7 of the most expensive condos in Somerville history are on the way
Several of the units in a new development will rival the most expensive single-family house ever sold in the city.
Real estate developer Gwen Simpkins, the owner of Delaporte Development, has been in the business for 30 years and seems to know what the market wants.
If she’s right this time around, it means Somerville wants spacious condos selling at a price point the city has rarely seen, even for single-family houses.
Simpkins’s newest project at 311 Highland Avenue will have seven units, all of which are single-floor residences with over 2,000 square feet of living space. Three of the condos are listed for $1,595,000 and the rest are all over $1.3 million.
The most expensive home sale ever in Somerville occurred in April 2015 when 32 Foskett Street went for $1,725,000.
Gauging the market
Simpkins is taking her cues from another recent success.
One of her last projects, in 2013 at 82 Dover Street in Somerville, sold all three units in the million dollar range during pre-construction, and she said she could have sold more.
“We did one-level units,’’ Simpkins said. “Part of the reason was it was something we felt was missing in the market. It differentiated us from other projects and we didn’t know exactly how that would be received in the market. There was a lot of demand.’’
Through her past project, she found that large one-level residences, almost in a loft style, were very appealing, especially to an older demographic.
“As far as demographics go it surprised us,’’ she said. “We didn’t start out thinking we would have an older demographic. Two of the units both sold to empty nesters, not elderly but over 50, who were moving from more suburban to more urban. They appreciated the one level, garage parking elevator access.’’
Simpkins said it was not her intent going into the Somerville project to make the units so expensive, but with the high cost of land and the increasing construction costs, it’s how it turned out.
She’s not worried about the high prices though.
“Somerville is hot,’’ she said. “[We are] getting people from other communities who are happy to consider Somerville, but we found on Dover Street that one of the buyers had been looking for more than a year in Cambridge and couldn’t find this set up of one level.’’
The units are now listed for sale, but she said it’s mostly to catch the eye of brokers and that they will be taken off in a few weeks. The building won’t be move-in ready until summer 2016.
“It’s less to think that we are going to get buyers,’’ she said. “But to make the broker community aware that this is in the pipeline.’’
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