When I last spoke to developer Gerry LaCaille in 2007, the original Alex concept reflected the booming condo market – upscale, customized and highly personalized catering to various buyer profiles. Today, it’s another story. The downtown condo market has struggled with the proliferation of high-end condo buildings creating a tough environment in which to bring a new development to market. Fortunately, like Enso and Escala, Volta has repositioned itself to appeal to a larger segment of buyers. Volta will still offer an array of layout and size options appealing to a wide range of buyers but with more standardized finishes allowing it to enter the market at reasonable price points.

Why the name Volta, you ask? Two reasons. First, to provide a fresh start with a new marketing & sales team. Second, it’s a marketing play on the name. The building has been renamed in honor of Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, known for inventing the electric battery. Alessandro pays homage to the project’s original name, Alex. The building is situated just two blocks from the Battery Street tunnel and the center of Volta’s medallion logo bares a likeness of the top of a modern battery.

Volta Condominium features 34 home homes with 20 different floor plans within its compact 8-level design. The ground floor will contain a commercial space and a live/work loft with one-bedroom, one-bedroom + den and two-bedroom homes above ranging in size from 626 to 1,095 square feet. There are two penthouses that will offer soaring 15′ ceiling heights, skylights, spectacular views and large private roof top decks.

The one-bedrooms on the west side and the two-bedroom north facing homes appear to have the most appeal, offering good living space and views. The 4th floor north facing units also have private decks.

The building and home interior features include:

• Two color and finish schemes – Cognac (light) and Slate (dark)
• Quadruple glazed four layer windows for noise reduction
• Vast floor-to-ceiling windows providing ample light and views, in most units
• High ceiling heights, up to 15′ in the penthouses
• Oversized stained wood doors to individual units
• Hardwoods in the entry, hallways and kitchen; carpet in living and bedrooms
• Whirlpool Gold stainless appliances with Bosch and Viking upgrade options
• Custom Euro Concept kitchen cabinetry
• Slab silestone counters with under mount sinks

It’s unfortunate that the living area will be carpeted particularly when many of the homes have an open kitchen / living design. Having hardwoods throughout would provide a more seamless finish. Perhaps that will change as the floors are laid. In order to keep prices down several items are not included with purchase, namely washer and dryers and parking. Aside from the penthouses, which comes with two parking spaces each, parking is available on a first-come, first-served basis for $25,000. At this writing, storage is still being worked out. It may be included with every home or offered as an option.

Prices start from $299,950 for a one-bedroom and range up to $1,095,950 for a large west-facing penthouse shell. The project has applied for FHA approval as 28 of the homes are within FHA’s loan limit. More pricing info to come shortly.

Amenities are limited to the main lobby and a roof top deck, though that helps to keep HOA dues down which is expected to be around $.44 per square foot. The roof deck, located on the east side of the building will include a dog run area and green space.

The sales center is slated to open at the end of April / early May with first occupancy expected in July. Though only a handful of units are presently listed in the MLS, all homes are available for pre-sale purchase.

Website: www.VoltaOnBell.com

Well, here’s your chance to tour over 40 condos units during a progressive Belltown Condo Open House event on Sunday, January 31st. The event runs from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

These are individually owned resale units, representing condominiums throughout Belltown, not some big condo developer promotion. Come tour Studios, One-bedroom and Two-bedroom homes at your leisure. Just download a copy of the map and you’re on your way.

The tour features units at 17 Belltown condominiums including The Parc, Mosler Lofts, Cristalla, Austin Bell, Seattle Heights, Belltown Court, Avenue One, Arbor Place, The Vine, Royal Crest, The Ellington, The Concord and others!

Click image to download and print (PDF):

The auctions for both properties will be held on Sunday, September 27th at the Grand Hyatt Seattle (721 Pine Street). Brix goes first starting at 1:00 PM with Gallery starting later at 6:00 PM. The auctions will be conducted by Accelerated Marketing Partners, who previously handled the auction for the 1707 Boylston condo on Capitol Hill.

There are 40 units available at Brix with the minimum bid starting at $165,000 for an open one bedroom. The Gallery has 43 units available with the minimum starting bid beginning from $195,000. Schnitzer clarified that there are more units available but are only offering 83 through the auction process. Presently, their focus is on the 83 auction units so no home will be available for purchase through normal channels until after the auction concludes.

According to their press release:

The auctions will be conducted mid stream of the properties’ sales campaigns, and are not intended to “liquidate” the remaining inventory, but rather will establish market pricing for the projects.

For more information including the full list of homes available, registration and deposit requirements, please click on the following:

Gallery Condo Auction

Brix Condo Auction

Both auctions have a buyer/agent registration policy. Therefore, if you want to be represented by your own buyer’s agent, then your agent must accompany you on your initial visit to the auction center at both Brix and Gallery. If a buyer visits the auction office without their agent, they may be denied their own representation.

The developer’s other condominium project is The Bravern in Bellevue.

The 2700 Elliott Ave parcel was purchased last year by the Schuster Group, developer of Mosler Lofts, who indicated at the time a desire to develop the property with a “green” condominium building. Recently, they stated to the DJC they are pursuing the design process now in order to be ready for the next development cycle and market upswing.

The parcel is situated adjacent to the Bellora and Klee Condominiums and a development proposal has been floating around since 2002 for this parcel, which has seen ownership changes in 2005 and 2008. Back in 2005 a DPD decision regarding a 14-story, 107-unit proposal was issued to a representative of Trammell Crow Residential.

The design proposal has been added to the Seattle DPD website and can be viewed here (PDF download).

Renderings courtesy of LMN Architects.

Unit #506 is a large SE corner one-bedroom unit with city views and lots of natural light. It features a large open floor plan with bamboo flooring, oversized windows, large closets and a private deck.

The building’s amenities include on-site management, an outdoor pool, fitness center, sauna and a secure lobby entrance. This is a wonderful opportunity to own an urban home located within blocks of everything Seattle has to offer!

Offered at: $269,450
MLS#: 29068166

This property is listed with TSCB’s associate, Craig Allegro.

Gallery – Belltown, recently relocated their sales office into a townhome unit in the Gallery building at 2nd and Broad. They have a couple of model homes staged and should have seven model homes ready shortly. The first five floors are complete and residents started moving-in this past Friday.

I recently toured the property but the sales staff was a bit disheveled and only had keys to one unit, and couldn’t provide access to common amenities. I’ll reserve judgment of the development until I can get back for a comprehensive tour. But, if there was one item I was disappointed with it was heating – baseboard and stand alone forced air wall heaters, in a $600,000 unit no less. There are still assignment opportunities available, just saw one on Craigslist. For more info on Gallery, visit www.liveatgallery.com.

Veer Lofts – South Lake Union, is nearing completion and expects to receive its TCO in the next week or two, with first move-in by the end of the month. Currently, the project is about 60% sold so there’s still a number of options for anyone interesting in pioneering SLU condo living. Visit www.veerlofts.com for more info.

Canal Station – Ballard, hosted an agent event last night, a final push to close out sales in phase two. A recent price reduction may make the development appealing to hesitant buyers with one-bedrooms starting from $265,000 and two-bedrooms from $415,000.

I spoke with a owner in phase one who lamented the falling values, especially now that phase two is priced below phase one. At the present, he’s realizing a decent-sized loss in value, but hopefully the new pricing will entice buyers, leading to a reduction in Ballard’s condo inventory. Visit www.canalstation.com for more info.

1521 – Downtown, expects first move-in to begin this November.

According to Gabriel Grant, HAL’s Investment Manager, “Most downtown residential high rises developed in Seattle over the past few years cater to a narrow and elite demographic. With 2116 Fourth Avenue, we are going in a new direction with smaller units, lower price points, and a lower parking ratio.”

Unique to this project is will be a large scale outdoor projection movie theatre, taking a cue from Fremont’s outdoor movies and Paul Allen’s theatre next door. Interestingly, Paul Allen’s 23-story The Martin condominium project located behind the Cinerama has been on hold during the current market slow down.

Dana Behar, President of HAL Real Estate Investments states “We are very excited about the prospect of designing a new residential tower for downtown Seattle. Though recently many well designed towers have either been entitled or built, we think there is still room to bring something special and unique to downtown.”

HAL Real Estate Investments previoulsy developed the Braeburn and Concord condominiums as well as converted Site 17 and the Newmark Tower.

Illustration by Weber Thompson

Received news this morning that Moda Condominium in Belltown has sold the 40 some units that came back on the market a couple of weeks ago. A number of those units were made available due to buyer financing issues or buyers backing out due to decreases in square footage. I’m told the square footage reduction was the result of city zoning which required greater setback. Nevertheless, Moda provides one of the most affordable choices, especially for new construction, for downtown living and homeownership.

Moda Condos just released a few units in the NWMLS today, providing a sampling of the home plans available. These range from sub-300 sq ft studios to two-bedrooms and are priced between $184,950 and $365,950. Though Moda sold exceptionally well during pre-sales, word on the street is that the mortgage upheaval impacted a few buyers thus making these units available.

Moda has re-opened its sales center on Bell Street between 4th & 3rd Avenues in Belltown. The sales center is open daily, except Wednesdays, from noon to 5 pm.

Occupancy is slated for September.

Schuster’s current plans for the site is a “green” condo project which is zoned to 125′ for residential buildings. No time frame has been provided.

Insignia Towers
The DJC also reported that construction of the Insignia Towers project at 5th between Bell & Battery has been postponed, possibly until 2009. Insignia’s developer, Embassy Development, attributed the sluggish market for their decision.

Escala
As was widely reported earlier this week, Escala announced they’re increasing the prices of their remaining inventory. While the overall adjustment reflects a net increase, sources indicate that they also reduced prices on some of the units the east side of the building.