According to the Associated Press:

One of the hotel’s interim lenders, a private equity firm called LEM Mezzanine, acquired the 270-room hotel for $2 million, according to Dow Jones.

The property had been worth an estimated $285 in October 2006.

Wait. How could that be, it wasn’t even finished construction until last month.

Oh. I see. It’s the W Union Square Hotel, in Manhattan.

Phew.

Dubai World loses control of New York hotel

These were two condos bid on and purchased at the October 17 auction.

Unit #401 was originally listed at $1,692,000 and sold at auction for $1,335,000 (approx $591/SF).

Unit #601 was originally listed at $1,740,000 and sold at auction for $1,370,000 (approx $716/SF).

The project is completed and homeowners have already moved in.

As of today, 19 of the 50 units have been purchased. The remaining homes are listed for sale with Tracy Campion of Campion & Company Fine Homes.

Please contact us for more information and buyer’s agent representation.

The first two of these units have now closed, according to the public record.

Unit #301 was first listed in MLS at $1.6 million in July 2009 and closed last Friday at $1.4 million. It was not one of the ten units listed for sale at the auction. Unit #401, however, was listed; it’s obviously just one floor higher. It was last listed for sale at $1,695,000, had a minimum bid price of $1,075,000, and was believed to have sold at the auction for $1,325,000, although it’s yet to hit the public record.

Unit #301 is listed as having almost 100 square feet more of space but that may simply be a result of estimates used when the properties hit the market, prior to the completion of construction.

It appears that the buyers of #301 purchased two parking spaces; this may explain the higher purchase price when compared to #401. Buyers at auction purchased parking, if needed, outside of the event, I believe.

Meanwhile, Unit #603 closed on November 4, according to the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds. It was originally listed at $2,290,000 and closed last week for $1,585,000. This unit had just over 2,000 square feet, a bit smaller than the others, which led to a higher per-square foot amount. This buyer also purchased two parking spaces.

Thirteen condo listings hit MLSPIN today. They range in price between $1,551,000 and $2,375,000. The lowest-priced unit is a third-floor, 2,180+/- square foot, three bedroom, four full-bath home. The hightest-priced unit is an eight-floor, two-bed, two-bath, 1,760+/- square foot home.

Also, three already-listed condos are now showing under agreement. Their original prices were between $1,525,000 and $1,740,000 although final sales prices may be lower due to repricing, post-auction.

Ten units were sold during an auction, last month. Closings have not yet occurred, according to the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds website.

Tracy Campion of Campion & Company has the listings or contact us for more information and buyer’s agent representation.

UPDATE: THE UNITS PUT INTO MLSPIN APPEAR TO BE THE UNITS THAT WERE AUCTIONED, LAST MONTH. SO, THEY WERE PUT IN FOR RECORD-KEEPING PURPOSES, NOTHING ELSE. THESE ARE NOT “BACK ON THE MARKET” LISTINGS.

The project was unique in that it was a “luxury” development straddling two neighborhoods, the South End and the Back Bay, but not solidly within either, making it a hard sell. More-importantly, the units were large (2,000+/- square feet or more) and priced well-over $1 million, which limited the appeal to “middle-market” buyers in the sub-$1 million price range.

Pre-auction, there was an outpouring of skepticism over the intentions and expectations of the developer, with many suggesting it was a precursor of things to come in the downtown Boston real estate market. Post-auction, the talk became a dull roar. Scott Van Voorhis, who writes a “blog” for Boston.com, said as much:

… [T]he Byrant is just the latest auction of units at new condo projects in the Boston area.

But with the Bryant, the auction action appears to be creeping steadily closer to some of the big new condo towers in downtown Boston.

I have to admit, I skipped reading all the internet gossip as well as the auction, itself.

I wish I hadn’t.

What I didn’t know until this week was who was involved and what actually happened.

Vornado Realty Trust was the developer of the project and they certainly have the deep pockets necessary to ride out this economy (it was reported this week that they have cash reserves of $2.8 billion or so). Vornado brought in the big guns for the auction. In addition to Jon Gollinger of Accelerated Marketing Partners whose company performed auction duties, Vornado employed the services of uber-successful New York broker Louise Sunshine and Paul Sunshine, and their Domineum Global Real Estate Solutions. Tracy Campion of Campion & Company was, and continues to be, the broker of record for all non-auction listings.

It was a star-studded auction event – Ms Sunshine was there as was Vornado Trust chairman himself, Steven Roth! That’s quite some guest list.

If you take a long, hard look at the numbers, it’s hard to see any trend, one way or the other. The developer and his marketers trumpeted the event. Courtesy the New York Daily News:

Real estate history was made last Saturday in Boston’s Back Bay when up to $20 million of luxury homes in the same building were sold in less than an hour. Never before in the United States had an auction for multiple condominiums in one building with minimum bids starting near $1.075 million fetched final prices averaging more than $1.35 million.

True, and not a fact you saw reported anywhere in the Boston-area press.

Those who bought certainly had the money and means to purchase, perhaps all they needed was some sort of impetus to act. The auction may have provided that impetus.

While average and median sales prices in the city drop, there is still a very strong $1 million+ and $2 million+ market.

I don’t think anyone would argue that there’s a glut of buyers, but I feel as though there’s no rush on the part of developers to unload units at fire sale prices. We’ll see what happens during the cold, winter months.