Earlier this year was just a carryover of what happened last fall, and it was terrible. We went probably six weeks without making one sale. Same amount of advertising, same amount of people on site, almost the same amount of traffic as we had in the heyday, and no sales. People were absolutely afraid of losing their jobs, of everything. People have become a little more confident that the economy is not going to fall apart.
– Enterprise Companies principal Ron Shipka Sr, talking to Crain’s about the differences between the first and second quarters of 2009. Enterprise has sold 66 new units in its Museum Park towers in the past 40 days, compared to none in the first three months of the year, Crain’s reports.
Hmmm….person interviewed has a big stake in the real estate market does not equal unbiased opinion.
I’m going to need a trailer for my grain of salt.
I hope this guy loses his a$$. He personally has destroyed the value of existing lofts/condos in the South Loop with his greed and desire to build more buildings. Please, please let this man and his company lay in the bed that he has made. Thanks for all the bland over-priced units, Mr Shipka.
Buyer confidence is up in the downtown condo market… At 25-30% discounts.
SLD,
I agree he over build but you can’t just blame these guys so many other developers did the same in the South Loop. I would say compare to the other guys Enterprise is the only one that has not drop prices, and if anything they have help keep the median price high in the south loop with the $800,000 condo sales at Museum park ONE. Keep in mind if on October 2nd Chicago would win the Olympics and that’s a big IF then the South Loop would be the hottest neighborhood in Chicago.
Time will tell…
SLD: It’s a bit short-sighted to blame him for the value discrepancies in the South Loop. He wasn’t putting up cramped inexpensive boxes like some other the developers were.
Museum Park buildings have nicer finishes than a number of other new buildings and his have kept their assessment low -with few exceptions.
These buildings were well-planned. I can’t say that for a number of others.
As for ‘bland’- have you looked at any other building in the South Loop? How are these any worse?