It's nice to see these stupid projects in Scottsdale failing one by one now.
The Valley Ho was a dump of a 1950's hotel on a busy street. A definite tear down. But no, during the late great housing ponzi scheme, this eyesore was - PRESTO - a great place for $1 million+ condos!
They took the dumpy 2-story hotel part, applied some spray paint and flat-screen TVs and raised the room rates from $50 to $300 - not that any fool would pay that of course. Fake cool when for the same rate you can stay at the Phoenician. You do the math.
Anyway, after the 2-story hotel, they then built a new horrific cellblock tower - the original 1950s design believe it or not (now that's progress), and put up a $1 million price tag on these tiny little "condotel" rooms. About $900,000 more than any fool would or should pay.
(Check out their laughably predictable website here)
And there here's the story today on what happened. I hope the two people who didn't get out are enjoying their last few days of solvency. And the authorities should be on the lookout for this place to suspiciously burn to the ground one day soon - and I think they already have two good suspects...
When Scottsdale's Hotel Valley Ho announced it would build condominiums on top of the hotel and sell them for about $1 million apiece in December, buyers didn't hesitate to bite. They slapped down money on all 37 condos and formed a waiting list 300 units long.
But now that Phoenix's hyper housing market is slumbering, half of those buyers have pulled out and the waiting list disintegrated. Experts say the phenomenon is playing out nationally, just several months after "condotels" were touted as all the rage.
Jesse Thompson, sales director for the Valley Ho, said the market shift was detrimental to sales. But the hotel considers itself lucky that half of the buyers remained. Two people have moved in and 17 more are in the process of closing.
"There was no turning back," he said. "We started building before the economic climate changed in the real estate market here."
October 13, 2006
Another hilarious (and pathetic) high-end condo project in Scottsdale Arizona crashes (and will burn)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Easy Come Easy Go
They aren't making any more land!
-David Lerah
Regarding the Valley Ho. Is this where the hos that live in the valley conduct their business? Are the condos down the street named Valley Pimp?
i am not in the AZ area but my goodness this is truly unbelievable! how does one go about buying something for a million dollars anyway? and a year from now, after youve been living in the vally ho, will you still feel good that you paid a MILLION DOLLARS for such a thing?
i would never buy a condo at a hotel, but the mid-century architecture for this original hotel is amazing. been there a few times, even just had dinner at the new trader vic's restaurant. it is a beautiful place. but again, i would never buy a condo at this hotel or any other. not even for only 100K.
I live about 4 blocks away and a buddy had their bachelor party there.
The place is a joke. Throw in some plasmas and retro-trendy decorations and suddenly you have a 5-star hotel? The pool was right out of a 3rd rate apartment complex. It's a 1950s shit-motel with a "cool" paint job.
On the balcony I was drunk and laughing about the place, calling it a "motel with marketing". A hipster girl was basking in her "luxury" on the next balcony and overheard me. She slunk down and went back inside.
Is that the back drop for the movie Casino?..
If you look hard enough I think you can see Lucy & Ricky Ricardo waving in the front window.
From the website's pictures, I actually think the design is interesting (and I'm 35 yo, not 90). Might be very different when viewing in person, obviously. In general, though, I don't think there's anything wrong with mid-century modern design, and I think we'd do well to have more "modernist" architecture to balance out the faux 'craftman with pottery barn decor' that characterizes the typical new McMansion here in Seattle. I agree completely with your point that the price is well beyond absurd, but that'll change.
you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still and will always remain a pig.
Yeah
sss
had a nicer dog for 52,000 in 03, but did not want the middleman community hassle, as a fool and their money, are soon parted, what great, inflation at 4%
lemmings stew, redoux
Post a Comment