Ok, we’re joking about the baby, but it’s worth asking, considering the raft of incentives American Invsco is offering on remaining penthouses and townhomes at the 448-unit conversion River City, where sales opened way back in 2001.
Incentives at River City (photo courtesy of Truly Free Stock) include: free assessments for three years, one year’s real estate taxes, three years of outdoor parking and $15,000 to $40,000 in free upgrades.
“After closing, buyers will also receive a $10,000 bonus check which they can use for anything (what did we tell you?),” says American Invsco sales manager Joey Clements. Five penthouses and 11 townhomes remain for sale. The penthouses are on floors 12 through 15 of the 19-story building and are priced from the $540s to the $720s. Townhomes range from the $510s to the $610s.
I’d like to say this will help, but somehow I doubt it. River City seems to be one of those places that people either LOVE or HATE at first sight, and no amount of incentives, of lack of same, can change their minds. As a Realtor I have talked-up River City to many people over the years, both renters and buyers, and it all comes down to their own “first impression” of the place. Things may change once some plans get set-in-stone for the vast empty space just north of RC and people will have a good idea of just who their neighbor will be.And maybe some new upscale on-site retail might help.
American Invesco creeps me out (just a feeling, thats all).
As for River City… I am not going to say that there aren’t some nice units there, but the place has always been a difficult “sell”. American Invesco went in with high expectations, and priced the units too high from the beginning, and then spent what I am sure amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisements to sell them. (Kinda like Park Place on W Irving Park Rd.) Only, nobody really wants them.
I feel sorry for the buyers there now because they haven’t really made much in equity, and if they want to sell their unit, it will sit on the market forever because there are so many others available. You can’t give these homes away.
It also doesn’t help that the lobby looks like it did 20 years ago, only older, worn and tattered. American Invesco has done little to make the lobby feel inviting, and walking around, it is easy to see a lot of diferred maintenance. That is a problem.
I think with the influx of new developments in the area, things will iron out in the long run. But, the units there will never have the same market value as the newer and nicer units being built. It will always be a less expensive option.
Good grief!! They still haven’t sold this thing out after 6 years!! You’ve gotta wonder whether the problem is actually the converter and not the project itself!!
I think I’ve said this before, but a friend lived in a building they management before conversion and didn’t maintain it. I wonder if they’ve got a reputation beyond former tenants….
Why don’t they dramatically lower the prices, sell them to rental investors who will rent them out as Section 8 apartments? Problem solved!
Their prices aren’t that bad from what I remember, but what turned me off was that their assessments are ridiculously high compared to other buildings in the South Loop.
That building is an albatross around Invsco’s neck. They way overpaid for it and have to ask for high prices to meet their proforma. They jacked the prices even more to offer their “3 year investment” package. Actually, the prices they quote sound like what they were 2 and a half years ago, so maybe they’ve moderated their price increases.
If you’re a broker, look up the building on MLS, tons of units listed by existing owners. I know someone who rents there, he said he knows of multiple foreclosures on units owned by people who got sucked in by Invsco’s hard-sell and couldn’t hack the carry.
If they’ve really sold that many units, then they have already turned over to the home owners association. The building strikes me as a huge special assessment waiting to happen.
The developers have built and built….and they’ve run out of people to whom they can sell $400K+ condos. Especially dump $400K+ condos in undesirable buildings.
“If you buy it, they will buy” isn’t working anymore. Time to lower prices…
“If you build it, they will buy.” Sorry, it’s been a long day.
Scenes in the 2006 film “Stranger Than Fiction” were filmed inside a unit at River City. The movie makers probably got a good deal on that one.
Will Ferrell was the star, and his characer had a co-worker/friend who lived in River City.
That character, the co-worker, was played by Tony Hale, who previously starred in the appropriately titled television series “Arrested Development.”
The penthouses are on floors 12 through 15 of the 19-story building and are priced from the $540s to the $720s. Townhomes range from the $510s to the $610s.
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oh is that all?
Odujoko said:
Why don’t they dramatically lower the prices, sell them to rental investors who will rent them out as Section 8 apartments? Problem solved!
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THAT’S A GREAT IDEA! I’m sure the people that bought units for MORE THAN HALF A MILLION DOLLARS would just love it!
> THAT’S A GREAT IDEA! I’m sure the people that bought units for MORE THAN HALF A MILLION DOLLARS would just love it!
Yeah that’s the risk in multifamily living, is it not?
It is, unless you buy a co-op!