A second downtown Raleigh condominium project is reverting to an auction to reduce inventory.

The Residences at Quorum Center announced this morning that it would auction its remaining 14 condos on Sunday, March 20 in the downtown Marriott on Fayetteville Street.

Starting bids for the condos range from $120,000 to $325,000.

On Halloween last year, West, the 17-story condo project in Glenwood South, auctioned off 32 of its units and recorded $8 million in sales in a single day.

The auctions are a response to a downtown marketplace where a handful of condo projects are going after a shrinking number of prospective buyers.

As the sluggish sales environment has dragged on, more and more projects face pressure to reduce inventory.
 

Sunday's auction of 32 condos in West, the 17-story building in downtown Raleigh's Glenwood South, was the latest strategic maneuver in a marketplace where a handful of projects are going after a shrinking number of prospective buyers.

West's developer, Gregg Sandreuter, said after the auction that he likely plans to raise prices after the first of the year once the project commences selling its remaining units.

West essentially made a calculated risk: Instead of continuing to plod along and sell one or two units a month for the foreseeable future, it chose to sell a bulk of units at a discount and take the $8 million in one-day sales.

That money allows West some breathing room. It can now hold off reducing prices with the hope that the market will improve by the spring.

West's competitors are clearly hoping to exploit the auction for their own gain by raising questions about the 170-unit project's financial health.

222 Glenwood ran a full-page ad in the News & Observer on Saturday that said: "After the Auction ... COME SEE WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE ON GLENWOOD SOUTH."

The ad went on to say that 222 Glenwood has sold 70 percent of its units and has paid off its bank.

Another batch of Raleigh condominiums are headed to the auction block.

At the end of this month 36 condos at West, a 17-story project in downtown Raleigh's Glenwood South entertainment district, will be auctioned off.

The auction is an attempt by developer Gregg Sandreuter to reduce inventory in the 170-unit building.

Sandreuter said today the project is not being foreclosed upon and that West is in full compliance on its loan.

Starting bids for the units, which are all one- and two-bedrooms, will range from $95,000 to $260,000.

On West's website, one-bedrooms are listed as starting at $224,000 and two-bedrooms at $300,000.