The city of night life has some new residents too

Hollywood is becoming such a center of night life these days, reported Chris Lee and Charlie Amter in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, that Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti expressed concern about it having enough day life.

According to Garcetti, president of the City Council, the main challenge facing the neighborhood is having too much of a good thing after dark. "I announced a year and a half ago that we didn't want any more new clubs," he said. "You can only have so many, because they poach one another's clientele and all of them begin to suffer."

A check of new construction there shows that people are buying and moving into the community. Maybe they just spend the day snoozing.

From Mark Co.'s September Hollywood market overview:

-- Universal Lofts, 67 units, was taking pre-reservations in June, when prices ranged from $975,000 to $1.35 million.

-- The Lofts @ Hollywood and Vine, 60 units, has 28 signed contracts, with an average price of $606,202.

--The W Hollywood, 45 units in Phase I and 98 to come in Phase II, has signed contracts on 41 condos in the first phase, priced from $475,000 to $2.3 million.

-- Sunset Silver Lake has signed contracts on 42 of 43 units, with two bedrooms starting at $629,000 to $739,000.

-- Hollywood Regis has contracts on 95 of 100 units, with one-bedroom flats averaging $500,005 and two bedrooms averaging  $542,219.

-- Broadway Hollywood, signed contracts on 95 of 96, with lofts averaging $1,178,258.

--The Hollywood, signed contracts on 24 of 54 units and list prices averaging $651,000 to $2 million.

Frankly, at those prices, I thought a lot of these new developments might be sitting empty.

-- Lauren Beale

Your thoughts? Comments?

Photo: Revelers throng Las Palmas in Hollywood, which has seen a sharp rise in both its fortunes and local reputation. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[toby]

That's 420 people who will be painfully upside down in 2010.

That's of course if they can get the loans for all those condos.

[Suzi]

This is good news. I hope the loans go through as things have been pretty bad with the Real estate price trends. This can help boost price. Having to watch the value of my house go straight down for two years, it's just horrible.

Sources: http://www.homepricetrend.com

[Tom Lindmark]

Developers are quite adept at getting signed contracts that never close.

[E]

They probably *will* be sitting empty.

Flippers don't live in their condos.

[patient_vulture]

Yeah, it would be nice to know when most of these 'signings' were initiated?

If the properties are far enough upside down when the sale is due, wonder if it would be cheaper to balk on the contract instead?

Certainly so few today will qualify it seems.

[patient_vulture]

"This is good news. I hope the loans go through as things have been pretty bad with the Real estate price trends. This can help boost price. Having to watch the value of my house go straight down for two years, it's just horrible."

Posted by: Suzi

-----------------------

While I don't 'wish' hardship (if any), the facts are that your house was overvalued 2 years ago----sorry. 300% appreciation due to inflated demand (flippers, stated income loans, fraud, etc.) can not and will not sustain.

Even though I advised against buying at the bubble peak to friends, 2 of them still ignored all the facts (not just me whining), and bought about 2 years ago. They are now way upside down with no 'out'. Why did they buy? Same reasons....thought they could not lose, even though they couldn't really afford the properties.

Lessons will be learned....again and again.

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

When Sophocles wrote that the greatest boon was never to have been born, he must have been referring to those condo projects.

By the way, those psuedo-green party goers, to save the planet, to save energy, they should go to bed early and party under the sun. What's wrong with dancing in the daylight?

[Ace]

'Universal Lofts, 67 units, was taking pre-reservations in June, when prices ranged from $975,000 to $1.35 million.'

That is funny. I don't think they sold a single one. They just put up the 'now leasing' sign on the building.

I can't think of a worse place to live than on a little sliver of land between the 101 freeway and Ventura Blvd.... oh, and for only a million?

[Mike T]

"I can't think of a worse place to live than on a little sliver of land between the 101 freeway and Ventura Blvd..."

I was just in LA from Las Vegas for a night at Avalon nightclub, and I noticed that there are apartments under construction right next to the club. That would be a pretty miserable place to live.

[T. Francis]

Universal Lofts went rental a long time ago. They failed to sell a single one of those.

The Regis filled up before the bubble popped. Same with the Broadway, and several other developments you mention.

I guess I'm not really sure what this list is supposed to represent.

[Tim]

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2008/10/29/news/iq_24661752.txt

This story from Las Vegas illustrates the difference between signed contracts and actual sales.