35 Monterey Island Condos Sold at Auction

Thirty-five luxury high-rise condominiums were auctioned for a total of almost $7 million in the largest such sale in Southern California, held Sunday at the financially troubled Monterey Island development in Glendale.

Calling it “an enigma,” Kimberly Young, representative of R. Thomas Ashley, the Newport Beach marketing firm that conducted the sale, said 13 of 48 units that went on the auction block did not sell. However, three of those sold later at minimum bids, she said.

About half of the condominiums in the 88-unit development were offered at minimum bids that were greatly reduced from original prices. The auction was conducted to spur interest in the 15-story development at 222 Monterey Road, where only three units had been sold since it was completed two years ago.

Real estate brokers had attributed the lack of sales to high prices, high interest rates and noise in units overlooking the Ventura Freeway.

Sale prices Sunday ranged from $156,000, for a unit previously priced at $280,000, to $290,000, for a furnished model that had been priced at $350,000 unfurnished.

Young said most of the unsold units are on the upper floors, are priced higher than identical units below and overlook the Ventura Freeway.

She said many of the buyers are elderly and preferred units on lower floors on the side with a view of the Verdugo Mountains. About half of the buyers are Glendale residents; the rest live within a 20-mile radius of the development, she said.

Crocker Bank, which took over ownership of the redevelopment project last year from Watt-Howard Co., agreed to auction individual units after it was unable to find a buyer for the entire building.

Units identical to those auctioned are for sale at higher prices set before the auction, Young said.