Hill, The

[fsusurfer]

It's become a quagmire. The units will never sell at this rate. Construction stopped because Canfield can't pay the contractors, so everything around the finished units is a huge mud pit. It will never be finished. The site is ruined because it used up all of the frontage and turned the rest into a mud pit. The quagmire could have been avoided by picking a more reasonable proposal. We got the crappiest out of all of the proposals in the first place. We hate these town homes in the first place. They aspire to be too traditional and they look awkward.

WOW, i remember when they first started working on this nearly FOUR years ago(Summer of 06). I lived in Deep Deuce and they had a sales office there. Sad to see the project took a dirt nap, but not suprised at all.

[lasomeday]

I think the main problem with the Hill is they priced them like they would be in San Fran. (almost)

[Kerry]

I think the main problem with the Hill is they priced them like they would be in San Fran. (almost)

I think that is the biggest problem. They are way over priced for their location. For what they are asking they should be a lot closer to the Canal.

[jbrown84]

I suspect there's a discount for buying any of them,

[Spartan]

I think the main problem with the Hill is they priced them like they would be in San Fran. (almost)

Well they're fixing to be priced like they would be in Lawton. (almost)

[Kerry]

Well they're fixing to be priced like they would be in Lawton. (almost)

If that is true then they will start to sell them.

[betts]

I went by on a walk the other day and they were working on the ones with unfinished exteriors that face west. I wonder if they sold a few and are using the proceeds to finish the other. It definitely looks better than it did, and perhaps with spring coming they'll sell some more. Although I don't love the look of them, I would rather see them full than empty.

[Pete]

How many units have been started?

How many would you say are occupied?

[Steve]

Pete, I'll see if I can do an update. Canfield isn't an easy guy to get to talk about anything, especially when things aren't going well.

[betts]

In their ads in some of the local magazines they show 2 sold and one pending. There are three that appear to be occupied.

[betts]

I did notice, on my recent walks, that they're finishing the exteriors of the units facing the street. That's a good idea, IMO, as I would be reluctant to purchase anything there with those units unfinished on the exterior. I don't know if they're going to move on to the units facing north or not, but I would think it would be a good idea.

[metro]

Well at least Canfield thinks he can attract people with deep pockets from the East Coast, at least that's what he told OCURA when he won the bid for the land. Man that meeting was depressing...especially for all of us who could see this outcome before the land was awarded.

[Pete]

I wonder if this is still controlled by Canfield or if it's now in the hands of a lender or someone else?

[Pete]

In researching the county assessor's site, it looks like four units have been sold.

The price range was from $333,000 to about $370,000. All of them were about 1,650 square feet.

Also, it shows that Canfield's LLC still owns the blocks where development was started (or completed) but OCURA still owns the balance, which is about 2/3 of the property:


http://www.oklahomacounty.org/assess...L+AT+BRICKTOWN

[mheaton76]

The price range was from $333,000 to about $370,000. All of them were about 1,650 square feet.

Way, way overpriced ... at this point anyone who buys is taking a big risk on the future property value. I would want to see a much steeper discount if I were on the market for one.

[Pete]

I wonder if the few buyers to date will have any recourse since it's pretty obvious the share amenities -- like the clubhouse and pool -- will never be built.

I would imagine that if they are finishing the remaining units (there were a total of 32 that were started) they are going to have to drop their asking prices substantially. Again, the existing owners may have a course of action if that is the case.

[betts]

At least the two on the page linked above were sold in the last couple of months. So, I'm sure it's pretty obvious to them that the clubhouse and pool probably won't be built.
Again, I'm not a huge fan of the Hill, I don't really like the location, they're stick built and I don't think the interiors look that expensive so I agree, I don't think I'd pay $200+ a square foot for them. I'd think they should probably be in the $150 a square foot at most.

[Spartan]

Pete, I'll see if I can do an update. Canfield isn't an easy guy to get to talk about anything, especially when things aren't going well.

Well, there's always the old paradigm that "no news is still news," especially with someone like Canfield that won't talk.

[warreng88]

Downtown dreaming
Urban housing developers find reasons for hope
By Brianna Bailey

OKLAHOMA CITY – From the master bedroom in the crown molding-bedecked model home at The Hill at Bricktown, prospective homebuyers have a view of downtown Oklahoma City’s skyline. The windows on the other side of the two-story home on Russell M. Perry Avenue look out onto rows of recently poured concrete foundations where more of the brick town houses are being built.

Construction on the 157-unit, $75 million complex wedged between Bricktown and Interstate 235 stalled when the housing market crashed two years ago. The project’s financing dried up, but resumed late last year.

Downtown’s housing market has cooled in the last few years, but developers are optimistic that demand will grow again as the economy gets better.

The high-end town houses at The Hill, which range in price from $350,000 to $815,000 for 1,650 square feet to 3,700 square feet, are attracting young professionals and empty nesters, said real estate agent Matt Marcacci.

Out of the 24 units at The Hill that have been completed, seven have sold so far, five of them this year. Marcacci said he is pleased with the pace of sales and expects demand for downtown housing to grow as more people get used to the idea.

“Urban living is new to Oklahoma, and people need to be familiarized to it,” Marcacci said.

Downtown housing in the lower price range is faring better in a down housing market than higher-end properties, said developer Pat Garrett.

Garrett is a member of Triangle Development Partners, which has developed several blocks of urban dwellings in the Deep Deuce area.

Sales have been slow in Triangle’s Brownstones at Maywood Park development, Garrett said, where prices start at $645,000 for a 2,371-story, 2.5-story condominium.

However, Triangle’s Second Street Lofts, which are in the $100,000 price range, are faring better, with 26 of the 55 units there selling in less than a year, Garrett said.

About half of the 30 units in Triangle’s Central Avenue Villas have sold, which start at about $187,800 for a 791-square-foot condominium.

“We’d love to see them all going right now, but for this market, it’s really going well,” Garrett said.

Architect Anthony McDermid, principal of TAP Architecture and also a partner in Triangle, believes downtown Oklahoma City still needs more housing and demand will eventually grow, once developers and planners figure out the right formula to recruit new urban dwellers.

“We have not nearly recognized the potential for housing downtown,” McDermid said. “It’s a puzzle we have not been able to solve yet.”

Developer Chuck Wiggin, president of Wiggin Properties, predicts downtown’s housing market will expand once the housing market recovers.

“The housing business is in the dumps, but that’s going to change,” Wiggin said. “Downtown has emerged in the last few years as a legitimate location for people to live and I think that’s a long-term trend with legs. I think it will accelerate over time. Housing looks like it’s a good investment place to be over time more than anything.”

[OUGrad05]

These are overpriced for Oklahoma City.

How many are occupied out of how many total units?

[betts]

These are overpriced for Oklahoma City.

How many are occupied out of how many total units?

Doesn't the article say they've sold five this year? Overpriced means no one will buy them. Price is relative. If people are buying, then they're not necessarily overpriced.

[semisimple]

Prices of $220/sq ft and higher are a joke, as for literally less than half that cost per sq ft you can get a nice house in a nice part of OKC that's 20 minutes or less to downtown. Moreover, downtown OKC hasn't yet gotten to the point of having offering the environment and amenities to charge those kind of prices relative to the rest of the city. I'd love to see these places fill up with residents--which would only serve to spur new development due to a "strong" demand for downtown housing--and I think they would if prices were lower.

[betts]

It may be that builders need these kinds of prices to break even. I don't know that, but I would think that if a builder has a lot of fat built into prices and their houses aren't selling, he or she would drop prices to make sales. If they're not doing that, perhaps their costs are higher than in those $100 per square foot houses 20 minutes away. I know that the materials used in some of the downtown housing are quite a bit nicer than what you see in a house half that price in other parts of the city. I suspect that $100/square foot prices in downtown would require using materials that might not stand the test of time, just as will happen with many of the cheaper houses farther north and south. I've not been very impressed with most of the new construction in Oklahoma City, in terms of quality and durability. We'll see if the current downtown housing withstands the test of time better, but if it does, then perhaps the prices are warranted.

[OUGrad05]

Doesn't the article say they've sold five this year? Overpriced means no one will buy them. Price is relative. If people are buying, then they're not necessarily overpriced.

wow...

[OUGrad05]

It may be that builders need these kinds of prices to break even. I don't know that, but I would think that if a builder has a lot of fat built into prices and their houses aren't selling, he or she would drop prices to make sales. If they're not doing that, perhaps their costs are higher than in those $100 per square foot houses 20 minutes away. I know that the materials used in some of the downtown housing are quite a bit nicer than what you see in a house half that price in other parts of the city. I suspect that $100/square foot prices in downtown would require using materials that might not stand the test of time, just as will happen with many of the cheaper houses farther north and south. I've not been very impressed with most of the new construction in Oklahoma City, in terms of quality and durability. We'll see if the current downtown housing withstands the test of time better, but if it does, then perhaps the prices are warranted.

Good post and it does lead one to believe their costs are high. But the market in OKC makes it quite difficult to sell homes at 200+/sq ft no matter how nice they are.