Kennedy Wilson has been tapped to conduct the auction for the remaining 18 units at 5th & Madison.
The minimum bid starts at $195,000 for 808 sq ft one-bedroom units on the 17th & 18th floors. Those were previously priced between $399,000 and $415,000. The highest starting bid is $995,000 for a 1,957 sq ft penthouse that was previously listed at $1,995,000.
The auction will be held on March 28, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt Seattle (721 Pine Street) starting at 1:00 PM. Homes can be viewed at 5th & Madison daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
As with previous auctions, Kennedy Wilson will be hosting a “How to buy at auction” seminar the week prior on Sunday, March 21st. This is a great way to learn about the auction process and participate in a mock auction. I’ve been to a few of these and they’re sort of fun.
For more information, including units available, floor plans and auction documents, please visit: www.5thandMadisonAuction.com
If you need guidance through the auction process, we’re here to help.
March 1st, 2010 at 10:32 am
This will be interesting – an unpublished reserve??? C’mon. Sounds a bit shady to me.
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Like ebay? Generate interest and instigate some bidding to identify buyers’ true cut off pricing?
March 3rd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Kennedy Wilson Owns this building. They selected themselves for the job. There are 18 rented units that they intend to vacate after the unpublished reserve auction. If the bidding does not go as high as they want the prices to be, they will go back to the winning bidders and force them to either accept Kennedy Wilson’s higher price or they will not accept the bid and will try to re-sell it to someone else.. The bid is basically an offer with no guarantee of it being accepted. This is a total waste of the buyers time
March 7th, 2010 at 11:19 am
hank t, you are spot on w/your assessment. these guys are not serious, just fishing to see what nibbles.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:50 am
This is a complete waste of time. They publish the $195k price to create a very low advertised price but there is no way that they will accept it. That should be an indication of the group that you will deal with. Ironically, the reserve price is likely to guarantee that they don’t maximize the price because buyers like me will stay away. I am not interested in ivesting all of my time into this auction only to essentially find myself in the same position vis-a-vis negotiations had there been no auction. They also have high maintenance fees of 60 cents per square foot, which is higher than Escala. When I asked about that I was told “but it is much cheaper than LA!” Huh? I thought this was Seattle.
March 8th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Penelope- Does anyone know what are the homeowners dues for this place?
Well, sounds like everyone thinks this is a trick to get buyers into coming to the auction and the seller won’t be selling them even if the places goes for 195k or the price it starts at.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
The dues run approximately $.61 to $.62 per square foot, which isn’t bad relative to other newer high-rise properties downtown and given the amenities, 24-hr concierge and central hot water. It’s barely higher than Escala and less then others.
I don’t think this is a “trick” in that they are upfront with the fact there is an unpublished reserve price. However, it does create a less than ideal situation for bidders.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Ben, I’m sorry to disagree but the dues are 20% higher than Escala. That translates to over $1,000 per year. I wouldn’t call that “barely” higher. The amenities are the less than most other places. Every place that I know of in Seattle includes central hot water and 24-hr concierge. Most also include gas in that price.
I also disagree that they are upfront about the reserve price. I just looked at the auction web site. I did not see a mention of the reserve price. It is in fine print on some of the brochures that they are handing out. The fact that it is known that there is a reserve price is because the blogs have made that clear. urbnlivin has a whole story warning people about it. That is hardly being up front about it.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Penelope – Thanks for your comment. You’re right, bidders will need to read the brochure to learn about the unpublished reserve price. I don’t particularly like the placement of the information, though there is section about it under the “Auction Day Procedures” heading.
That people are commenting about it, which is a wonderful thing, is probably more about this particular type auction with its unpublished reserves and people’s resentment/dislike of it. If I were looking to buy, I’d be a little skeptical about participating in the auction given the reserve set-up.
Escala’s current revised dues is $.58 cents per square foot, 5th and Madison’s seems to top out at $.62 cents per square foot. That’s only $.04 per square foot higher. Though, if the info I have is dated, please do let me know.
(edited)