Luxury Homes

Nouvelle at Natick Stages Comeback on Condo Market

The condos connected to the Natick Mall were ridiculed in 2009, when it was built during the economic downtown.

Nouvelle condos are connected to the Natick Mall. Bruce T. Miller

March 23, 2015

2 minutes to read

There was a time when Nouvelle at Natick was a laughing stock. It was the downtown-Boston-style high-rise built over a suburban mall that couldn’t find any buyers.

But seven years after opening, it is Nouvelle condo owners who are having the last laugh. The value of their units has skyrocketed, and the luxury building’s condos have long since sold out.

One three-bedroom, two-bath unit on the 11th floor fetched nearly $800,000 at the end of December, up from $544,000 in 2010, real estate records show.

Other Nouvelle owners, who got in on the ground floor of the tower once scorned as a white elephant, have also pocketed nice gains over the past few years, notes Rhoda Ostrer of Century 21 Commonwealth.

Ostrer should know. She has not only sold several units at Nouvelle, but also liked it so much she bought a condo there in 2009, noting a sense of community that includes and active social committee and pizza parties.

“I kind of refer to myself as the Nouvelle resident realtor,’’ Ostrer said. “There has been a tremendous turnaround over the past several years.’’

Things didn’t look so rosy though in 2009, when luxury condos were suffering amid the Great Recession and there was a collapse in real estate values across the country.

At that time, Nouvelle was newly opened. And the pricing on the condos – including $1.7 million sought for one penthouse – suddenly looked ridiculous at a time when even the downtown Boston condo market was off its game.

General Growth Properties, the company that owns the Natick Mall and built Nouvelle, managed to sell just 37 of the development’s 215 units over the first two years.

Its retail empire reeling amid the downturn, General Growth decided to hire an auction firm in the fall of 2009 to start selling off units.

The aforementioned $1.7 million penthouse sold for $626,000 that year – a discount of more than a million dollars. Other units sold for roughly $250,000, just over half their original asking price.

But Nouvelle has since come roaring back. And once derided, its location connected to the Natick Mall has proven to be a significant selling point, Ostrer said.

A three-bedroom, two-bath condo on the 10th floor sold for $725,000 last fall, up from $455,000 back in 2009. A three-bed, two-bath unit on the seventh floor recently fetched $590,000 – a gain of $40,000 over the last time it sold in 2011.

Meanwhile a three-bedroom, three-bath penthouse is now on the market for nearly $900,000, up from the $569,000 it sold for back in 2009.

When condos come on the market now at Nouvelle, they often draw multiple bids, Ostrer noted.

The Nouvelle condos have the standard luxury package of stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, hardwood floors, and a 24-hour doorman, among other amenities. There is a 1.2-acre rooftop park as well.

Access to one of the largest malls in New England has also been a plus. Nouvelle residents can go for a stroll around the mall through a special entrance.

The ability to get out of the house without getting in a car has been an added selling point after a winter of record-breaking snowstorms and arctic temperatures, Ostrer said.

Access to the region’s major roadways – Nouvelle is just off Route 9 and right around the corner from the onramp to the Massachusetts Turnpike – has been another plus.