The St Regis Residences (former Whiskey Priest site) | 150 Seaport Blvd | Seaport

As of 3/15. Love the shades of BLUE.
 

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Developer Jon Cronin has agreed to hand over the keys to the St. Regis Residences, the luxury condominium tower on the South Boston waterfront that remains more than one-third empty nearly three years after it opened.

Cottonwood Group, the Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm that holds a mortgage on the 114-unit building, will take control of the property, according to two people familiar with the deal.
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www.bostonglobe.com

Developer Jon Cronin to give up control of troubled St. Regis Residences in the Seaport - The Boston Globe

Mortgage holder Cottonwood Group will take over the 114-unit condo tower, people familiar with the deal said.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
Why Jon Cronin's Ritzy Seaport Condos Flopped.

This should have been a home run.

That’s the refrain I’ve heard from more than one real estate expert. But a mix of construction delays, poor interior design choices, and overly aggressive pricing turned a high-profile debut into one of the city’s biggest real estate flops in years.
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Cronin’s architect, the late Howard Elkus, designed a dramatic twisting exterior that set the building apart from the boring glass boxes in the neighborhood.

But interior design decisions put off some prospective buyers.

The building doesn’t employ a secondary wall system to mask the exterior’s unusual angles. While that left Cronin more square footage to bake into asking prices, the units can have odd spaces that are challenging to furnish. Common areas such as the lobby are less than luxurious.
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An experienced condo developer might not have made those mistakes. Cronin surrounded himself with trusted associates who also lacked luxury market knowledge.

That led to another bad call: overpricing units that don’t face the water. Developers typically discount these units by as much as 50 percent compared with those with direct water views.
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Now the question is how the new owner will move these units. Sure advertising and some incentives, but there will need to be price adjustments if FORTY PERCENT of brand new units remain unsold.

Not sure where this is going but clear market movers resetting a price per sf in the luxury market is more than welcome. It will cascade through the new Ritz at South Station and Winthrop and hopefully mark a disinflation of an insane luxury peak that was built on the back of low interest rates.
 
I don’t expect prices to fall by 50% and we already know luxury is stagnant in Boston. A negative 10-15% move on identical units from a few years ago would be pretty big! Current owners would immediately lose hundreds of thousands in paper wealth if average prices drop from, say $2,500/sf to $2,200/sf. I don’t see how millennium or Winthrop (or the new ritz) stay in that range if that’s where the market goes.
 
Justbuildit said:
I don’t expect prices to fall by 50% and we already know luxury is stagnant in Boston. A negative 10-15% move on identical units from a few years ago would be pretty big! Current owners would immediately lose hundreds of thousands in paper wealth if average prices drop from, say $2,500/sf to $2,200/sf. I don’t see how millennium or Winthrop (or the new ritz) stay in that range if that’s where the market goes.
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Resales so far. Safe to say owners are well aware of how much they’re down at the moment.

12F $1.912m($2126 psf)8/23 $1.75m($1946 psf) 8/24
6C $3.325m($2485) 4/23 $2.5m($1868) 4/25
16E $9.45m($3701) 2/23 $7.25m($2840) 5/25
 
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Justbuildit said:
I don’t expect prices to fall by 50% and we already know luxury is stagnant in Boston. A negative 10-15% move on identical units from a few years ago would be pretty big! Current owners would immediately lose hundreds of thousands in paper wealth if average prices drop from, say $2,500/sf to $2,200/sf. I don’t see how millennium or Winthrop (or the new ritz) stay in that range if that’s where the market goes.
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Some of the units need serious repricing. Because of design mistakes the usable square footage versus listed square footage is much lower in the St. Regis versus Millennium or Winthrop. Also the developer overpriced the units facing away from the water -- there should be a discount for facing other buildings, rather than the harbor.
 
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Looking at the floor plans for some of the units they have left I'm not surprised they are having a hard time moving them. This is a unit facing Seaport Blvd, I'll be honest I've lived in dorm apartments with nicer setups
 
And that's why we typically like box buildings around here.
 
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