Cresford Does The Right Thing With MYC
Feb 2010 update: MYC is back! Relaunch coming soon. Contact me for new pricing and new floor plans. Starting from the high $200s.
Cresford is making a very bold move with MYC. They are lowering their prices on all suites-significantly. As in up to $90,000 per unit.
MYC launched with much fanfare, but with terrible timing. They started sales literally the very week that the stock market began to plummet and it was bad economic news followed by worse economic news every day that week back in October ’08.
I was there at the broker’s luncheon event where they announced the broker’s sales event which was to happen a couple weeks later. The luncheon was absolutely packed. Something like 250 brokers and agents were there and it certainly seemed like the project was going to be a massive success and would likely sell out very quickly.
The broker’s sales event took place as scheduled a couple weeks later, and to everyone’s surprise, only a handful of units were sold that night and there were more valet parking attendants than buyers (seriously)!
Prices started at about $500 per square foot and as you reached the higher floors on the south side you were easily paying $600+ per square foot. Resale units on Merton were going in the $400-$500 PSF range and many buyers were baffled at the prices they were seeing at MYC. Most buyers I talked to loved the project and the location especially, but they just could not swallow the prices.
Fast forward to today and the project is only about 35% sold, not even close to the number they need to get the project done relatively on schedule. So Cresford announces they are lowering prices of all suites to the tune of $60-$100 per square foot.
And in a somewhat unprecedented move for a Toronto developer, Cresford has said that they will credit all previous purchasers an amount equivalent to the reduction in price! A savvy PR move that will surely win them some favour with their clients, the broker community, and the public.
So why is Cresford doing this? My thoughts:
- Their construction costs are significantly lower than first budgeted. I was told something like 12% lower.
- They believe strongly in the project and want to get it built. The location is amazing and the architecture is beautiful.
- They understand that they can always raise prices again in the future once they hit their threshold to start construction.
More details to come. Once I have a revised price list, I will try to post it here. For more info, contact me.
