Colonnade Auctions Condos this Saturday

The Colonnade at Kentlands of Gaithersburg will send to auction 40 of its remaining homes this Saturday, helping to wrap up an under-performing real estate portfolio that the Florida-based developer acquired in 2005, a decision they must still regret. With about 70 units in the 307-unit building still unsold, El-Ad is putting 40 of those condos on the block, having recently shut down its sales office, with minimum bidding prices starting at $169,000. Back in February, El-Ad put the remaining 40 units of its only other local project, the Fitz of Rockville, on the auction block, ending nearly 5 years of sales there. Both the Fitz and Colonnade at Kentlands were developed by Archstone-Smith and built by Donohoe Construction. The Colonnade was designed by the Preston Partnership for its originally intended use as an apartment building, uber- amenitized with a party room, computer room, theater, study, swimming pool, sauna, fitness center, cyber cafe and billiard room. The 10-building compound, with 6-story parking garage, was completed by Archstone in December of 2005 and sold to El-Ad shortly thereafter.

Montgomery County commercial real estate digest 

Rockville Condo Auction: The Fitz Calls it Quits

Apparently four years is enough. Facing what could be more than half a decade of shilling condos in Rockville, the Fitz is calling it quits, and has called in the auctioneers to finish the job. Developers of The Fitz have announced their intention to auction the 40 remaining condos on February 28th, ending sales of the 221-unit condominium that began in early 2005 when the project was converted from an apartment building. Developed originally by Archstone in 2004, the apartment building was purchased by Florida-based Elad in 2005, with sales beginning the same year. Prices that once started in the low $300's for one-bedroom units will be auctioned with an opening bid of $169,900. Pity the buyers that paid in the high $400's for a two-bedroom, two-bath back in 2005. 

Representatives of the real estate developer, which is marketing and selling the units itself, report selling 20 condos in 2008, leaving a two-year inventory at 2008 sales levels, a prospect which must have made even the most Pollyanna of real estate agents gulp. Bidders will need an $85,000 earnest money deposit to earn the keys to their new unit. "The Fitz at Rockville Town Center," located at 501 Hungerford Drive, just outside the geography it takes its name from, was the first condo developed in the then-emerging neighborhood. The Fitz includes a cyber cafe, gas fireplaces, cinema lounge, fitness facility, and "resort-style" outdoor pool, and is walking distance to the Metro. Elad also converted the nearby Colonnade at Kentlands from apartments into condominiums.