Building:	Cristalla
Location:	Belltown
Client:	Murray Franklyn
# of Homes:	192
Year Completed:	2005
# of Stories:	24

Challenge

Cristalla was the first condominium high-rise tower built in downtown Seattle in more than a decade when proposed in 2003. The first challenge was to sell the project to lenders who had faced foreclosures in condominium high-rise in the last difficult building cycle.

The second challenge was to reposition the mixed-use office portion that had been designed for the lower five floors of the building. Office use was no longer financially feasible and needed an alternative that made financial sense.

The third challenge was the fact that parcel to the west was zoned for a high-rise tower the same height and size as the subject property. This potential building would block all of the premium west-facing Elliott Bay views, making it difficult to command the pricing needed for the project to be viable.

Solution

The Owner group and Williams Marketing convinced the lender that an aggressive pre-sale marketing campaign would guarantee sell-out or near sell-out upon completion. To prove our claim we found a space to build out a full model home (which was novel in 2003) and a state-of-the-art presentation center from which to generate sales that was the most sophisticated presentation center in the city to date.

There were a number of options on the table for repositioning the office portion of the building. Williams recommended above-grade parking in lieu of office space as one of the options being reviewed to replace the office component. This recommendation made sense financially and became the alternate use that assisted in making the project viable.

With no precedent in the marketplace, Williams negotiated an agreement to secure air rights with the property owner to the West allowing permanent Elliott Bay views and premium pricing for the west-facing homes.

Result

Pre-sale activities combined with the most sophisticated pre-sale center Seattle had ever seen resulted in making Seattle history: 57 sales in the first 14 hours. The campaign was so effective the project was sold out upon completion and the lender gave a commitment to finance the Owners next planned tower.