Buyers on the Road to Mandalay Beach : Colony Condo Project Uses Lotteries to Assure Orderly Sales
The final phase of the Colony at Mandalay Beach at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, opening this weekend, seemingly qualifies for the “that’s how they do things in California” file.
Where else would a lottery drawing be necessary to determine who will be permitted to buy 92 two-bedroom condominiums priced from $179,950 to $349,950?
Lottery for Owners
Since it opened nine months ago, the 440-unit Colony development by Aaron Raznick and Karl Bergheer has sold out all the units available, with sales totaling nearly $65 million, according to Thomas S. Nelson of Colony Real Estate, the sales agent for the project.
The May 17 public lottery was necessary to conclude sales at the ocean-side project in an orderly way, according to Bergheer, president of the Bergheer Co., Santa Ana. It followed by a week a lottery to afford present owners and their friends a chance to buy units in the final phase.
The concluding phase received its final subdivision report on May 19, he added.
Made Design Changes
“A great deal of careful, detailed planning went into these last 92 units,” he explained. “The consequent demand has been so tremendous that we established the lottery in order to accomplish in a fair manner what may well be a one-day sell-out.”
Raznick of Aaron Raznick & Sons Inc., Woodland Hills, said that the final “Ambassador” series of “Villa” units incorporates many suggestions by homeowners at the Colony, including larger decks, laundry rooms in the garages, expanded kitchens, inside access from garages and enhanced landscaping.
“Although it is very costly and highly unusual for a builder to make design changes near the close of development, we have continued our effort to produce the highest quality product at the Colony,” Bergheer said.
Featured in the units, which range in size from 1,250 to 1,600 square feet, are spiral staircases, lofts, skylights, bay windows and separate master suites in some plans. There are four floor plans. Move-ins are expected in November.
Recreational Amenities
Also included in this last phase of development is a new, 3,000-square-foot fitness center, featuring a 25-by-60-foot lap pool, an exercise room, two air-conditioned racquetball courts and an outdoor spa.
The final phase is under construction on land next to the recently completed $34-million Mandalay Beach Resort and Conference Hotel, part of the Embassy Suite chain.
“The hotel and the final phase of condominiums round out an ‘overnight’ success story that took a decade of planning and construction,” according to Colony marketing director Robert Moynier, a vice president of the Bergheer Co.
