2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Purchases of condos continue
But sales slow amid football team's woes
Mary Kate Malone and Maddie Hanna
Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: News
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Prompted by rising hotel prices that were costing them $6,000 each year, Notre Dame parents Rick and Terri Martini decided to purchase a condo at New London Lake near Bulla Road two years ago.
The decision proved to be a profitable one. Rick, who lives in Pittsburgh, bought the property just as the off-campus housing market in South Bend was heating up - and his condo has appreciated by 20 percent in 24 months.
Condominiums, townhouses and hotel-condos have been sprouting up around Notre Dame, collectively feeding an investment of more than $200 million to the South Bend community, according to the South Bend Tribune. But a dismal football season and a stagnant housing market have caused some developers to scale back their plans around Notre Dame.
Waterford Estates Lodge opened in fall 2005, after the Brenan Hospitality Management Group purchased the Ramada Inn in South Bend. Mike Brenan, Waterford's general manager and developer, converted the hotel to a condo-hotel - meaning he upgraded the hotel rooms, which people now purchase instead of rent.
In the past two years, Brenan has sold 120 of the 200 units for $100,000 to $140,000 apiece.
But that pace has slowed.
"When we beat Penn State [in September of 2006], the very next day we sold 11 units," Brenan said. "The following week in '06 was the Michigan game, we lost it. The following Sunday we had 10 appointments … and not one of them showed up.
"To say that our ownership base is fickle would be an understatement."
While Brenan is honest about his sales rate - "To be candid, we had forecasted we'd sell 40-50 units this football season, and we've lowered that to 25-30," he said - he's not worried about the future.
Neither is Fred Cooreman of Cooreman Real Estate Group and RE/MAX Irish. Cooreman is the director of sales for Irish Crossing, a still-under-construction townhouse development east of campus. Irish Crossing is 150 yards from campus, Cooreman said, and will have 79 units when it is complete. Seventeen have been sold so far, and 10 of those are occupied.
The decision proved to be a profitable one. Rick, who lives in Pittsburgh, bought the property just as the off-campus housing market in South Bend was heating up - and his condo has appreciated by 20 percent in 24 months.
Condominiums, townhouses and hotel-condos have been sprouting up around Notre Dame, collectively feeding an investment of more than $200 million to the South Bend community, according to the South Bend Tribune. But a dismal football season and a stagnant housing market have caused some developers to scale back their plans around Notre Dame.
Waterford Estates Lodge opened in fall 2005, after the Brenan Hospitality Management Group purchased the Ramada Inn in South Bend. Mike Brenan, Waterford's general manager and developer, converted the hotel to a condo-hotel - meaning he upgraded the hotel rooms, which people now purchase instead of rent.
In the past two years, Brenan has sold 120 of the 200 units for $100,000 to $140,000 apiece.
But that pace has slowed.
"When we beat Penn State [in September of 2006], the very next day we sold 11 units," Brenan said. "The following week in '06 was the Michigan game, we lost it. The following Sunday we had 10 appointments … and not one of them showed up.
"To say that our ownership base is fickle would be an understatement."
While Brenan is honest about his sales rate - "To be candid, we had forecasted we'd sell 40-50 units this football season, and we've lowered that to 25-30," he said - he's not worried about the future.
Neither is Fred Cooreman of Cooreman Real Estate Group and RE/MAX Irish. Cooreman is the director of sales for Irish Crossing, a still-under-construction townhouse development east of campus. Irish Crossing is 150 yards from campus, Cooreman said, and will have 79 units when it is complete. Seventeen have been sold so far, and 10 of those are occupied.