Developers now offering cash bonuses
I’ve been wanting to write an in-depth piece about the dire state of the Harlem real estate market for a few weeks now. The only problem is that this time of year time is a precious commodity. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will be able to steal a few minutes out the day to pull together the information I have been receiving, otherwise I will just publish tidbits here and there.
Yesterday I overheard my super talking about the downturn in the context of renters vs. buyers. He announced that the building being completed renovated on 7th Avenue and 143rd Street is slated to be marketed as cooperatives. He has already predicted that they will be converted to rentals. I have to agree with him especially considering the fact that the building is directly across from the Drew Hamilton houses and backed up against a (failing) public school.
This brings me to the press release that landed in my inbox today. In another desperate attempt to fill the excessive empty units that continue to be built in Harlem, one developer is offering to ‘give’ buyers a $300 cash bonus every month for the first year of residency. I don’t know if that tops giving away a free Smart Car but it comes close.
Read the (slightly embellished) details after the jump.
The developers of Beacon Towers, a new cooperative residential development in Harlem, are offering a “stimulus package” to buyers to help cover monthly living expenses, while aiming also to stimulate the local community.
The Beacon Towers Stimulus Package will offer buyers a $300 cash bonus each month for the first year of residency. The monthly bonus can be used to cover the costs of general living expenses such as Metrocards, groceries, furniture or entertainment, can be applied towards the building’s monthly maintenance charges, or for the buyer’s personal savings. The stimulus package will be available on purchases made at Beacon Towers through July 5, 2009.
Dozens of local merchants have been notified by Beacon Towers about the new residential development opening this summer, which will bring an infusion of residents into the neighborhood. Within close proximity to Beacon Towers are local stores and restaurants including specialty bakery Make My Cake, men’s clothing store B. Oyama, Italian restaurant Trattoria Amici, and gym True Control Fitness.
“With so much uncertainty in the economy, everyone has been curbing their spending and we’ve seen a decrease in our business,” said Jimmy Chong, owner of New Riverbend Cleaner. “But when the Beacon Towers residents begin moving in this summer, and with the bonus the developers are offering, we hope this will help bring in customers and stimulate our business. It’s great that the developers of Beacon Towers have kept the local community in mind.”
Beacon Towers is a joint venture between Strategic Development and Construction Group and Lemle & Wolff, Inc., two developers that have been at the forefront of creating mixed use affordable housing developments in New York City for more than 25 years.
“We developed the Beacon Towers project with the intent to help put homeownership in the hands of everyday citizens,” said Frank Anelante, principal of Lemle & Wolff, Inc. the co-sponsor for Beacon Towers. “With this stimulus package, we’re giving buyers a little extra cushion each month, and encouraging them to use the bonus to pay for living expenses, which we hope they will spend in the local community.”
Beacon Towers is being exclusively marketed and sold by Halstead Property Development Marketing. An 8-story newly constructed building at 29 West 138th Street; Beacon Towers is comprised of 54 income-restricted and 19 market-rate cooperative residences, ranging in price from $282,000 – $749,000 for one and two bedroom homes. Construction on the project is complete and will be available for occupancy in Summer 2009. For a full list of available units and floor plans, please visit:http://www.beacontowersliving.com/.
“In addition to the government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and other subsidies available to purchasers, the stimulus package at Beacon Towers is a great incentive for buyers,” said Stephen G. Kliegerman, executive director of Development Marketing at Halstead Property. “This bonus not only benefits the buyer, but the developers are also doing their part to help to stimulate the economy and buoy neighboring businesses in Harlem.”
Located on 138th Street between 5th and Lenox Avenues in one of Harlem’s architecturally and historically significant neighborhoods, Beacon Towers is surrounded by cultural institutions, public and private elementary and secondary schools, high schools, restaurants, and shops. The Harlem River Drive entrance is only one block away and numerous subway and bus lines are accessible within walking distance.
For renderings and floor plans, please visit http://www.beacontowersliving.com or contact Megan Raphael at megan@mediashoppr.com or 212-867-8778 x 232.
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Exactly how dumb to the developers think people are? I must say I don’t blame them, knowing all the people that in ’07 & ’08 obtained mortgages or placed downpayments on Harlem Apartments @ $800, $900, & $1,000 per sq foot.
Funniest thing about Beacon? It’s a lottery driven complex, I know people that were selected, interviewed, could indeed buy at the so called, “inside price” and declined. That’s how nonsensical Harlem asking prices are. They (the prices) lack credence, foundation, and rely on the PT Barnum strategy of a sucker being born every day.
Very few people can qualify to get a mortgage in what the Banks view as fringe markets. I will be sitting on the sidelines…and letting the once “out of reach” 2 bedroom units come to me and my $450K budget. What’s now $700K will be $450K….in 12 – 18 months…just watch.