Safari Condos Resume Sales
by Edward Gately 11/26/2010
Safari Drive, a luxury-condominium complex along the Arizona Canal north of Camelback Road, is back on track after a long dormancy.
Last week, sales resumed on the 4.8-acre midrise development near the northeastern corner of
Camelback and Scottsdale roads. The seven-building complex was completed in 2007, but after 15 units were sold, sales were halted when the economy went south.
In October 2009, ST Residential acquired all assets of Corus Bank and now owns and manages Safari Drive. ST Residential is a consortium of private-equity groups that include Starwood Capital, TPG Capital, WLR LeFrak and Perry Capital.
ST Residential hired Geoffrey H. Edmunds & Associates to relaunch and market Safari Drive, and Geoffrey H. Edmunds Realty, a sister company, will handle all sales.
All units in the complex have been completed. Safari Drive is on the former site of the Safari Hotel and Resort.
"There's seven buildings and 89 units, with 15 previously sold," said Geoffrey Edmunds, company president. "There's 74 to sell, and we sold two last week. The market has really been going down for the past six months, so it's continued to deteriorate. But there are sales for unique product, so where we're going to compete is with the Waterfront, Optima or another project like ours."
Unit prices start at about $370,000 with three units priced around $1 million. The majority of the units are 1,200 to 2,100 square feet.
"We're giving (buyers) real high-end product at a competitive price for today in a unique location, and we believe there's a market in 2011 for this product," Edmunds said. ST Residential and Edmunds' goal is to have Safari Drive sold out by the end of 2012.
A second, smaller phase is being planned that would be built in front of the project and closer to Scottsdale Road.
Source: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2010/11/26/20101126biz-sr-safari1127.html
Posted at 09:46AM Dec 01, 2010 by Louisa Ward & Robyn Viktor in General | Comments[0]
