Colfax Place South Bend, IndianaThe Colfax Place has been trying to sell luxury condominiums in downtown South Bend for some time, securing commitments for three of about twelve planned condos. Now the developer, Holladay Properties, is looking to sell the entire project.

For $1,900,000 you’ll get the 28,674 square foot building, the .14 acre lot, floorplans, siteplans, marketing, engineering/architectural plans and two finished model units on the fifth floor.

The individual units are still listed in the MLS, with prices from $269,000 to $449,000. Caveat emptor.

25 Responses

  1. No surprise I suppose since I couldn’t figure out the market for these at those prices in that location with those monthly association fees and of course the downtown property taxes…

  2. Greetings! Stadium Village is NOT for sale. We are scheduled for full construction to start in the early fall. All of the units will be available for the 2008 Football season. We poured the foundation early to give people a sense of where their units would be located. Stadium Village is currently 50% sold with buyers from around the country – one could still be yours. GO ND!

  3. According to the StadiumVillage.com website, Stadium Village is supposed to be composed of Townhomes, 100+ unit condo-hotel, and some lofts too. Unfortunately, all of that is not going to happen…and that is indisputable. Maybe the townhomes will get built…eventually… but not in the fall of 2007 as advertised, but the condo-hotel won’t be built. From what I heard, the townhome property was for sale….and I can confirm that 100%. Maybe the poster above ought to double check what is going on there or he is being kept out of the loop.

  4. The Woodbridge Villas development had been listed on loop.net for sale for the remainder of the project for around a year too. Four homes were built there, one new home has been on the market for 7+ months and a foundation was poured last year with no activity. That means there are still 13 lots + the foundation lot for sale. Not sure what is going on there…the homes are quality built and with a pleasing exterior but could sell quicker if the prices were a bit lower, say 10% lower.

  5. I looked at the Colfax condos. Nice finishes, but it’s just too expensive for the area. They’re really trying to sell the idea of urban living, but there’s just not much going on downtown right now. It might have worked a bit better if they were able to swing a riverside location, but as it is, you can get a lot more just a few minutes away for the same price.

  6. Anonymous: No need for me to double check what is going on with Stadium Village Homes – I am one of the partners developing it. Please refrain from giving “facts” that you state are confirmed. A libel suit is difficult to defend and this blog, along with your IP address, are fantastic record keepers.

    To clarify: Stadium Village is two separate projects: Stadium Village Homes (12 Luxury town homes) AND a Stadium Village Lofts (a condo/hotel). The Lofts have hit some legal roadblocks, but the 12 town homes are ready to build. I personally invite you, anonymous, to share a beer with us at our tailgate during the first home game of next year in the parking lot of Stadium Village Homes.
    GO ND!

  7. Of course these are all going to flop! South Bend has not seen gentrification yet. The people who would live downtown as it now stands (run down) will and can only reasonably pay $75K-200K for condos and not $300-400K per unit in buildings that probably did not cost developers that much. What were the dreamed for margins on these places! People can see a rip off a mile away. What were they thinking? Why pay that much when you can get a place in Chicago for that much.

    How does it work? Downtown buildings are sold cheap (and most of these probably were), and the developers could have built things that responded to the market that exists in SB for urban livers. Men and women between 25-40 earning less than $100,000 per year, and most making less than $40,000 per year if single are the people who will live in these areas. Condos only help if people live in them M-F which leads groceries, cafes, and other services to open or stay open later. Once these “cool” urban people move in, then and only then, will the luxury market have a chance. These are the people who are the first wave of “gentrification” everywhere else it has never been the imagined target group of supposedly dumb and rich ND weekend warriors (if they are rich, they are probably not too dumb).

    Look at cities with 800K -2M people with downtowns as crummy as ours (no groceries, just a few places to go, parking lots where wonderful buildings once stood) and you will see condos for $75,000 – $200,000 much like they were in the late 1990s on Chicago’s north side before the boom! There was no boom here, just a mirage.

    What is the problem? These local developers have to get a brain and stop trying to rip people off.

  8. Regarding the posts on Stadium Village, it is silly to say “We poured the foundation early to give people a sense of where their units would be located.” To me that is BS, most builders would simply stake the building corners for that, not pour a foundation then not begin construction. If there was a delay, just say there was a delay because of “blank.” Construction delays happen all the time, so no big deal, just disclose why and stop the dog and pony show. The last I checked, a building permit had not been issued, just a foundation permit. I also seriously doubt that 50% of the townhomes are sold and under signed contracts. I had asked to see a purchase contract for this project since I was interested, but the guy didn’t even have one for review. Nor other documents that I would need to make an informed purchase decision.

    Moreover, I was told there was 12 townhomes, then 14. Is it back to 12 now? No big deal, since plans can change.

    Also the lofts/condo-hotel/”whatever it is currently being called” has/had more than “legal roadblocks”. I don’t consider not owning the land a legal roadblock…I call that something else…and that is a lot worse than “libel.”

    Personally, I would be hesitant to buy from a builder/developer who threatens legal action over a post or two from people who genuinely want accurate information regarding area projects to make purchase decisions. The better course is to just be open and forthright as to the reasons for delays…they happen in construction so just fully disclose why. The FACT is Stadium Village Townhomes were to be ready this fall, but they will not be.

    Other than that, good luck and best wishes to all builders and developers in the area. I hope all the projects are a huge success and our local economy grows. There are many projects to choose from now, so all buyers should do their homework to make informed decisions.

  9. Maybe Stadium Village Townhomes had to pour a foundation to know where their property is. According to their website and their print ads, they depict, in full color renderings, their development on the corner of Vaness and Burdette when in FACT it isn’t on the corner, it begins around 120 feet north of the corner on Burdette (not Vaness) according to the plat books. Of course, their website (www.stadiumvillagehomes.com), web search caches, and print ads are “fantastic record keepers” too of mistatements of material facts…such as location, location, location! They don’t own the property on the corner on Vaness according to the county recorder’s office records. Fortunately, it does appear that their first foundation is in the correct location since it is about 130 feet from the corner and facing the correct direction. I know I was confused when I saw their renderings on their website.

    What a joke.

  10. I pulled up some of the public filing documents on Stadium Village. For the townhome project, the annexation and rezoning documents all specify the east half of lots 2 and 3 of the Vaness Plat. Neither of which include the corner lot on Vaness St. and Burdette St. as depicted on the Stadium Village website. So, yes, the color drawings and ads would appear to be misleading and incorrect as to the specific location of the townhomes in the Stadium Village project. That is a pretty big oppps. Make sure you open up that beer on the correct property next fall.

  11. Anon: Great work! You have managed to spend your time helping to promote our project. It takes serious skill to pull up plat maps and public documents online – kudos! Please, let me help you out with your rant so you can sound half educated.

    Nowhere on stadiumvillagehomes.com or any other brochure do we promote “owning the corner of Vaness and Burdette”. We give general directions with a large star as to where the project will lay. If we placed the star too close to the intersection and you can’t see we are giving GENERAL directions, we are truly sorry.

    What did you miss in the Future Plan section of our website that everyone else did not? Do you see anything that we are claiming to develop the corner of Burdette? Please take a look again:

    stadiumvillagehomes.com/futureplan.html

    Here is my wild, uneducated guess, on who you might be:
    1 Employee from another project
    2 Disgruntled homeowner in the area
    3 Potential buyer that could not secure and earnest deposit
    4 A person with way too much time on their hands

    My money is on 4

    The offer is still open to share a beer…
    GO ND!

  12. Answer: A potential buyer with plenty of money wanting more information…preferably accurate so I don’t get taken by dishonest characters like what has happened to many in real estate around the country.

    Follow up: Check out the homepage. It clearly depicts the project directly on the corner with frontage on both Vaness and Burdette. Check it out, I doubt if anyone would disagree with me.

    Good luck, but as now, with that hostile attitude and accusations there is no way would I buy in Stadium Village. Good luck with your legal issues, maybe the beer will help. But I doubt it.

  13. When the dust clears and these places are sold, perhaps new developers will come in and sell condos people can afford with a few luxury units. Hopefully the local politicians will do what has been done in other places to stimulate growth — support downtown mixed income development!

    Blow horns and football cheers don’t change the local economic profile. Rule #1 in any business: sell to the market in front of you, not the one you build out of Leprechaun dust and hype. A second tier football team does not a field of dreams make.

  14. I also really like the color entrance elevation which depicts the stadium, library, and Golden Dome all in prominent view as you look down from the entrance of Stadium Village Townhomes. Unfortunately, that is all fiction unless of course ND is doing to move the Golden Dome! LOL

    The reality isn’t the “incredible views” as stated on the stadiumvillage.com website. It just gets funnier and funnier. I guess they took a bit of artistic license with the color renderings. There is a difference between “puffery” and misleading…

  15. Update on the Vaness and Burdette corner lot. A new septic field is going in there. Yep, that lot will be full of sh**, kinda like the two lots to the north. LOL (come on, that was funny)

  16. The ND community is basically just plain weird….the area is not a real city, it’s broken up by the have v. the have nots. The price is jacked because folks “love” ND like fanatics….get a life folks. Oh…and another thing I noticed is the area priced to deal enable segregation. Take Granger for example; it’s a pretend village who’s prices area hiked up to keep the minorities out. Michiana is lame, filled with lame people.

  17. Certainly there are people who identify with Notre Dame to a point that is surprising. However, to paint all of South Bend with that brush is a stretch, let alone all of Michiana. It’s a subculture and you could easily spend your life in South Bend with minimal notice that Notre Dame exists if you chose to.

    As to wealth discrepancies, I’ve lived in seven cities on three continents and never found a place that doesn’t have both rich and poor people. That’s a social issue that you can’t assign to Notre Dame.

    Granger is a unique place for the area. However, in my opinion, it’s an area that grew rapidly with little planning and is now struggling to serve its unexpected population. It is 94.1% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
    http://censtats.census.gov/data/IN/1601828800.pdf . But while that area is lacking in the benefits that more diverse communities enjoy, the prices are high because of supply and demand. Many people want a new home but don’t want to pay South Bend or Mishawaka’s city tax rates. That led them to build or buy in the unincorporated areas of the county that are still within striking distance of city amenities, especially Granger. There is no plan to control prices in Granger or elsewhere. I’m sure 146 homeowners in Harris Township (Granger) who are trying to sell their homes would gladly hand their keys to anyone who pays near their asking price.

  18. I have too much time on my hands too, so I’ll weigh in. The color picture on the Stadium Village home page does show the project at the corner as if it is the corner lot on Vaness Street. So, yes, that is not accurate compared to the site plan on shown on the other web page. It looks to be a very tall building.

  19. The condo-hotel illustrations on the Stadium Village website are “misleading” too. They show FIVE story buildings in some sort of urbanish setting with what appears to be commercial stores on the first floor. The developer, John Roy, must have just pulled this drawing from another website or something since those properties along Vaness were annexted into the city for mixed use with the restrictions there be NO commercial and THREE story height limitaion. So again, looks like the Stadium Village website is a bunch of bull which makes it now surprise that the project has run into “some legal roadblocks.” Caveat emptor would seem to apply here too…

  20. Well, if Colfax would lower the prices for young people like myself, 25, making just under 40,000/yr, they would’ve sold more units! My parents, who can afford to live there, are more interested in riverfront property with a few acres of land. Too bad!

  21. (To Phil) I think so. I have friends/family who have graduated from Purdue, Notre Dame, IU, even grad schools in New York and Georgia, and a lot of them chose to not return to the area because there aren’t a lot of great apartment choices, and there aren’t many condos/townhomes at decent prices for recent college grads. Keenan Court is probably the most reasonable I’ve found. I believe that’s a Remax/Irish development. It’s really nice. I just recently applied to a number of law schools, so purchasing is going on hold a little longer. But I definitely plan to live and work in South Bend after law school. Hopefully by then, I’ll have more options. I’d much rather pay an association fee, than have to find time to do landscaping/or shovel snow:-) Condos/Townhomes are more convenient.

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