R.O.I.

A picture from “Henry Built” - a Manhattan based kitchen fabricator - This image is a “style” that you could invoke for a 180W condo - a concrete floor , a dark wood expression , a light white curtain scrim to manage an early evening sun.

180 Washington offers you a great place to live. We would like to think that this could be your home for a long time. If so, your interest is more about quality of life rather than a financial equation but first deciding to buy confronts us with - What’s it worth?

Obviously, any interested buyer should discuss this with a real estate advisor but we think that this project has the potential to deliver a 2x return for buyers based on a competent floor build out. Gross numbers show that 599k as a selling price for 1500 sf represents about $400./sf. We think that if you finish the unit for 100./sf you will be able to compete with standard developer projects - called “luxury” projects which have reached 1000./sf. Today these “highs” may be in flux but nonetheless condo units have reached these numbers - more in the Old Port area but they seem to be moving to other sites on Portland’s “peninsula” - “on the peninsula” - as is the vernacular here..

When looking at this kind of interior work, a 180 Washington buyer has an advantage as they don’t have to accept any prior “developer style” - some ideas of interior life that a developer has stumbled upon as “luxury” but in fact are simply popular trends. A buyer at 180 Washington has an opportunity to design a far more interesting interior simply with their own agency to work with an architect. That’s an advantage at the start. We also think the building will be more compelling in many ways over typical developer design - a 2nd advantage. Of course you can dismiss this starting point. And if you do, you’re still entering the sellers game having spent about 500. /sf. regardless of your design quality. At some point we think the market will support the 1000. /sf and that maybe could be today. If you can reach that point you will have doubled your cost basis. You have put in 750k and you’re seeing a 1.5M sale or a 750k gross return- doubling your original cost. That would essentially make your original buying price “zero” - a free unit.

Or, you can buy market rate off the shelf “luxury” units at the 1000/sf price but you have only a place to live which may be all you’re looking for, however, if you had to sell could you flip it for the same 1000/sf. ?