Downtown developer sells 77 units in one day at auction
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Los Angeles developer Sonny Astani, who is fighting a weak housing market and a struggling bank in his final push to bring his $300-million downtown condominium project called Concerto to market, sold 77 units at auction on Saturday.
The loft-style units in the six-story building sold for about $400,000, or $375 per square foot, well below the $650 a square foot he expected to get a few years ago when the project on Figueroa and Ninth streets got started, Astani said. By selling all 77 units in the six-story loft building he hopes to raise enough money to finish Concerto’s adjacent 30-story condo tower if he needs it.
The tower is 95% complete, Astani said, but he may not get final construction loans from his lender Corus Bank. The Chicago bank announced this year that it was undercapitalized and in danger of being taken over by federal regulators. His first construction lender, Fremont Investment & Loan, bailed out of commercial real estate lending under pressure from federal regulators, which led him to Corus.
‘I’m battling the economy and I’m battling the banks,’ Astani said.
-- Roger Vincent
