Silver Spring-based real estate developer Mid-City Urban is putting 30 Alexandria condos up for auction at the end of the month, seeking to purge the remaining unsold units in a 378-unit development. The two- and three-bedroom town house-style condos, part of the Parkside at Alexandria community on North Van Dorn Street, will be set at reserve prices of $225,000 and $275,000, respectively.
The units were renovated in 2005 and converted from rental units to condos. Two-bedroom condos in the community recently sold for $340,000, the company said.
“In the Washington market there has obviously been a paralysis, and we’re just not going to wait for this to be resolved by natural causes,” said Jon Gollinger, CEO of Accelerated Marketing Partners East Coast, which is facilitating the auction for Mid-City Urban. “This is an event marketing technique that is deliberate in its attempt to dislodge a stalemate that’s occurred.”
Although new condo sales have dropped dramatically in the D.C. area during the national housing market downswing of the past two years, sales prices for new condos in the area have stayed fairly steady, indicating that developers are reluctant to lower prices even as units go unsold, according to research by Delta Associates, a local real estate consulting and research firm.
“This auction is actually very good for the market because people are going to speak up and say where the market is,” Gollinger said.
The auction will be held Oct. 28 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center Hotel. Prospective bidders must visit an information center at 1617-A N. Van Dorn St. in Alexandria to register, inspect units and pay deposits prior to the auction.
ALSO READ: So They Tell Me – DC blog to stay up-to-date on this auction
