| Building: | Harbor Square |
| Location: | Bainbridge Island |
| Client: | OPUS NW |
| # of Homes: | 180 |
| Year Completed: | 2007 |
| # of Stories: | 4 stories over one big parking structure in 6 buildings |
Challenge
Our initial client, Washington Partners, came to us in early 2000 to assist them in designing a marketable project for this property they had bought site unseen as part of a 1031 exchange. They were located in Montana and knew very little of our market. This project had been through a number of challenges over 8 years of battles with a fierce neighborhood group who did not want something this dense built on their island. While in design 9/11 occurred and the project went on hold.
In 2003 the client called us and asked us to sell the property. Since the site required one big parking garage and therefore extensive up front cost it was a difficult sell. OPUS NW was new to the condominium market and anxious to find a profitable project. We sold the property to OPUS with the condition we could pre-sell 50 homes prior to their need to close on the property.
Solution
Williams Marketing assisted OPUS in selecting a reputable architecture firm to assist in an extensive redesign so that the project could get the final approvals. Since the density was now zoned the neighborhood group had no viable opposition. Williams worked with the Seller, Washington Partners, to ensure them that allowing OPUS to go on site with pre-sales would benefit them in the event OPUS did not close on the property.
After the redesign was complete Williams Marketing conducted several focus groups on the island and in Seattle. Island agents were apprehensive about a Seattle firm coming to "their island". To date the best year ever on the island was 70 sales in condominium housing throughout the island. In order to create enough absorption for 50 pre-sales prior to OPUS closing on the land Williams Marketing created an extensive national marketing campaign focused on island living in the Pacific Northwest. The campaign relied heavily on a very extensive website drawing visitors to the site through airline magazines and other national magazines we identified as popular with our target markets which included second home buyers in the Midwest and East as well as California. Local buyers from Puget Sound were the easier clientele to reach. Among the unique marketing programs we employed were once a week ferry campaigns for one month. During the heaviest commute times we had a live band and for registering as a VIP for Harbor Square, registrants received several gifts including Harbor Square baseball hats and water bottles. Since we had a captive audience our Thursday events became highly sought after with lines of ferry commuters waiting for a chance to register.
Results
Pre-sales were launched out of an extremely small but well planned sales center one block from the only town on the island, Winslow, in the summer of 2004. The island had never seen a pre-marketing campaign like Harbor Square. The first weekend we were able to sell the 50 homes plus a few. OPUS closed on the property and with excellent sales throughout the campaign were able to build out the entire site rather than the phase approach initially proposed.