It had been rumored for the past few months that Expo62, a new condominium project under construction in Lower Queen Anne, was going to be converted to apartments. Now, it seems to have come true. According to fellow Realtor, James Stroupe, who reserved a unit in Expo62, the building was sold to an out-of-state buyer. Thanks to Staci for the info.
While this is not great news for those who reserved units at Expo62 or the overall health of Seattle’s condo market, it does have a silver lining. It’ll result in an inventory reduction of over 100 units, thereby helping to normalize the market.
Related:
Seattle PI: Seattle Center condo project to be apartments
January 15th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Who did the marketing for them?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:57 am
It was Windermere Onsite.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Called it in Oct. Next up, Domain.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
^ Correction. November.
http://seattlecondosandlofts.com/2007/11/clise-parcel-sold
January 15th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Glad some of you saw it coming. I, however, did not. They’ve had our earnest money since May and we’ve lost out on other opportunities in the meantime. I’m more than a little upset about it. Sales were about as dismal as their marketing campaign, unless of course I’m underestimating the power of sandwich boards. Perhaps if they marketed as heavily for Expo 62 as they did for the Parc I would still have my condo.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Jac, make a call or two and read fine print regarding whether you are entitled to some interest if the developer doesn’t finish the project. If I learn anything I’ll post it here for you.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Thanks for advice. I’ll do that.
January 17th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Jac, I believe you’ll be entitled to interest but it’s not likely to be much. The one thing you’ll definitely want to check on is if you’ll get back any fees paid to lock in interest rates.
January 18th, 2008 at 12:16 am
I am also an unhappy buyer at Expo 62 as well (#407) and I’m not speaking out on behalf of anyone other than myself or giving legal advice.
Section 7b, near the end of page 4 of my PSA:
“Seller reserves the right to terminate this Agreement on or before January 15, 2008 by written notice to Buyer, and instructions to the Escrow Agent to return the earnest money to Buyer, with any interest that has accrued thereon.
Upon such termination and refund/payment being made to Buyer, neither the Seller nor the Seller’s agents shall be under any further or continuing obligation or liability for moving costs, housing costs, financing costs, loss of financing, increase in interest rate, lost profits, or special, indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages, and Buyer and Seller shall each be released from any and all claims by the the other of any kind of nature.”
My buyer’s agent did tell me that very early versions of the contract may not have had the January 15th provision.
This legalese seems to state that any financing costs (lock in rate payments) are not refundable. That said, everyone was pressuring you into locking in at the earliest opportunity – the site agent, the site lender, your lender, even your buyer’s agent. Luckily, I’m the analyzing type that reads all 15 pages of legalese and saw that I was basically bending myself over to do so before January 15th.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Mike & jac,
Be thankful they didn’t let you close, then sell off the extra units to an investor as apartments. Just one more of the joys of buying pre-sale condos.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Instead of signing away any further rights by accepting the rescission agreement I opted to contact a lawyer.
There are at least two versions of the PSA, one with a specified date of rescission – Jan. 15th – and one without. Fortunately I purchased into Expo 62 early enough to have received the latter contract. BUT, I suspect that Intracorp may have blown this stipulated date as I know I received my rescission agreement on the 18th postmarked – and this is the critical date – the 16th.
Language in the contract stipulates that Intracorp must make a “good-faith” effort to complete the sale – clearly they did not.
The pricing for my unit was offered below market-value. As such, I feel that by failing to close this sale I am out an appreciable sum.
Further, I feel insulted and irritated by Intracorp’s miserly offer of compensation- 10K off my next Intracorp purchase – and the, to date, 4 phone calls asking my fiancée to send in the rescission agreement, the 3 latter calls made after she clearly stated we needed time to review the document.
As such I feel it is wholly appropriate to pursue legal remedy. The attorney I have spoken with is interested in possibly pursuing a class-action suit against Intracorp.
If you are interested in what legal standing your case may have please contact me via email: njcenac@gmail.com and I will pass your information along to my attorney.
In the interest of full disclosure, I happen to work at a condo law firm. This is the firm I’ve gone to for legal advice.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I just wanted to take a second to let everyone know that Intracorp met with me and my fiancée today. Together we came to a satisfactory resolution of our issues with them. We are both now happy with how this situation has worked out.
Nick