Condo market future stirs talk

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	Posted on Wed, Mar. 01, 2006
	Condo market future stirs talk 500 gather to discuss short and long terms BY JENNIFER BJORHUS Pioneer Press Just how packed is the pipeline for condos and town homes in the Twin Cities? By one expert estimate, there are as many as 9,600 condo units in some stage of development in downtown Minneapolis alone. That's more than the population of Detroit Lakes or Lake City. It's a big number even if half the units never get off the dreamer's note pad. But such forecasts in a slowing market helped pack the Condominium and Townhome Summit at the Sheraton in Bloomington on Tuesday. It was standing room only with some 500 local developers, real estate agents, architects and contractors trying to divine what's in store. "Everybody is grappling with a market that is coming into balance from a frenzy," speaker Mary Bujold, president of Maxfield Research and keeper of the 9,600 figure, said in an interview. "Everybody is trying to figure out where in the world the market is going, and nobody has a good handle on it." Retiring baby boomers seeking convenience, urban lifestyles and high prices for single-family homes will support the condo and town home market long-term, said several pros who spoke at the meeting. What's fairly clear, however, is that the number of condo units sold in the Twin Cities will decline from the dramatic spikes in 2004 and 2005, Bujold told the audience. Bujold, who measures condo units committed but not necessarily closed, estimates that this year in downtown Minneapolis about 800 units will be committed, down from 1,168 last year. In St. Paul it will be 500, down from 550 last year. That spells intense competition and marketing, as developers know well. "We've spent a lot of time on a monthly newsletter," said Dan Hunt, president of developer Hunt Associates. Hunt and Pratt Ordway Properties are developing Silver Lake Village, a mixed-use condo complex on the site of the old Apache Plaza mall in St. Anthony Village. They've sold about 45 of 64 units in the first of four buildings to be on the site, and sold about 12 of 66 units in the second. Units range from $175,000 to $525,000. Hunt said they mail the glossy newsletter to every visitor to the sales center who will give an address. The process, he said, "is painstaking." Jennifer Bjorhus can be reached at jbjorhus@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2146.