units were “pre-sold” — or to whom. Investors or owner-occupants. One claim is that 50 percent of the units were not sold.
To recap, that is $500 million worth of train and $70 million of infrastructure spending unable to remake economic reality. Think we’ll learn the lesson? No.
Bonus Observation: The Charlotte Chamber was hawking the project as well.
