59 sales in three hours at Rego Park condo auction

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 6, 1993

An opening-day real estate auction at The Summit yielded sales of 59 luxury condominium residences in less than three hours of spirited bidding, according to the sponsors of the 17-story luxury condominium tower in this Queens community.

Absolute prices ranged from $56,000 for a 495-square-foot studio to $259,000 for a 1,545-square-foot duplex, according to Cross Rego Holding Corp., the building's sponsor.

In addition, 34 parking spaces in the building's on-site garage sold at prices ranging from $5,000 to $8,000.

More than $6 million of inventory was sold during the auction -- a total that significantly exceeded original preauction estimates, reports Jenifer A. Steig, sales coordinator for Cross Rego.

Nearly 2,500 people passed through The Summit's sales center or called for auction information during the three and a half week pre-auction marketing period, according to Kennedy-Wilson, Inc., which conducted the auction at Terrace-On-The-Park. Several hundred of them registered to bid on auction day.

The excitement generated by the bidding is typical of situations where an auction is used to open sales at a new construction building, says Robert Cole, senior vice-president of Kennedy Wilson.