Another set of downtown condos set for auction, a unit at a time

In an unusual move, condos and townhomes in the downtown area are set to be auctioned, one by one.

There have been relatively few downtown units auctioned so far. When they have been, they've sold for a lump sum. This auction gives regular folks a chance to buy.

Some units have minimum bids that are up to 63 percent off original sales prices.

Thirty-three condos at downtown's Ventana, at the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Channelside Drive, and eight townhomes at Kensington Park SoHo in south Tampa are to expected to sell. The auction is set for 1 p.m., Nov. 14 at the Embassy Suites in downtown. Minimum bids range depending on the unit.

"We set minimum bids that are preposterously low," said Jon Gollinger, CEO for Boston-based Accelerated Marketing Partners. "We get the market into a room and the market sets the value."

The units to be auctioned have been turned over to a court-appointed receiver, Gollinger said. The developer of Ventana's 84 units turned the keys over to its lender in June 2008. The remaining units have already sold.

In this difficult economy, Gollinger said his business is thriving with auctions. The company conducts about 50 auctions a year around the country. Many clients are lenders trying to unload units they've taken back from developers.

"You have markets that have gone down 25 percent, so the developers are out of money," he said. "There's no such thing as a successful condo project in today's market."

Here are some examples of units to be auctioned.

A 1,381 square-foot condo at Ventana has a minimum bid of $175,000. Its last asking price: $473,100.

A 3-bedroom, 2-bath townhome in Kensington has a minimum bid of $275,000. Its last asking price was $499,000.

Last year, 171 Channelside condos were sold at auction for $21.9 million. The buyer paid about $128,000 each for units that originally sold for about $200,000 to $1 million.