PORT LUDLOW — The sluggish real estate market has caused an ambitious plan to build 80 condominiums to proceed at a digestible rate — one unit at a time.
“We will get them all built when the market recovers,” said Port Ludlow Associates President Diana Smedland at a preview event earlier this month.
“Right now we are starting the project by building just four units.”
Even though the market has not recovered nationwide, the company feels this is the right time to begin construction, Smedland said.
“The inventory of new homes has been steadily declining,” she said.
“During the last month, we have had five new-home sales in Port Ludlow, and we expect this to pick up.”
The company has opened sales on the first four units, which will have a waterfront view and be in proximity to the development’s anchor, the Inn at Port Ludlow.
They will all be custom-built and begin in the mid-$400,000 range, Smedland said.
When contracts are signed on all four units, the permit process will begin, with hopes that it will break ground sometime in 2012, she said.
A plan to build 48 waterfront condos dates back to 2008, Smedland said.
The remainder of the planned condos are to be set farther back from the water.
The buildings are architecturally compatible but their configuration is yet to be determined, since several could contain mixed uses between commercial and residential.
A “pub style” restaurant with a waterfront view as well as a reconstructed boardwalk are also part of the plan. Smedland said.
The waterfront units will be built in groups of four, and will include two 1500 square-foot units on the ground floor and two 2250 square-foot units on the second and third floors, Smedland said.
Smedland said the target buyers for the condos are older than 40 years.
“We’d like to get people who work at Microsoft, Amazon or Boeing, or people who are looking for a vacation home,” she said.
She said close proximity to the marina will be a selling point along with the presence of a float plane dock — something that Port Townsend lacks.
Smedland said there was no schedule for the completion of the project.
“If you can tell me when the market will come back I can tell you when we will finish building all the condos,” she said.
For more information about the project, go to www.portludlowassociates.com.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
