The Aberdeen: Condo Hope Still Alive In Atlanta

Posted Jul 6th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Atlanta's condo market may be slowing down but that doesn't stop people from building and planning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution profiles Taz Anderson, a local entrepreneur who is behind a new luxury residential tower in Vinings. Anderson and his son Geoff, president of Taz Anderson Realty Co., are working on a condo project called The Aberdeen, an upscale residential development in Vinings with 55 units, some up to 4,000 square feet.

The 12-story tower will have views of downtown Atlanta and Buckhead. The project takes its Scottish name seriously and the units all have names of Scottish origin. A penthouse is listed at $2.9 million. Eleven buyers have reportedly signed contracts thus far. A healthy number but a little shy of what is generally considered enough sales to build. Given the precarious state of several other Atlanta projects it seems to be a bit of a dice roll.

Gallery: Atlanta Condo Projects

Harborview, Fractional In Nantucket

Posted Jul 5th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

There are few places more idyllic to be on a summer holiday weekend than Nantucket, the beautiful island of the coast of Cape Cod. Now there is a new way to experience the Nantucket getaway without owning property or staying in a one of the island's inns. Harborview is a string of 10 intown, waterfront, urban-chic cottages with concierge service. There are one-, two- or three-bedroom units available. The units are available in one-eighth shares ( six weeks ownership) and prices range from $550,000 to $950,000. Potential buyers who want to own an entire unit will be paying $2.4 to $4.6 million depending on unit size.

Real Estate Weakness in London

Posted Jul 4th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Here in the U.S. real estate woes have been common for a few years but lately it's not so rosy overseas either. The IHT reports that luxury-home prices in central London, the world's most expensive location for prime real estate have fallen for two months in a row. Knight Frank's analysis reveals that the average price of houses and apartments in London's nine most expensive neighborhoods fell 1.7 percent in June from a month earlier which cut the annual increase to 7.5 percent, down from a peak of 38 percent in August.

Like other markets, the peak end is doing well. In the London market homes costing more than £10 million did fall for the first time in three years on a monthly basis bit values are still 23 percent higher than a year ago. The market for the prime properties at this level is partially fueled by international buyers, especially from Russia, India and the Middle East, including billionaires like Roman Abramovich and Lakshmi Mittal.

Gazprom Tower To Get A Green Fur Coat

Posted Jul 1st 2008 8:01AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Russian energy company Gazprom, has created a new design for their Gazprom tower which is set to go up in St. Petersburg, Russia. The design isn't that much different than the original, whose height and modernism has ruffled the feathers of those who want St. Petersburg to retain its historic charm. The tower does have one major difference, the addition of what is called a "green fur coat" to help insulate the building. The glass tower will have double walls which will sandwich hundreds of trees and plants to provide heat in the winter and cooler temperatures in the summer. The design by architectural firm RMJM will regulate the temperature in the building and provide significant energy savings. The exterior will be clad in temperature-color changing glass panels.

The construction of the Gazprom tower hasn't been approved yet and it looks like public opinion on the project is pretty low. The Journal of Turkish Weekly cites a recent poll that showed that more than 40 percent of residents would prefer to block the skyscraper project. Construction is planned to start later this year with completion scheduled for 2012.

Columbia Cliff Villas

Posted Jun 30th 2008 2:02PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

The Columbia Gorge Hotel in Hood River, Oregon impressed a developer so much that he built a nearby condo project, Columbia Cliff Villas, that mimics the look of the classic hotel with a stucco exterior and red tile roofs while creating a new modern interior. The project has 29 condos ranging from 550 to 2,450 square feet. There are also four-bedroom townhouses up to 3,800 square feet. The penthouses and two-bedroom units have views of Mount Adams and the Columbia River while other units overlook gardens and Wah Gwin Gwin Falls. The condo also has a relationship with the hotel so that owners can use the hotel spa and dining services or arrange to rent out their units through the hotel. Prices start at $395,000 and a three-bedroom suite is listed for sale at $1.15 million. The other five identical units have already sold.

[via Oregon Live]

Gallery: Columbia Cliff Villas

From Hotel To Condo To Hotel Again For One Florida Building

Posted Jun 29th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

An interesting story out of Orlando that might make you think twice about picking up a lower-priced condo as an investment property. The Lexington, a condo tower that was formerly a downtown hotel, is now becoming a hotel again. Those who bought condos at The Lexington are being offered a flat fee of $88,000 to be bought out. This fee is, in most cases, less than half of what the owners paid.

The buildins is home to 227 condos which will now all be part of a Crowne Plaza hotel. For the 30 people still owning condos they are facing a difficult choice: they can either accept the flat fee or pay $4,700 in upgrades for their unit and then rent it out. Owners who sign up for the rental program will get half of the $122 per night room rate. Some owners are understandably upset about the situation, especially those who bought in hoping that their property would be a good investment.

Calgary Gets A $10 Million Condo

Posted Jun 28th 2008 3:01PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

A couple of months ago I wrote about Calgary's expanding condo market and since then it has continued to grow. A new record has been set with the listing of a two-story 4,400-square-foot luxury penthouse condo for $10 million at the Astoria on Tenth tower. The penthouse will be available in either a classic or contemporary style. It will have 1,200 square feet of outdoor space spread out over five balconies. The apartment will have top-of-the-line finishes, limestone fireplaces and crystal chandeliers. The apartment will include a large private wine vault, media room, billiards room, built-in cappuccino machine and a library. An interior finishing package will be sold for $1 million with $500,000 for home automation and a high-end audio-visual system.

The Astoria will have 225 suites more than half of which have already been sold. The 35-story tower will also have commercial space, with retail space on the main level and mezzanine. Occupancy is planned for 2010.

The Burj Dubai To Get A Secret Height Boost

Posted Jun 28th 2008 8:01AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Construction has been underway on the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, for a while now. But developer Emaar Properties has announced that the building is going to be even taller than originally planned. How tall? They aren't telling. The final height of the Burj Dubai won't be revealed until it is finished in September 2009. Why the secrecy? Likely so that no one else will try to build one that is taller until the building officially opens. The tower, which at 2,036.6 feet is already the world's tallest structure, currently has 160 stories.

The tower is also upgrading and redesign the interior to make it as attractive as possible and to make room for technological advancements that have occurred between now and 2004 when some of the building's interiors were planned. Right now around 7,500 people are employed on-site at Burj Dubai. The cladding work is nearing completion and they are working on the infrastructure. When completed the tower will be home to residences, office suites an Armani Hotel and Armani Residences and observation deck on Level 124 which will offer visitors sky high views.

Gianfranco Ferre to Debut "Couture Architecture" in Dubai

Posted Jun 27th 2008 9:02AM by Jared Paul Stern
Filed under: Apparel, Real Estate Developments

Italian design house Gianfranco Ferre has signed multi-billion dollar deal to develop real estate projects with a fashionable flair. Ferre is partnering with Mideast-based GIO Developments on the deal, and the first project, called "Gianfranco Ferre Stresa," will be a mixed-use highrise in Dubai. The $1.2 billion tower will combine residential, commercial and hospitality spaces, and the partnership has dubbed it the first example of "concrete couture." Other similar projects are planned around the globe. Mr. Ferre himself, who was fittingly known as the "architect of fashion," died last year. The company bearing his name already has a strong presence in the region with existing stores in Dubai, Beirut and Istanbul and new openings planned for Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait within the year. Other design houses currently collaborating on Dubai developments include Versace, Christian Lacroix and Elie Saab.

Gallery: House of Ferre

Dubai's Rotating Tower

Posted Jun 26th 2008 8:01AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Yet another amazingly ambitious construction project has been launched for Dubai. At the Plaza Hotel in New York Dr David Fisher of Dynamic Group showed off the plans for the Dynamic Tower in Dubai. The $700 million project is an 80-story building where each floor rotates so that everyone gets a 360-degree view (the full rotation takes between one and three hours). The tower will have 10 full floor apartments in which the owner can control the rotation. The rest of the floors will include a luxury hotel.

The structure will have a fluid look, sometimes sinuous and sometimes looking like a set of children's blocks. The apartments will start around $3,000 per square foot putting them in the same price range as Donald Trump's Palm Jumeirah project.

Each floor will be prefabricated in a factory in Italy, shipped to the site and then attached to the core. Fisher says that this could mean floors could go up as quickly as one every seven days and plans a 2010 completion date. He sees this type of prefabrication as the way of the future. The building will also have wind turbines between each floor to provide energy. Fisher plans a second tower for Moscow and hope to have a third in New York.

This is Fisher's first skyscraper project so many are wondering if this will ever be built. As a cynic who has seen a lot of flashy projects debut and disappear before construction, I'm tempted to agree with the skeptics.

This project isn't the only rotating tower planned for Dubai. Check out this project, which I first wrote about in 2006 when it was originally planned to be completed this year. The project calls for 72 units, many of which have been sold.

Trump Plans $30 Million Dubai Penthouse

Posted Jun 25th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Donald Trump's project on the Palm Jumeriah development in Dubai may have quite the penthouse up for sale. Property developer Nakheel has announced that they expect to sell a penthouse in theTrump International Hotel & Tower on Palm Jumeirah for more than $30 million. Designer Kelly Hoppen has designed two penthouses in the tower which will have 399 residences and townhouses total.

Trump has released his standard hyperbolic statement, saying that he believes " Palm Jumeirah is on course to become one of the world's premier tourist destinations." He also said he is planning to reserve a property in the tower for himself. The 62-story, stainless steel and glass Trump International Hotel & Tower will be the tallest structure on Palm Jumeirah and should be completed in the summer of 2011. It will stand as the gateway to the palm-shaped development, straddling the center line of the Palm Jumeirah, making it the gateway to the heart of the development.

Gallery: Trump Projects

Magnolia Private Residence Club

Posted Jun 21st 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

While Florida real estate might be a bit dodgy currently, new projects are still launching. The Magnolia Private Residence Club is located in Seacrest Beach, Florida in the Florida panhandle. The residence club has 17 three-bedroom residences (1,775 square feet). Amenities include protected boardwalk access to the beaches, on-site concierge service, fitness center, club-owned bicycles, game room, business services, pre-arrival grocery stocking service and a rooftop deck with a heated pool, spa and grills.

The club is a residence club in which the property tax and insurance costs are shared among he owners. Owners can visit as often as they like booking both fair in advance and short notice vacations. There is no limit to the amount of use. If some owners visit their Club less often, other owners can visit more. You pay only the published housekeeping fees whenever you vacation at your Club on a space available or short notice basis. A three-bedroom residence at Magnolia starts at just $159,000 for a one-eighth share.

A New Record In Hong Kong Real Estate

Posted Jun 19th 2008 11:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

A new record has been set in Hong Kong real estate. The 80th floor penthouse of The Arch building in the Kowloon district has sold for $28.8 million making it the most expensive apartment per square foot ever sold in Asia at 41,000 Hong Kong dollars per square foot. In the building no floors start with 4, so you go from the 39th to the 50th floor in this building, there are actually 65 floor total (4 is bad luck in Hong Kong like 13 is here in the U.S.). The new owner gets a private swimming pool, a rooftop terrace and 5,497 square feet of space in this unique complex. The building also includes a fitness area, lounge, and pool areas starting at the 60th floor in the place where the two towers join.

Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel Drama

Posted Jun 18th 2008 6:03PM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel in New York only opened in April but it has hit a variety of snags including getting zero stars for its Ago restaurant by NY Times critic Frank Bruni, The most recent problem involves the hotels lavish rooftop penthouse. The best suite in the $43 million hotel has run a foul of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission which says that the penthouse does not match the design that they approved in 2004.

On Tuesday De Niro appeared at a panel hearing to ask commission members to give him a break and not make he and his partners remove the suite (an estimated $1.5 million cost) and start over. De Niro said that they worked on the project a long time and tried their best to make it fit into the historic neighborhood. At the panel fellow celebrity and neighbor, actor/director Ed Burns testified that the architecture is beautiful.

The penthouse has a mansard roof and other decorative details which, according to Nadezhda Williams of the Historic Districts Council, make it seem more residential and out of style with the other more industrial buildings in the area. She is calling to have the penthouse called for in De Niro's plans to be built instead. No decision was reached on Tuesday but they will discuss the hotel at a future meeting and may consider less drastic measures such as changing the exterior o the penthouse from stucco to glass and metal.

Rates at the hotel have varied. They were originally supposed to start at $775 but now it looks like you can get in for $525 a night which is pretty reasonable for New York City.

Luxury Condos Come To Belle Meade

Posted Jun 14th 2008 8:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Real Estate Developments

Overall the condo market is still struggling but there are pockets of exuberant planning. In the Nashville neighborhood of Belle Meade, Tennessee there are three projects planned that offer luxury housing for empty nesters. Belle Meade is already home to a wide variety of large luxury homes but now developers are betting some of these homeowners might be looking for something a little smaller and less time consuming.

Belle Meade Court offers both condos and townhomes and at prices from $400,000 to $750,000 is the least expensive. It is the only one currently under construction. The Manning at Belle Meade, shown above, which is planning construction by the end of the year, offers two bedrooms under 2,000 square feet up to penthouses over 5,000 square feet. Community amenities include an entertaining salon and dining room, catering kitchen, guest suite, private wine storage, a library, fitness center, business center, pool and croquet lawn. Prices range from $950,000 to $5 million. The third project, 112 Harding Place, is in limbo until the market heats up again but is located near the Belle Meade Country Club and offers units from just under 3,000 square feet to over 5,000 square feet and are expected to be priced from $1.3 million to nearly $2.8 million.

Given the current real estate market it does seem likely that at least one of these projects probably won't make it to completion. Their success hinges on the interest of retiring baby boomers willing to invest in condo life.

Categories

Apparel (594)

Art (185)

Auctions (438)

Big Givers (22)

Books (24)

Celebrity Shopping (608)

Charity (212)

Charity of the Day (135)

Children (26)

Cigars (200)

Cosmetics and Fragrance (165)

Decor (1777)

Dining (708)

Estates (2118)

Events (218)

Gadgets (946)

Garden (36)

Green (132)

Handbags (1138)

Holiday Guides (34)

Jewelry (852)

Journeys (1455)

Men's Style (35)

Pets (136)

Preferred (13)

Real Estate Developments (68)

Services (269)

Shoes (191)

Spas (231)

Spirits (480)

Sports (86)

The Classicist (11)

Timepieces (696)

Water (618)

Wheels (937)

Wine (860)

Wings (490)

Writing Instruments (149)

RESOURCES

• Send us news tips
• Contact Us
• Advertise
• Corrections?
• Problems?

RSS NEWSFEEDS

• 
• Feeds by category

Sponsored Links

Advertise on Luxist

Most Commented On (60 days)

• EBay Loses Big French Lawsuit (5)
• Queen Elizabeth is Plane Shopping (5)
• Water Street, Estate of the Day (4)
• Malvern, Pennsylvania, Estate of the Day (4)
• From Hotel To Condo To Hotel Again For One Florida Building (3)
• Pharrell Opts For Expensive Tattoo Removal (3)
• Macquarie Penthouse, Estate of the Day (3)
• Money Really Can't Buy Happiness (3)
• Net-A-Porter's 'Emergency Wardrobe' Service (2)
• Dupont Circle Townhouse, Estate of the Day (2)

Recent Comments

• Mersi on The Aberdeen: Condo Hope Still Alive In Atlanta
• sugar on Sugar-Free Wine?
• cyndi whittley on Corum Debutante Watch
• juniorsfarm on EBay Loses Big French Lawsuit
• Henry on Figure 8 Island, Estate of the Day
• Andy on Dupont Circle Townhouse, Estate of the Day
• Andy on Dupont Circle Townhouse, Estate of the Day
• Graffitimonkie on Pharrell Opts For Expensive Tattoo Removal
• JEBCEO on The Classicist: Land Rover Celebrates 60 Years at the Top
• JEBCEO on Boston Beer Funds The American Dream

More from AOL Money & Finance

• Money
• Auto Loan
• Credit Cards
• Debt Management
• Loans
• Mortgages
• Refinancing
• Credit Report
• DJIA
• Identity Theft
• Banking
• Checking Account
• Insurance
• Savings Account
• Small Business
• Tax Advice
• Taxes
• Retirement
• Stock Charts
• Stock Quotes
• Tech News
• Earnings
• Stock Screener
• AMT
• Car Insurance
• Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Foreclosures
• GOOG
• Health Insurance
• Home Insurance
• Life Insurance
• Real Estate
• Recession
• Stock Ticker

Weblogs, Inc. Network

• Autos
  • Autoblog
  • AutoblogGreen
  • Autoblog Spanish
  • Autoblog Chinese
  • Autoblog Simplified Chinese
• Technology
  • Download Squad
  • Engadget
  • Engadget HD
  • Engadget Mobile
  • Engadget Chinese
  • Engadget Simplified Chinese
  • Engadget Japanese
  • Engadget Spanish
  • Engadget Polska
  • Switched
  • TUAW (Apple)
• Lifestyle
  • AisleDash
  • DIY Life
  • Gadling
  • Green Daily
  • Luxist
  • ParentDish
  • Slashfood
  • Styledash
  • That's Fit
• Gaming
  • Joystiq
  • DS Fanboy
  • Massively
  • Nintendo Wii Fanboy
  • PS3 Fanboy
  • PSP Fanboy
  • WoW Insider
  • Xbox 360 Fanboy
  • Big Download
• Entertainment
  • Cinematical
  • TV Squad
• Finance
  • BloggingBuyouts
  • BloggingStocks
  • WalletPop
• Sports
  • FanHouse Main
  • NFL
  • NBA
  • MLB
  • NCAA Football
  • NCAA Basketball
  • NASCAR
  • NHL
  • Golf
  • Fantasy Football
• Also on AOL
  • African-American Culture
  • Cars
  • Games
  • Maps
  • Money
  • Movies
  • Music
  • News
  • Radio
  • Sports
  • Television
  Travel

More on AOL: Money, Investing, Bonds, Broker Center, Currency, ETF Center, Futures, International Markets, Mutual Fund Center, Stock Charts, Stock Quotes, Stock Screener, Portfolios, Personal Finance, Personal Loans, Finance Calculators, Money Basics, Retirement, Taxes, Market News, Small Business

All contents copyright © 2003-2008, Weblogs, Inc. All rights reserved

Luxist is a member of the Weblogs, Inc. Network. Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Notify AOL