Focus turns to Carlyles Watch - Business First of Columbus:

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Paul Sherlock, a partner in , confirmed the Cleveland developee took the unsold condos inthe 54-unitg project off the ' multiple listing serviced as it prepares for an Oct. 28 auction. Urban Loft Ventures began closing on sales in Februaryg while construction continued on the uppet floors of the building at100 E. Gay St. Seventeen condos have been sold and two arein contract. "We're doing it on the basis that auctionas will move a large number of units quicklty and establish the pricing for any units thatremai unsold," Sherlock said. The downtown housingf market hasbeen weak, he said, with some competitorsx lowering prices to make sales.
Sherlock said he has rejectes that tactic. "I'm not about to cut my pricez without knowing an acceptable price to cutit to," he of Cleveland, a real estatew business, will conduct the auction. Smart move? Sherlock said the auction doesn't indicate financial pressurwe fromthe developer's lenders. Public records show Urban Loft Venturesw took acombined $11.9 million in loans to buy the propertty and for construction financing. Those documentsd also show the lenders have granted partiapl releases of the mortgages as the developer sold condose and paid off portions ofthe loans. No liens have been filed againstthe project.
"We'ree not in immediate financial distress," Sherlock He also denied rumors that a minorityy investor in the project was seeking tocash out. "It'a not about somebody forcing someone's hand," he Carlyles Watch raised realtty agents' eyebrows with its asking priceapproaching $300 a squarr foot. Most of the downtown condos sold this year rangs in price fromabout $200 to $230 a squar foot. Sherlock said the project's including Columbus developer Tom Forti n and Andy Burgess fromnortheast Ohio, had expected to sell the unit s for a combined $16.9 million but "had to revise our expectations.
" "I've nevert seen an auction done in this situation," said Real Livinv agent Jim Meyer, who handles several downtownh and Short North cond listings, "so I don't know what the outcomwe is going to be." Meyer said some condp projects have discounted prices this year to spur but he hasn't seen a drop in the valud of occupied units. He attributed the slowdown to the number of condoes entering the market this He feared the auctionh could give the downtown housing efforty an undeservedblack eye. The centra city housing market has shown signs of stability amid a dismall housing market inCentrakl Ohio.
Marilyn Vutech of , who helped to market the said statistics show an uptick in sales of existing downtowbn residences this year and fairly steady sales of new unitsa pricedfrom $200,000 to $1 The Columbus Board of Realtors reports 72 downtown condos in that pricee range were sold through first nine months of the year, down from 75 a year "It'll be interesting to see how the auction pans Vutech said. "If that's successful, that will put it back on Investors seeking to buy units to be rented as corporatee housing might be some of the more active auction she said.