The Saga Of The VUE Continues

It was early in March of 2005 when Doug Smith broke the story of The VUE Charlotte, and the enormous size of the project. Wow! 50 stories, spires on top, biometric sensors to read your thumb print instead of using fobs, glass walls with incredible views of a rapidly growing city with construction cranes everywhere.
At the time of the announcement, the market was riding pretty high and continued through 2007.



Irrational Exuberance? Those were heady times, and no one was crying out to reign in the economy. The fall of the economy has been well documented everywhere else, so I won’t go there.
The topic of the day as reported in the Business Journal and the Observer is that some people with contracts on The VUE are giving consideration from walking away from their down payment as opposed to buying a property that has had an erosion of value since the initial commitment.
Had the economy not dropped the way it did, sales per square foot could be between $400—$450 on average for all downtown. If that were the case, the building itself, its location, and the uniqueness of the amenities might be enough to justify some overpaying.
But that is not the case. 2010 to date $ SqFt is near 2004 levels at $220. % of Asking Price is running around 79%.
There is no question that The VUE will be a unique address probably for the next 5 to 10 years, and that may be enough, but current buyers will need to make some hard decisions, as will the developer. Stay tuned.