Condo Kitchen and Bath Remodel Options

The Wall Street Journal published an article recently that highlighted some of the unique and innovative things that homeowners are doing to remodel and keep their homes current, whether they are looking to sell now, or in the future. Here are some ideas to keep you thinking.

What have you been doing to your Boston condo?

Cabinets

About 70% of kitchen cabinets installed last year were made of wood, according to the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Clean lines and unusual woods like apple are increasingly being used in contemporary kitchens; manufacturers say traditional buyers are ditching fussy details and opting for dark-stained cabinets intermixed with white ones.

Neff Kitchens ash veneer cabinets, $30,000.

Faucets

Faucets were the most commonly purchased item for kitchen spruce-ups last year, according to the Research Institute for Cooking and Kitchen Intelligence. Retailers say pullouts and specialty faucets such as potfillers are selling well. Brushed nickel and stainless steel are the best-selling finishes, especially in contemporary kitchens; in retro ones, buyers are choosing oil-rubbed bronze, aged pewter and copper.

Moen Showhouse oiled-bronze pot filler. $815.

Lighting

LED under-cabinet lights and chandeliers with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, like American Fluorescent’s Chesterfield and Facet models, are popular now, kitchen designers say; Freedonia Group projects this “advanced-lighting” category will grow 14% annually through 2011. Meanwhile, lights in range hoods are becoming decorative as well as functional: Elica’s Wave looks like, well, waves, while its Star hood resembles a disco ball.

Elica Collection wave light/range hood combination. Price not available.

Appliances

For resale, stainless still rules for its status value, real estate agents say. But some homeowners are opting for easier-to-clean glass-front appliances like Jenn-Air’s, or metallic finishes like copper, titanium, graphite and oiled bronze. (Some makers, like Fratelli Onofri, are showing colored finishes, like burgundy and blue.) Whirlpool Corp. says square shapes are losing ground to more contoured designs.

Jenn-Air floating glass refrigerator $2,949.

Floors

Vinyl is still the best-selling flooring, but it has been losing ground to laminates, ceramic tile and wood. Some vinyls now mimic natural materials: Earthwerks’s vintage planks look like distressed wood, while Stainmaster’s Ocean Crest mimics water-washed stones. Better-made bamboos, once thought to be too soft to use in kitchens, are catching on, too: Teragren says its specially processed Synergy bamboo is twice as hard as red oak.

Synergy bamboo flooring $10-$12 per square foot installed.

Countertops

According to the National Association of Realtors, 23% of home buyers consider granite or similar stone countertops “very important” in a home. Caesarstone’s Concetto is made of semiprecious stones, including agate and jasper. New eco-conscious alternatives include counters made from paper fiber, from companies like KlipTech and Richlite, and recycled glass, by EnviroGLAS and IceStone.

Caesarstone Concetto quartz countertop, $500-$600 per square foot installed.

Battery Wharf Regent Names General Manager

The Regent Boston at Battery Wharf has named François Thomas as the hotel General Manager. Located on Boston’s historic North End waterfront, The Regent Boston Hotel is the newest property in the Regent Hotels & Resorts group, and the company’s first hotel in the Northeast. The Hotel is part of the Battery Wharf 104-unit residential luxury condo development that is slated for occupancy late this year.

François Thomas has a long history of managing successful and elegant hotels, we welcome him to Boston, and wish him well. The Battery Wharf Regent Hotel is scheduled to open in Spring 2008.

PropertyQube Builds Real Estate Community

Propertyqube is a free real estate social community which just launched about two weeks ago. The community site allows homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to share their PropertyLife stories, discuss home improvement projects and connect with and recommend Property Professionals to their trust network. The site allows members to build a network of trusted property resources.

Members of the site can also get answers to property related questions on one of four Conversations Boards, including a dedicated board to Green Living. After looking through the Conversations boards, topics cover the entire real estate lifecycle. Some examples of conversation topics include home improvement return on investment and making your property environmentally friendly.

Here’s a sample homeowner profile.

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For real estate professionals, the site is a good way to reach and promote your services to consumers for free. The professional profiles are designed differently from homeowners where agents can host a featured listing, a website link, a blog link along with contact information. Contractors have the ability to host featured projects. Here is a screenshot of an agent profile.

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An important feature on the site is the different privacy setting controls. All Real Estate Professionals have public profiles displaying the number of connections in their network by user type (ie. 5 contractors, 2 appraisers, etc) but only those connected to the professional can see the actual individuals they are connected with. For homeowners and renters, each PropertyLife story is public but you must be connected to the individual to see their full profile. Photos also have multiple privacy settings.

A recent entry on their blog indicates that there is new functionality coming soon so it should be interesting to see how their platform morphs over time.

125 B Street Lofts Open House

Our Featured Open House of the week is the 125 B Street Lofts in South Boston / Seaport District. An old schoolhouse has been converted into 16 high-end lofts with soaring ceilings, exposed brick and beam, and an old elevator shaft that doubles as an office nook.

Three lofts remain, all corner facing with double exposures, right around 1,100 square feet, and priced from $539,000 to $589,000. Parking is included in the lot adjacent to the building.

The 125 B Street Lofts Open House will take place on Sunday, September 16, 2007 from 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM. If you stop in, let the listing agent know that Boston Condo Guy sent you. For more details, or to submit an offer, please contact us using the link at the top of this page.

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Zero Marlborough Penthouse Sold

For more information on luxury condos currently available for sale at Zero Marlborough, please contact us.

The Boston Courant reported today that the penthouse at Zero Marlborough went under agreement with a list price of $8,355,000 (according the Boston MLS, this actually happened back on February 12, 2007). Four of the available 13 units at the boutique luxury development seated at the foot of the Public Garden are under agreement, with eight units remaining. Still for sale are two to three-bedroom units priced from $1,635,000 to $4,799,000.

Zero Marlborough is currently on schedule for a Summer 2008 completion, similar to its ultra-luxury sister development, the Boston Mandarin Oriental, which is poised for a June 2008 occupancy date.

The Boston Courant spoke with the often quoted Kevin Ohearn, who stated “This is demonstrative…of the overall strength of the downtown (Boston) market, which is reacting contrary to national and state trends.”

Perhaps Kevin read our article from last month, City Center Condo Prices Buck Trend, where we said the exact same thing. Or perhaps Kevin read our Boston Condo Sales Increasing article from July, where we, again, said the exact same thing, namely, many reports that have come out lately are discussing Massachusetts housing statistics, rather than the city of (downtown) Boston itself, note the difference when looking at statistics.

Boston Property Taxes

A client recently inquired about how Boston property taxes are calculated, which is an excellent question. The City of Boston has an Assessing Department that is responsible for accurately determining the value of all real and personal property located within the City for the purpose of taxation. The City takes the assessed value of a condo for instance, and applies a residential tax rate to it to determine the total gross tax bill.

The City of Boston publishes a residential tax rate table to assist in estimating your taxes based on your home’s assessed value. For 2009, for every $1,000 of assessed value in your condo, you are taxed$10.63.

  • 2011 Boston Property Tax Rate: $12.79
  • 2010 Boston Property Tax Rate: $11.88
  • 2009 Boston Property Tax Rate: $10.63
  • 2008 Boston Property Tax Rate: $10.97
  • 2007 Boston Property Tax Rate: $10.99
  • 2006 Boston Property Tax Rate: $11.12

Let’s look at a 2009 example. Say you had a condo that was assessed at a value of $515,000, what would your tax bill look like?

  • First, determine how many thousands are in your assessed value: $515,000 / $1,000 = 515
  • Second, multiply every thousand by the tax rate of $10.63. 515 * $10.63 = $5,474.45

On a Boston condo that is assessed at $515,000, your gross tax bill is estimated to be $5,474.45.

Bear in mind that the City of Boston offers what is called a Residential Tax Exemption for those who occupy their condo as a primary residence. The tax exemption will decrease your yearly tax bill on the order of $1,375.36. Be cognizant that you do need to apply for the exemption on a yearly basis, it will not automatically be given to you.

With the Residential Tax Exemption, what would the tax bill be on your $515,000 condo? $5,474.45 – $1,375.36 = $4,099.09.

Use this information as a rough guide when calculating Boston property taxes – for more information, please contact the City of Boston Assessing Department.

New Channel Center Penthouse Loft For Sale

A new penthouse loft at Channel Center (25 Channel Center) just hit the market yesterday at $1,595,000 ($748.47/square foot). With over 2,100 square feet of living space, gleaming hardwoods, and soaring 21 foot ceilings, this is an exquisite three-bedroom, three-bathroom loft-style condo for sale in Boston’s Seaport District.

This unit has some of the classic features that a discerning loft buyer is seeking:

  • Multiple exposures
  • Channel Center Penthouse floor – dual entrances
  • 21 foot ceilings and 18 foot windows
  • Gas fireplace in the living room and master bedroom
  • Master bath features a glass enclosed shower and a large soaking tub
  • Gourmet kitchen
  • Elevator and concierge building
  • Two (2) garage parking spaces

As we’ve shared with clients, Channel Center, as well as Fort Point Place at 21 Wormwood Street, continue to have at least one or two solid listings that hit the market each month. If you are looking to move into the Seaport District to get in front of the investment wave, this may be your opportunity. Channel Center currently has 11 units on the market, contact us for details on the penthouse featured here, or any of the other units.

See all listings at the Channel Center condo development: Channel Center Listings (11.9 MB PDF).

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285 Columbus Lofts

The former Boston American Red Cross building at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Clarendon Street, on the border of Boston’s Back Bay and South End, is being redeveloped by Boston Residential Group into 63 high-end loft-style condos. Boston Residential Group is no stranger to working on landmark buildings, such as 360 Newbury, and they are quickly moving forward on the conversion of the former eight-story Red Cross building into what they are calling 285 Columbus Lofts.

285 Columbus Boston Lofts

The lofts at 285 Columbus add to a growing conglomerate of high-end new developments within a several block radius, including the Bryant on Columbus, the D4 condos, and the Clarendon Back Bay. 285 Columbus will add 55 market rate (which leads us to believe that there will be 8 affordable units – more information on Boston affordable housing) loft-style condos to the area, ranging in size from 753 square feet to 1,579 square feet, with prices ranging from the high $500’s up to approximately $1,500,000.

The units are slated to include high-end, sophisticated finishes, hardwood floors, large windows and high ceilings. The building has double loaded corridors with front units on Columbus Avenue, back units fronting the Hancock Tower, and back and side units on Clarendon Street. There will be nine (9) units per floor, along with extra storage in the basement.

Parking will be available behind the building at 131 Dartmouth Street – unfortunately, parking will be leased, however, 285 Columbus Lofts is negotiating exclusive long-term rates with the garage. A restaurant (name not announced yet) will occupy the 9,000 square foot commercial space on the ground floor. The tentative occupancy date is June 2008 – matching the Bryant on Columbus, FP3 Boston, and the Boston Mandarin Oriental (it’s going to be a busy June).

For more information on unit statistics, please see the 285 Columbus Lofts page at Boston Condo Guy.

Financial District Broadluxe Condos Back on Track

Just when you thought that Broadluxe was down for the count, it has picked itself up, swept away the dust, and is moving towards a November 2007 completion. The Broadluxe condo development in Boston’s Financial District fell on hard times earlier this year when it was foreclosed upon by TD Banknorth, at which time the building went dormant.

We captured the below picture back in late May 2007, when you could hear crickets on the job site at 99-105 Broad Street.

Broadluxe Boston Financial District Condos

Fast forward to the present, as TD Banknorth recently brought in Union Construction, a Boston-based company, to finish the buildout at the Broadluxe job site. According to sources at Union Construction, construction has resumed and TD Banknorth is paying their bills.

We’ve been on the job for about seven weeks now, and things are going perfectly. 34 units on floors two through six should be done in November,” says the job foreman from Union Construction.

We stopped by the job site, and despite not being let in because our hats were not hard enough, the guys at Union Construction were great. They spent some time talking with us about how the project has been going. Overall, they seem quite upbeat, and heads down on making units available for the November 2007 occupancy date.

The 10 units remaining on floors 7, 8, and 9 were to be left as open loft space, however, an architect has now been brought in to create plans in order to finish the units off. These latter 10 units are scheduled to be finished after the initial November 2007.

The Broadluxe Sales Office main phone number still goes unanswered, and Dana Wedge from TD Banknorth, did not return calls to provide the “owner” perspective. Should you be interested in Broadluxe, please contact us, we would be happy to keep you informed of the status and provide buyer representation in securing a reservation for a unit when TD Banknorth releases them to the market.

Broadluxe will round out the Financial District’s Broad Street, which already is home to Folio Boston and the 65 Broad Street Lofts.

Broadluxe Boston Financial District Condos

Battery Wharf Luxury Waterfront Condos

We have received quite a few requests regarding the luxury condo-hotel development at Battery Wharf on Boston’s Waterfront in the North End – unfortunately, there is not a lot of real time concrete information out in the market on this development, so we thought we’d shed a little light on the subject. Battery Wharf is continuing the tradition sparked by the Intercontinental Boston, the Boston W Hotel & Condos, the Ritz Carlton Towers, and others of a luxury condo-hotel lifestyle (i.e. you have the perks of staying at a five-star hotel, but you also have the feeling of home). The lifestyle and living choice is appealing to a broad spectrum of buyers, anywhere from young professionals to retired couples.

Battery Wharf, which sits at 377 Commercial Street near the foot of the North End’s famed Hanover Street along the Boston Harbor, is a mixed-use development featuring 104 hotel serviced residential condos, a 150-room luxury Regent hotel, an 18,000 square foot spa by Guerlain, a marina, a 7,500 square foot restaurant and bar offering Waterfront views featuring “Cuisine Extraordinaire” by three star Michelin chef Guy Martin, a 24-hour valet parking service available at several pickup and dropoff locations throughout the premise serving the 376-space garage, and a Coast Guard museum. Invite friends to visit via private water taxi service, which serves Boston Logan Airport in 7 minutes, as well as other destinations along the Waterfront.

The exclusive photo below was recently taken on the water in Boston Harbor. You can see that construction is moving along nicely with the development now looking quite similar to the architect’s rendering at the bottom of this post. Water taxi service will be around the corner from the right-hand pier outcropping, with the Coast Guard station being on the far right.

Battery Wharf Condos

Including the Regent Hotel, Battery Wharf will be comprised of four buildings and will feature a 300 linear foot marina. As the Improper Bostonian put it, this is truly luxe living at its finest. Staff at the Battery Wharf development say that condo room-service will even leave a mint on your pillow if you want.

Getting down to brass tax, here is the shakedown of the current status: the buildout of residential condos is approximately 75% complete, of the 104 condos at Battery Wharf, 55 are under Purchase and Sales Agreements, and the 56th unit is going under reservation next week, which means, there is a good selection of floor plans and options still remaining. Still available are units ranging in size from 974 square feet to 2,430 square feet, and in price from $1,150,000 to $3,200,000 – views, floor level, and size typically define the different price points in between.

The development is currently on schedule, units will be released to early buyers sometime during December 2007. For those on the back end of reservations, and for those who reserve now, you can plan for a January or February 2008 occupancy date. The Regent Hotel will aim for an early Spring grand opening, however, a final date has not yet been ironed out, they are, however, announcing the General Manager of the hotel sometime in the next two weeks (see recent Regent Boston Hotel at Battery Wharf General Manager announcement).

For more information, please contact us, we would be happy to arrange a visit to the sales center, and a first-hand look at what they are calling, Utopia Engineered.

Battery Wharf Luxury Waterfront Condos

Battery Wharf Condos