Buyers paid more than $33 million last year for 53 units at the Pinnacle.

The Pinnacle at City Park South last year bucked the trend of super-slow condo sales in the Denver area.

In 2009, buyers paid more than $33 million for units in the Pinnacle, arguably making it the best-selling condo project in the Denver area last year. (Peloton in Boulder actually sold more units, according to an analysis by Hanley Wood Market Intelligence. But the Boulder market is not a direct competitor with the Denver market.)

Since 2007, when sales started at the only high-rise condo project along City Park, buyers have paid about $101 million for 174 units for the two-building community in east Denver.

“Honestly, sales were down some in 2009 for us and everyone else,” said Herb Emmeran, of Chicago-based Equity Marketing, which is in charge of sales and marketing for the only high-rise project along City Park.

“But we probably did better than most,” Emmerman added. “In the good years, which started a few years back, sales were very strong. We continued to sell very well last year. ”

In 2008, 56 units sold for $37 million – only two more than in 2009, but for $4 million more. In other words, the average price of all units sold in 2008 was $660,714, while the average unit sold last year was $611,111.

While overall condo sales in the Denver area fell by 9 percent in 2009 from 2008, according to an analysis of Metrolist data by independent broker Gary Bauer, the Pinnacle’s sales activity was even more remarkable given its price points. In the $600,000 to $699,999 price range, condo closings in the overall metro area fell by 44 percent in 2009 from 2008. And for units priced above $2 million, closed sales volume fell by 80 percent. The Pinnacle has one remaining penthouse unit on the market. The asking price? $2.75 million for 4,646 square feet of unfinished space that spans two stories. The buyer might expect to pump another $1 million or so into finishing it.

Emmerman said the most significant difference between 2009 and previous years was the age of the buyer. “When we started, we had more empty nesters. In the early years, we sold a lot of larger homes in the tower and penthouses in the first tower.”

Last year, 35 percent of the sellers were less than 35-years-old and 46 percent of them had been renters. Empty nesters, many who previously hailed from Park Hill and other nearby neighborhoods, had trouble selling their single-family homes last year, he noted.

Meanwhile, first-time home buyers were invigorated by the $8,000 federal tax credit available to them. ”That helped us maintain our sales pace,” Emmerman said. Still, older home buyers were not totally out of the market. “Sixty five percent of our buyers were over the age of 35.” He said the extension of the first-time home buying tax credit, coupled with the new $6,500 tax credit for some existing owners, also should help sales in the Pinnacle during the first half of the year, before they expire.

While many may think that Pinnacle only has high-end units, condos are available starting at just under $300,000, with other units priced to  $1.2 million.

Since “Day 1,” when the project kicked off about four years ago, the average price of a unit sold has been $370 per square foot, he said. “Our current contracts are averaging about $400 per square foot. We’re not the cheapest out there. But we provide views and a location that no one else can offer.”

And while they have cut the asking prices on some units, they have not slashed them, which has been the case at other projects, he said. He said they are still able to make a profit – not as much as they originally hoped, of course – but at the same time they aren’t destroying the value of the people who bought at the Pinnacle when the overall market was much stronger.

“We wanted to maintain the integrity of the project, while still being profitable,” he said. “We might help some buyers now a little bit more with upgrades.”

When the project, developed by Opus Northwest, first kicked off about four years ago on the site of the former Mercy Hospital, Emmerman said they weren’t sure how well it would be accepted.

“But it has never been an issue of being accepting it; everyone immediately loved it,” Emmerman said. “It’s been a great asset to the neighborhood. Everyone loves that you can just shoot up 17th and it is easy to get to downtown. It’s also an easy drive to I-70.

That’s exactly right, said Debbra Fagan, a broker with Fuller Sotheby’s International Realty. Fagan and her business partner, fellow Fuller broker Wendy Handler, have sold a number of units at the Pinnacle.

“Our clients who have moved into the Pinnacle just love it,” Fagan said. “They think it has a Manhattan-type view. It’s like living over Central Park. And you have everything downtown, all of the 17th Avenue restaurants, and all the new developments along Colfax, including the new Tattered Cover, which is just around the corner. And, of course, everyone loves having the park right there.”

She said most of the buyers at the Pinnacle also checked out some condo developments in downtown, as well as in nearby LoHi, because a number of those projects also offer fantastic views. She said few of her buyers at the Pinnacle looked at suburban projects, such as the Landmark. Typically, buyers at the Landmark are moving from big homes in Cherry Hills or Greenwood Village, and want to stay in that area.

But Dee Chirafisi, co-owner of Kentwood City Properties, said some clients have wanted to see everything out there, in the downtown area or along the southeast suburban corridor. In fact, she has found that very few of her buyers at the Pinnacle seriously considered more low-rise buildings in and around downtown.

“It’s a lifestyle change,” Chirafisi explained. “A lot of high-rise buyers want to see all of the high-rises and decide whether they want to be more urban or more suburban.  They want the lock-and-leave lifestyle, and all the amenities, such as the pool and workout rooms. And with light rail, people who buy at places like the Landmark can quickly and easily get downtown.”

That said, she said no one she has put into the Pinnacle has regretted it.

“It’s a great building,” Chirafisi said. “It’s very well constructed and has a developer with a great reputation behind it. People love the location, especially now with all of the great things happening along Colfax. And those views are just unbelievable and one-of-a-kind.”

Hanley Wood Market Intelligence ranked top condo closings last year by a variety of measures, at the request of InsideRealEstateNews.com. It gathered information from developers and public records.

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