The developers of an estimated 5,000 downtown Tempe condos are thinking miles outside the box when it comes to wooing potential buyers. "It’s all about exposure," Justin LaMar said.
LaMar is a principal at Kowallis Mackey LaMar Development, the firm behind the 21-story Mosaic building that’s planned at University Drive and Ash Avenue.
That exposure has gone international and upscale. They have ads in the Wall Street Journal. They are handing out fancy salads and beverages at downtown Tempe arts festivals. They are throwing flashy parties at construction sites, complete with DJs and scaffolding climbing.
One developer held a contest in Canada where the winner and a guest were flown out for a weekend of Tempe shopping, eating and touring the condo project.
Ads for Tempe high-rise, mid-rise and low-rise condos are popping up in national and local magazines and newspapers. They are increasingly on radio stations and pictured on gargantuan freeway billboards and at bus stops.
"In Tempe, where there are so many projects announced and you’re trying to distinguish what’s real and what’s not, especially before you go vertical, we’re trying to convince the community that this project is real," LaMar said.
Developers are also splashing project names all over events such as Tempe’s "Music at the Marina" (Brownstones at Tempe) and the Spring Tempe Festival of the Arts (Centerpoint Condominiums). And they are creeping into where we shop by way of mall kiosks.
"It gets my attention because I’m in the market for it (a condo)," said Doug LaCombe, an architect at SmithGroup in Phoenix. "I see them on the street, and on signs for new projects going in."
The ads are an effective tool, said Liz Suto, A Re/Max Integrity Realtor who specializes in selling condos through her Web site www.tempecondomania.com. Suto said she often has clients who come to her interested in a particular project after they saw ads in newspapers or in magazines. "But even more so, is the Internet" she said. "People love doing their own research on the Internet."
Last month, Campus Edge Lofts threw a splashy party on its Apache Boulevard worksite. More than 350 people ate, drank and scaled a 30-foot-high scaffolding to the music of a DJ. Plus, nine people reserved condos. "Our event was to grab the attention of the Valley," said Stuart Scott of Jarson & Jarson Real Estate, the company selling the eight-story project’s 100 units.
SunCor Development, the brawn behind the Hayden Ferry Lakeside development, gave away a trip to Tempe. Frequent interest in the Tempe Town Lake-side condos from Canadian residents triggered the idea, said Randy Levin of SunCor. The contest was publicized through an ad in the Calgary Herald that said, "Enter to win an adventure."
Robin Egler, 46, won the trip. The married mother of two brought her longtime friend, Carol McCarthy. The pair shopped at Arizona Mills mall, dined at Mill Avenue restaurants, saw a comedy show at the Tempe Improv and stayed at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, Egler said. And of course, they toured the Hayden Ferry Lakeside condos.
They said after returning home that they have no plans to purchase one of the condos. "It was an interesting take on salesmanship," Egler said. "All that for cutting out a piece of paper and mailing it in to the newspaper." Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Apr. 11, 2007 12:00 AM
