HARD TO BELIEVE, BUT NO SALES CENTER FOR AN ATLANTA condominium project had ever provided a full-scale model ... until Eclipse. Designed into a distinctive ex-Mercedes auto dealership located directly across from the 358-unit project site, the 3,200-square-foot sales center took cues from more-mature condo markets such as Toronto to evoke a boutique retail shopping experience, including a tour of a complete one-bedroom unit. “A full-size model was the best selling tool for us,” says Judd Bobilin, executive vice president for Novare Group, who oversees all development by the company. “We figured out how to make it fit, and it provided an absolute taste of the project.”
The decision to house the center a stone's throw from the site allowed the sales team to conduct hard hat tours during construction and enabled prospects to see the building go up as promised, Bobilin says.
After opening sales and breaking ground in May 2004 (another challenge to conventional condo wisdom regarding presales), the sales center generated 1,100 prospect visits and sold out the condo units—priced from the $150s to the $380s—at a pace of nearly 30 a month, three times the market average. Novare Group has since followed and refined the same sales center template for four subsequent projects.
CAMPAIGN DETAILS Program: Sales center for Eclipse, Atlanta; Developer: Novare Group, Atlanta; Cost: $250,000 (tenant improvements); Interior designer/Signage: Preston Partnership, Atlanta
Learn more about markets featured in this article: Atlanta, GA.
