In a letter dated January 13, ST Residential advised all home owners they received and accepted an unsolicited bulk sale offer to sell the remaining inventory of the 401-unit The Atlantic condominium located at Atlantic Station in Midtown. According to a source, the purchaser is a well-resepected real estate company located in Miami Beach, Florida – Crescent Heights (this has not been confirmed yet).

ST’s general strategy is to sell homes unit by unit to the public, but according to the letter, the bulk sale is in line with the bottom line pricing for each unit overall. So basically ST Residential was able to get their bottom line pricing and is going to unload the building inventory to another seller.

An affiliate of Miami Beach-based Crescent Heights paid $50.4 million for the remaining 241 units in the Tao condominium in Sunrise back in May last year. They then decided to lease the remaining units, rather than sell them individually. Who knows if this will be the plan for the The Atlantic. The Atlantic has a rental cap of 25% so I think it would be hard to turn the building into rentals.

Large multi-family distressed/bulk condo deals are a good sign that the bottom has been reached and investors are taking advantage of the opportunity in the market. I’m sure we will get more information when the deal is formally announced.

If you have been wanting to go see the newly launched Residences at the W Atlanta Downtown, wait no longer. Starting on March 9th, the condominium will be home to six fabulous designer homes during Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles’ first-ever high rise home tour – High Rise High Style – to benefit The High Museum of Art, Friday, March 9 through Sunday, April 1.

The homes being featured will be different from the current model homes, so be sure to go by and take a look around.

High Rise High Style will feature Kerry Howard (KMH Interiors) for Redefined Home Boutique, Barbara Westbrook (Westbrook Interiors) for Room & Board, William Peace (Peace Design) for Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Susan Ferrier (McAlpine, Booth & Ferrier Interiors) for R Hughes Showroom, Julia Reed for The Mercantile and Michel Boyd (SmithBoyd Interiors) for Bradley Hughes.

The six one- and two-bedroom homes are located on the 19^th floor and are showcased for these designers’ work. The tour will commence Fridays beginning at noon until 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. For additional information explore www.highstyletour.com. (You can purchase tickets online in advance for $18, then $20 after February 1 on the website.)

If you have been reading my quarterly results posts, you will notice in previous periods the sales in the upper ranges were few and far in between. The new data now shows the train has indeed left the station and more buyers are purchasing condos above the $800,000 price range. This is more than double the transactions from last quarter (on my previous list). The results are encouraging and exciting. As a side note, only two transactions on my list were cash and the rest were all financed (lenders are now starting to get comfortable with giving money to buyers in high-end condos).

I have targeted the highest sales above $800,000. Missing from the fourth quarter is Sovereign which had closings in every quarter up to now. But don’t worry, they have a condo under contract for $2,700,000.

1. St Regis Residences Buckhead Unit 1730 | Closed on 10/20 for $3,300,000 (MLS Available Properties)
2. Ritz-Carlton Residences Buckhead Unit 3402 | Closed on 12/1 for $2,414,394 (MLS Available Properties)
   
3. The Mansion on Peachtree Unit 41B | Closed on 11/18/ for $2,150,005 (MLS Available Properties)
4. The Bellingrath Unit 3 | Closed on 11/29 for $1,350,000 (MLS Available Properties)
5. The Brookwood Unit 1901 | Closed on 10/6 for $1,135,700 (MLS Available Properties)
6. Park Avenue Unit 29S | Closed on 12/15 for $1,165,00 (MLS Available Properties)
7. Ritz-Carlton Residences Buckhead Unit 3107 | Closed on 12/14 for $1,113,500 (MLS Available Properties)
8. Regents Park Unit 9 | Closed on 10/21 for $1,050,000 (MLS Available Properties)
9. West Wesley Townhomes Unit 4 | Closed 12/2 for $1,000,000
10. West Wesley Townhomes Unit 3 | Closed 11/2 for $1,000,000
11. West Wesley Townhomes Unit 5 | Closed 10/28 for $990,000
12. West Wesley Townhomes Unit 1 | Closed 11/7 for $980,000 
    
13. The Brookwood Unit 2001 | Closed on 11/11 for $970,000 (MLS Available Properties)
14. Above the Four Seasons Unit 4310 | Closed 12/19 for $919,900 (MLS Available Properties)
15. 2500 Peachtree Unit 704 |Closed on 10/26 for $895,000 (MLS Available Properties)
16. 2500 Peachtree Unit 606 |Closed on 11/29 for $830,000 (MLS Available Properties)
    
17. Ritz-Carlton Residences Buckhead Unit 2304 | Closed on 10/06 for $805,000 (MLS Available Properties)
    
18. Ritz-Carlton Residences Buckhead Unit 2104 | Closed on 12/13 for $799,500 (MLS Available Properties)

Aside from these results, there are 12 Pending Sales in FMLS (First Multiple Listing Service) ranging from $618,000 to $2,700,000 and 209 Pending Sales ranging from $200,000 to $579,900 as of today. So yes, there is activity in the market. This does not include units under contract that are not listed in the MLS, like from new construction developer units. And, as we learned in the past, we can’t count on pending sale because they may or may not close. What we can count on are solid sales.