Seattle PI, Sales centers give you a feel for your condo before it’s even built:
Condominium sales centers are becoming an over-the-top part of Seattle’s evolving construction boom as developers go to increasingly elaborate lengths to target buyers for buildings that don’t exist yet.
A few years ago, sales centers featured wallboards with little stone or wood squares to show finish options, and maybe a piece of cabinetry, said Richard Adatto, whose company, Adatto Construction, built 10 to 15 local centers.
Then they moved onto “vignettes,” which at first offered sections of a kitchen, then whole bathrooms and kitchens, then entire units, Adatto said. “A person can walk in and say, ‘I got it.’ ”
These days, developers spend $500,000 to $1 million on sales centers, according to Bryon Ziegler, developer representative for Williams Marketing, which represents various condo projects, including Brix, on Capitol Hill.
$500,000 to $1 million! Yikes. If we assume there are 150 units that’s $3-$7k/unit. I don’t know about other customers but I’d rather save a few thousand dollars then have them build out entire units in the sales center.
(I don’t read the local papers so if you see condo articles in the papers be sure to forward!)
Popularity: 2% [?]
6 responses so far ↓
1 uptown // Mar 3, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Many people seem to be unable to visualise what a unit would look like without the use of tools like these. Using virtual reality might bring the cost down, but might not be as effective. Developers need to be able to sell these condos in a short time frame because of the costs they are carrying, and don’t have the ability to slow production like those who are building SFHs.
2 EconE // Mar 3, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Sure…a novel idea…pretty expensive marketing however.
I think that they should just go by the old time proven marketing method of “Sex sells”.
after all…if the cost is 3-7k per unit…think about how much sex could be provided to the individual owner at those prices.
Oh…wait…we’re not in Nevada.
ne’er mind.
3 kh // Mar 3, 2007 at 7:58 pm
i’ve been on the design team for a handful of sales centers and while i think they can sometimes get a little over the top, there is extreme value in them. as mentioned in the article, “people still want to see and touch something and talk to a live person before buying.” the level of the sales center is usually directly related to the price point of the project. if you’re selling a million+ condo you need to stand out.
i think the frustrations with projects such as trace (where you can’t even touch the finishes for months after you sign a reservation), could have been prevented had they opened a sales center (even a small one) when the project was announced. you can really get a feel for the quality of the project by standing in a model kitchen or bath. those are the two main spaces that people expect to see before they throw thousands into a reservation in a pre-sale project. i’ve toured almost every sales center in seattle and after a while they all start to look the same… as an interior designer, that is what we’re trying to prevent when designing the next one.
in the article, adatto mentioned “there’s been a bit of an arms race as condo developers try to one-up the last guy’s sales center.” this is where i think developers can go overboard, because they want a “wow factor” in their sales center. the most important thing is that the “wow factor” is done tastefully. in my opinion, special effects can get out of control turning a benefit into a distraction.
4 jo // Mar 3, 2007 at 10:15 pm
i bought at olive8 and the sales center totally sold me
it does work…
5 td // Mar 22, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Typical budget for high end is about 10k/door for marketing overall.
6 urbnlivn - A Seattle condo new construction real estate blog » Escala instead of the Condo Expo // May 19, 2007 at 6:14 pm
[…] Going back to Sales centers cost how much!? now that Escala’s has opened - if we pitted the two sales centers against each other Escala definitely wins on size but I like the organization and flow of the Discover SLU more which still gets my vote as best sales center in Seattle. May 19th 2007 Posted to Escala […]
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