Solaria auction leaves some loose ends and claims

The press release just arrived, two days later than promised, and here it is verbatim (don’t worry, it’s not very long):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

REDC HOLDS NEW YORK CITY’S FIRST SUCCESSFUL

HIGH-RISE AUCTION FOR SOLARIA CONDOMINIUM

Close to 1,800 Pre-Registered and 550 in Attendance

New York, NY – November 23, 2009 – Real Estate Disposition, LLC (REDC), the nation’s largest real estate auction firm, conducted the first successful NYC luxury high-rise auction for the Solaria condominium on November 22, 2009, with the developer receiving bids and contracts on all homes.

“This auction was an incredible success,” said Robert Friedman, Chairman of REDC. “The buyers of these luxury condominiums got some amazing deals and the developer was able to sell many homes in just a few hours. We already have more than 21 contracts, with over $17 million in proceeds from auction day, and we expect to sell the building out over the next month in our post-auction effort.  We will announce the final sold amount once the program is complete. ”

Auction of Riverdale’s Solaria ends with a whimper

Don’t miss today’s update!

When the auction started at 1:22 p.m. this was the room.

When the auction ended at 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Sheraton New York Hotel, the remaining hopeful bidders for one of 54 Solaria condos on the block seemed variously dispirited or stubborn despite discounts that averaged 45 percent off the listing prices.

But their mood hardly could have matched that of the condominium’s developer, Joseph Korff of ARC Development, or of the auctioneers, Real Estate Disposition (REDC).  By the anticlimactic close after nearly three and three-quarter hours, even the typically frantic hand gestures and shouts of the auctioneer’s floor personnel had waned to wan facial expressions.

This was the scene when the auction ended at 5:00 p.m.

 

Although people connected with REDC put a happy face on the results, noting how rare it was for a building to sell as many as 54 condos in a matter of hours, rather than years, “at prices within 5-10 percent of retail,” everyone on the sell side had to be disappointed.  Here’s why:

Solaria’s auctioneers fail to get it up very high

Please see today’s update on the auction.

Some 300 individuals showed up for the auction of 54 units at Riverdale’s troubled Solaria condominium for four hours of bidding today.

Although the results failed to impress either me or apparently the roughly 10 percent who were left by the end the auction at a mid-Manhattan hotel, people from the auction company, Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC), said they were pleased.