Luxury reaches new heights with new Concord condo development
It’s been several years since the luxury condo development in Eau Claire was announced by Concord Pacific, the Vancouver firm that is building The Concord.
The senior vice-president of sales for Concord Pacific says they have pre-sold a majority of homes in the building and just 33% of suites remain. The developer says they are very encouraged since sales have passed the 50% mark.
This month, the P1 level of the underground parkade is being poured and with 9 to 13 foot ceilings on all four levels, even the garage is a luxury design as no one in North American has spent the time and money to include this extra headroom in a parkade.
One of the small delays in getting the ground broken on this building is the addition flood mitigation work that added 12 months onto the design work for the building’s base. Construction is currently taking place at the podium level with the first occupants scheduled to move in by Christmas 2018.
Phase One of The Concord, situated at the end of 6 St SW by the Peace Bridge, is composed to the 14-storey west tower which will have 105 residences. Phase Two will be another tower with 113 units spread out over 17 storeys.
Those interested in registering for this second phase will be able to Fall 2017.
Murray told the Calgary Real Estate News that his firm is thinking that he worst of the downtown is behind us. They have seen sales rise steadily ever month and Concord Pacific is confident that 2017 will be better than the previous two years.
The 218 residences in the two-tower development on the south banks of the Bow River appeal to what Murray refers to as “high-end” individuals that are looking for a luxury condomiumum in a unique building. They believe that in a city of 1.2 million people that those 218 buyers exist.
Those that have already put a deposit down on Phase One are downsizers and at least 95% of them plan on living in their homes with 5% investors.
One of the first sales when the show suite opened in 2014 was to an anonymous Calgary businessman who purchased a unit for $7 million, the fourth most expensive condo ever to be purchased in the city. The Calgary Herald reported that on a price per square foot basis, it ranks the most high. The buyer has lived and worked in Calgary for a long time and wanted to live downtown. This individual purchased a penthouse suite with nearly 4,000 square feet of living space including a terrace that is the size of a fully detached home at 1,800 square feet. The home owner also enjoys a four-car garage with a hoist so that it can hold as many as 8 vehicles.
Luxury Home Numbers in Calgary
Statistics compiled by the Calgary Real Estate board confirm the uptick in luxury sales for the Calgary market in 2016. Last year there were 608 properties priced over $1 million whereas in 2015 there were 512 sales in that price range. Even so, luxury sales haven’t reached the kind of numbers we saw in 2014 when there were 847 and in 2013 when we saw 726 luxury properties change hands.
So far in 2017, we’re seeing similar numbers to the previous year with 64 home sales in January and February. With March and April figures still to be compiled, the Calgary Real Estate Board’s chief economist says it’s too early to see a trend for 2017.
Ann-Marie Lurie says the board believes several of the super-high end properties moved last year because of deep discounts which finally pushed stalled properties forward. She did admit that price adjustments and discounts are happening again this year. While the different between list and sales price had a 4% variance, some of the $1 million-plus properties saw adjustments of up to 10%.