Most expensive condos in Buffalo area to hit the housing market
The most expensive group of condominiums ever built in the Buffalo area is about to hit the market.
The 28 upscale residential units –with an average asking price of $777,000 — are atop Avant, the former Dulski Federal Building, in the 200 block of Delaware Avenue downtown. The most expensive of the new residences costs $1.73 million.
Uniland Development Co. of Amherst, the firm behind the $85 million Avant project, admits it is pushing the local real estate envelope.
“We realize these are the highest-priced condos Buffalo has ever seen, but we’re very confident there is a market for them,” said Uniland Vice President Michael J. Montante.
While two of the units have base prices in the mid-$300,000s, 18 of the condos are priced over $500,000, and eight have price tags of more than $1 million.
According to the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors, out of the 10,239 residences of any type sold in Erie and Niagara counties in 2008, only 94 — a scant nine-tenths of 1 percent of all dwellings sold — went for $500,000 or more. Just three condos sold for over a half-million dollars.
“We believe the product will create the demand,” Montante said. “These are a first-of-their-kind in terms of quality and amenities. The price reflects the value and makes them a solid investment.”
Since receiving approval from the state attorney general’s office to begin condo sales, Uniland has signed “a good number” of purchase contracts, according to Montante.
"I don't want to get into all the specifics, but we already have commitments on three units north of $1 million," he said.
Uniland anticipates selling all of the residences within the next 24 to 30 months. Well-heeled “empty nesters” and professionals relocating to Buffalo for downtown corporate jobs and positions at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus are prime sale targets.
The up-market units are located on the top three floors of the 15-story former federal building, affording future residents fantastic views from banks of windows that stretch from floor to ceiling. Swaths of granite countertops, Viking ranges and sophisticated finishes sought by high-end buyers also are standard.
Residents, who will pay common fees ranging from $492 to $1,483 per month, will have access to such on-site perks as enclosed parking, valet guest parking, a fitness center with a pool and conference rooms. A restaurant meal will be just an elevator ride away.
“Because this is going to be a true mixed-use building — with a hotel, restaurant and office suites — residents will have the advantages of lots of services and facilities not available anywhere else in the Buffalo area,” Montante said.
Barbara Baker, a veteran agent with Hunt ERA Real Estate, who has handled some of the area’s largest home transactions, predicts success for the Avant condos.
“There have always been people here with the means and desire to live well,” Baker said. “I applaud [Uniland’s] taking the risk to fill a void in the market. Why shouldn’t we have this here? Not everybody wants vanilla.”
An Embassy Suites hotel will open on the lower seven floors of the building in May; the Damon & Morey law firm will move into two full floors of office space in late spring. The first residential tenants will move in this fall.
The new year is shaping up to be a milestone for condominium sales in Buffalo. In addition to Uniland’s Avant units, Ellicott Development is poised to close deals on a dozen units at its 48-residence Waterfront Place tower on the Buffalo waterfront. Those condos range in price from $350,000 to more than $1 million.
The first of those units sold late last month for just over $400,000, and project manager Tom Fox said Ellicott has purchase contracts on another 28 units, including the building’s $1.2 million penthouse.
Another 200 condos and townhouses are in various stages of the design and approval process, including Queen City Landing, which will see the former Freezer Queen plant on Fuhrmann Boulevard converted to a mix of 150 owner-occupied and leased units.
At Waterfront Village, Waterfront Medical Professionals LLC and Nemo Development LLC have another 50 condos and townhouses in the planning stages for sites off Lakefront Boulevard.
And Uniland continues to tweak its plans for a 22-story, 68-unit luxury condo tower at the former Park Lane restaurant site on Gates Circle.
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