Sawyer Enterprise, the developer of The W Boston has fended off foreclosure, for now. Prudential would love nothing more than to foreclose on the distressed property but Bankruptcy Judge Joan has ruled that Sawyer has a reasonable amount of time to restructure the loan. That said, The W has a few hurdles to overcome. They MUST increase sales from about 1 per month, only 29 units have sold in 27 months, to at least triple that in the coming year or two. Common sense would tell us that the ONLY way to overcome this challenge is to significantly lower their prices. Although folks like to stress the price/ft ratio, recent sales show a very reasonable $575/ft sale on the 18th floor, not many buyers are motivated to pay $850,000 for an obstructed view, one bedroom unit.
As we see the market continue to pick up, we are hopeful that The W pulls out of their slow sales pace by becoming more reasonable in their negotiations. It seems they are as 5 units have gone under agreement in the last six weeks including a $4.5 million dollar penthouse. For a healthy comparison, The Clarendon began their sales process almost simultaneously to The W and is now over 50% sold in the same period with another 5 to 10% under agreement.
LRG Luxury Residential Group | 355 Boylston St, Boston MA 02116 | (617) 233-5800 | |