Last week the press release went out for the sale of 222 Broadway #1505 across the bay at $1,100,000 touting the “First Oakland Million Dollar Condo Since October 2008” and including the following line:
“The last time more than one million dollars was paid for an Oakland condominium was in October 2008, according to the East Bay Association of Realtors.”
Both the Chronicle and Business Times ran stories based on the release but neither appear to have checked the basic premise (or facts). Plugged-in people, however, might recall the sale of 737 Second Street #405 which closed escrow for $1,675,000 (15% under its July 2008 sale price) over in Oakland in June 2009.
But hey, second isn’t so bad and that Second (the real first) was rather sweet.
Good catch Socketsite and kudos for featuring Oakland! Anyway those penthouses at the Ellington in JLS are really sweet. (However the one that sold is not the best of them and I’m very surprised it went for such a high price. Granted the view is spectacular from that particular unit.) I suspect the buyer got some additional benefits such as prepaid HOAs, more parking / storage etc.
I don’t think the building is more than 20% sold however. You can pick up one of the mid floor larger 2BD/2BTH plans for around 550K.
Actually I take my initial post back…this is one of the split level PH floor plans with a patio on each level. Still kinda pricey if you ask me but it is very unique for Oakland to have this type of property even available.
BTW, here’s the floorplan… http://www.the-ellington.com/pdf/floorplans/PH_05.pdf
Speaking of Oakland, anyone know how sales are going at that old gothic revival building, ie The Cathedral Building? Some of those units looked pretty sweet.
lolcat_94123, I noticed that the 12 floor, with those cool windows, is still available (for $895k) at the Cathedral Building. Wonder if someone bought the batcave at the very top?
And FWIW (from the Business Times article on The Ellington): The Ellington’s entrance to the market was delayed by a few years after the original developer sold the project to a new owner, which later returned the property to the lender through foreclosure. The current owner, Union Labor Life Insurance Co., hired the Emerald Fund to manage the property and put it on the market earlier this year.
Lolcat_94123: The condos were marketed by Caldecott Properties. I don’t see anything on their web site for either sale or as rentals. I doubt many (if any) actually sold.
Funny! The eviscerated news corps is reduced to “reporting” P.R. releases from the East Bay Association of Realtors. Also, in light of the bailout, this business times quote verges on double irony:
“People are recognizing that interest rates are going to start going up and […] prices are not going to come down more than they have. So you better buy now.”
Anyway, since Blue Bottle moved their roasting operations to Jack London Square, that’s got to raise property values there 10% (hey, if it works in the Mission…).