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Tour Lures Potential Condo Buyers
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Published: June 22, 2008
TAMPA - Watching a thunderstorm from behind the windows of a deluxe apartment 30 stories above downtown Tampa, Ed Balchon considered trading in the suburbs for urban living.
"I could live here," he said. "It's like living in New York City."
Curiosity about the rising steel and glass of the SkyPoint tower at 777 N. Ashley Drive and what it could be like to call downtown home brought Balchon and hundreds of other potential condo buyers out Saturday for the third Urban Tour of Homes. The last tour was held in October.
The six-hour event involved 13 real estate companies featuring nine developments with more than 1,300 available units from about $175,000 to $898,000. Along with price rollbacks during the housing slump, brokers were touting the perks of living in an urban arts and commercial district.
The exposed concrete ceilings in the 30th floor model unit at Skypoint, the lobby's virtual art gallery and the computer screens in the elevators that greet residents by name drew admiration from the tour's visitors.
Balchon lives in Carrollwood, and he and his wife work close to downtown, he said.
"In the next three to five years, we might be leaving Tampa," Balchon said. "But it'd be nice having a place like this to come back and visit."
Brokers used familiar open-house tactics to make visitors feel cozy, including fresh chocolate chip cookies and iced tea on the counters, upbeat jazz on the stereo and balloons in the halls.
By 3 p.m., each development had greeted more than 200 visitors, said tour organizer Becky Slocum of Smith & Associates. Many visited more than one location.
During what's been called a buyer's market, Skypoint's prices haven't changed much since the tower's 380 units were first offered for sale, said Brenda Daly of the Novare Group, a real estate firm specializing in high-rise homes. Construction began in 2005.
"They've sustained values real well and haven't gone beneath what they originally sold for," she said.
Still, asking prices on some of the tower's select units have dropped by as much as $75,000, according to the developer's Web site. A two-bedroom unit that had been listed for $470,700 is now listed at $395,700.
About 85 percent of the units in Skypoint have been sold and nearly 400 people live there, said tour guide Monica Winans.
About half of the 84 units in Ventana, a complex at Kennedy Boulevard and Channelside Drive that overlooks the Port of Tampa, are sold, said Smith & Associates broker Tania Traviesa.
Prices have been rolled back to 2005's pre-construction pricing, she said. Ventana's cost per square foot was lowered from $375 to $285.
"Everyone's pretty much done that," she said.
Most visitors weren't asking about sales prices, Slocum said.
"Some questions have to do with pricing, but many have to do with the development's location and the amenities of the building," she said. No units had sold by late afternoon, Slocum said.
Location is exactly what brought the Rev. Paul Wagner and his wife, Bonnie, to tour Ventana on Saturday, she said. The New Tampa residents want to be closer to downtown.
Impressed by a sixth-floor home's view of the Port of Tampa and the gleaming kitchen, the senior couple said it was time to live in a place without a yard to mow or a house to maintain.
"Something new is always nice, especially with the upgrades they have now," Bonnie Wagner said.
At 92 and 75 years old, respectively, the Wagners know they don't match the young urban professional crowd that downtown living typically attracts.
"I know downtown is a yuppie place," Bonnie Wagner said. "But we're yuppies at heart."
Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.
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