Condo Houseboat Proposed For The Mississippi
The St Paul Pioneer Press has the latest on the condo craze. “David Nelson came up with an idea: Why not build a..floating retirement community, that could treat its residents to nautical adventures similar to his own? The St. Paul native has finally translated that dream into the most unusual condominium proposal the city has ever seen. His River Cities concept is a cross between a river barge and a four-level, 200-unit cruise ship.”
“Condo buyers would tour Nelson’s favorite haunts, from the sand bars of Destin, Fla., to the riverfront parks in Memphis, without ever leaving home.”
“His concept has also raised questions about property taxes, docking rights and the size and scale of each boat, Nelson envisions them the length of five football fields, making them the largest passenger vessels on the Mississippi River. ‘I talk to a lot of people, and they say, ‘Wow, what a cool idea,’ said Nelson. ‘But whether it actually grabs people enough that they’ll say, ‘Yeah, I want to buy,’ that’s always the key.’”
“Nelson’s prices range from $275,000 to $474,000 for units that go from 528 to 924 square feet. He said he designed his model, comprising four adjoining barges, to appeal to buyers who lack the means to own a private yacht. ‘I’ve got prices on this thing where middle-class people can participate in a millionaire’s dream,’ he said.”
“Nelson has reacted to a host of challenges while developing his plans over the past two years. Each boat, powered by motors in back, would be designed to split in half to pass through tight channels.”
“Perhaps the biggest challenge will come from the market itself. Nelson is readying to launch his idea at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed and condo sales have sagged. He estimates it would take at least $80 million to build each boat over roughly 2½ years.”
“Given the novelty of his dreams, Nelson has struggled to find financing for construction and individual mortgages. Residents would share annual maintenance and cruising costs, ranging from $8,200 to $21,700 per unit.”
“‘What’s unique about this is that these people will have a sense of ownership of the entire Mississippi River that few other people would,’ said Patrick Seeb, head of the St. Paul Riverfront Corp. ‘These projects are never easy,’ he said, referring to ambitious riverfront proposals that include the Bridges, which Seeb has criticized. ‘You have to hand it to people for being creative and trying to find ideas unique in the marketplace.’”
This kind of stuff makes me nauseous.
You beat me to the punch. This idea is stupider than the condotels. Who in their right mind would spend $300K-$400K to sail up/down the Mississippi? I wouldn’t pay that to sail around the Medeterrainian Sea. Can’t wait to dock and check out East St. Louis!!!
Sailing around the Mediterranean on a huge ship of condos, now THATS something Id buy into!
Until a stray Israeli or Hezbollah missile hits you. F* that, I’ll stay home!
Hey, you know if you build them, they will come. Don’t you forget that fundamental concept, huh. Conship for everyone.
Come on Notorious everyone wants to live there!!!!
You’re right everybody loves East St. Louis. For those not familiar, think Compton, CA without the famous rap stars. The place is hell on Earth.
Okay who bought 7000 homes? This is throwing off my prediction of 1 million my 11/23/06
mid may was 799,000
6/10/06 was 836,471
6/14/06 was 840,935
6/17/06 was 846,120
6/20/06 was 850,317
6/22/06 was 855,892
6/24/06 was 860,647
6/29/06 was 866,037
7/01/06 was 858,675
7/09/06 was 870,854
7/11/06 was 882,239
7/13/06 was 886,055
7/14/06 was 890,896
7/18/06 was 895,022
7/21/06 was 900,000
7/25/06 was 905,170
7/28/06 was 910,001
8/01/06 today 903,718
http://www.ziprealty.com/maps/index.jsp?usage=search&cKey=74rbwvlk
Typical end of month behavior. Listing contract expirations and a push to get sales closed by month end.
grim
Northern NJ Real Estate Bubble
You beat me to it. Typical end/beginning behavior. No sweat - You’ll hit your number soon enough.
Is there any merit to the inventory numbers going down as we enter fall and winter? I’m a rookie inventory observer…
Typically, inventory does go down in the fall and winter. However, this is not always the rule. Last year in Northern VA, for example, inventory continued to climb through the fall, and only fell slightly in Nov and Dec before resuming an even faster climb in Jan 2006. It’s been climbing since Jan, however it has leveled off in July.
the realwhores said it would rock in spring ,so list now
whoops ,that will be the pitch for fall 06 too
That might be the case normally, but not this year. We’ve seen a recent deceleration in the growth of the inventory numbers. IMO this is a pause that will resume in some really impressive inventory growth. Reason being is that I think we’ve seen the bulk of the investors jumping in to bail out (not that it is the end of this) The next wave of inventory is going to be mainly fuled by desperados, bailing out as a last and only recourse to save their asses. This doesn’t have to be investors, but rather owner occupants who bought way more than they can afford. I believe we’ve been seeing this already, but not to the extent that we’ll see in the coming months. I think even the most hard core bubble believers will be blown away by the inventory numbers we’ll start to see in the future.
Hey, it’s August and the RE industry hasn’t put a dent in the inventory glut. What does that spell to you?
Ba..The…tis… Oh never mind…….
What happens when the river floods? Also, is the entire Mississipi that navigable? That a ship that big can make it?
It’s going to give new meaning to being “underwater on your loan”.
grim
Do millionaires really dream about living in a 528 sq. ft. room on a barge on the Mississipi river with 200 other families and paying $600+ a month for the pleasure, on top of any other carrying costs?
If so, can someone please tell me how they became millionaires? Because if those idiots can accumulate that much wealth, I’m doing something wrong.
I think he was just referring to living on a ship in continual movement. I.e. living on a yacht.
For those of you losers who aren’t millionaires, just look at it as recycling ill gotten gains that they stole/cheated from the rest of the proletariat in life’s roulette game. We need schemes like this to balance things.
Everyone….. ” The love boat…. exciting and new…..”
Tug, it’s frightening and new
Some aboard, are rejecting food.
Tug, complete with a ward
Loose your teeth, they float back to you.
Tug Boat, soon someone will succumb
The Tug Boat promises Bingo for everyone
Great remorse for this venture.
You mind on some clean new pants.
Tug it hurts all the more
It’s a soaking pile, let me go ashore!
It’s TUUUUUUUG!
Swell! Shuffleboard. It’s Tug!
with sincere apologies to seniors..
Loose your teeth, they float back to you.
LMAO!
You have to hand it to people for being creative and trying to find ideas unique in the marketplace.
Yes because just a plain, old home to grow old in is not enough. Please.
This is among the most monumentally stupid ideas I have ever heard. I can’t imagine that he has any backing whatsoever, and the fact that he apparently does speaks volumes about the insanity of the investor class in America.
There probably isn’t a retired couple other than maybe this idiot’s parents who would spend the last years of their lives floating up and down the Mississippi. “Oh, let’s go drive to ___________ and visit the children!” Uh… “Honey, I’m not feeling well, better take me to the hospital.” Um… “Kathy, we’re out of milk!” Er… okay, he’d probably have a grocery store on the freaking barge. But friends, you’d be TRAPPED on that thing in between the locks and places to dock. You couldn’t have a garden. You couldn’t take a walk. You wouldn’t have a daily paper. You wouldn’t have a neighborhood.
This will never, ever fly. Especially not when river tugs or the barges themselves have to pay 10 bucks per gallon for diesel fuel…
“What’s unique about this is that these people will have a sense of ownership of the entire Mississippi River that few other people would,’ said Patrick Seeb, head of the St. Paul Riverfront Corp”
Talk about hyperbole.
What if an senior citizen has a health emergency while the retirement home is on the move. It will be diffucult to get them to the hospital.
Toss em overboard!
Then they would really be underwater
This gives me a brilliant idea — how about a condo BUS? Each resident would have appox. 15 sq. ft. of space, and it would travel around north and south America. These people will have a sense of ownership of the entire Pan American highway system, from Anchorage to Tierra del Fuego. And this also avoids the health issue. The bus can just be re-routed to the nearest hospital, assuming there is one (probably not that many in the andean highlands). I’m taking bids now, with a reserve price of $450,000. Let me know if you’re interested!
cool- how about a skaeboard for the recession
Funny.
What if an senior citizen has a health emergency while the retirement home is on the move. It will be difficult to get them to the hospital.
I was thinking the exact same thing. They’d have to have onboard healthcare. I’d think that would really jack up the “annual maintenance and cruising costs, ranging from $8,200 to $21,700 per unit.”
Wasn’t something similar talked about on a Discovery channel show? Something about a giant cruise ship of condos that would sail around the world?
Several of those already exist. The condos are each several million dollars each though.
I wonder if these condos will run into those gastrointestinal problems that cruise ships run into from time to time.
When reached for comment about possible health problems on the Condobarge, David Nelson responded: “The Mississipi river is widely believed to have medicinal properties, like the Ganges. This will make it an excellent destination for persons with gastrointestinal problems who desire the lifestyle of millionaires.”
Help My Condo taking water.
Help My Condo is under water.
Help My Condo Captin is missing.
Tonight on live at 5 News Condos abandoed at sea.
RIVERBOAT CONDOS FOR EVERYONE!!
GOD, I LOVE A GREAT IDEA!
for the loot these guys are asking, i would buy and live in my own personal 33 foot boat.
and maybe even have a pet alligator
like sonny crockett
Sounds like a plan destined to sink.
-Richie
I love being on the water. Everything about it. Hell, I was in the Navy for 9 years. I have a boat, and I love that too but this is totally ridiculous! You know, there not making any more water! What is this guy thinking? And *cereal* you are absolutely right, for that kind of money you COULD have a very nice yacht and probably spend less than 20K+ a year on maint. etc. Besides, the idea of being on the water is all about a sense of freedom and independence. This sounds more like hanging out on a floating casino? Anyone else like being on a security cam 24/7?
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Why not float them down on icebergs. Then we can pull in the accountants to come up with a scheme for depreciating assets.
Is the riverboat ship-o-condos going to have parking out front for all the white trash pickups, 70s sedans, and dune buggies? Can they just do away with HOAs and have a standing casino that pays all the maintenance and roof insurance?
LOL, I just thought of this idea being a barge modified to hold the trailers. The other half of the barge is a NASCAR ring circuit.
Wonder how the mail would get delivered? “I live at 3291 Ugly Barge Floating Somewhere on the Mississippi.”
Jeez, get a job as a merchant marine if that’s your thing.
A sense of ‘ownership’ for mosquitoes, flies, alligators, and any other swamp infested idea. It is ‘creative’, but financially sunk. But probably might have worked 6 or yrs ago when pets.com, etc were worth more than real companies.
“Condo Houseboat Proposed For The Mississippi”
This guy missed out on the dumb real estate money by one year and the dumb venture capital money by seven years.
“I talk to a lot of people, and they say, ‘Wow, what a cool idea’ ”
Reminds me of the first car I owned, a very old Dodge. Total strangers would come up to me and say “Wow, what a cool car.” But when it finally came time to sell it there were no takers. Got $100 bucks for it at a scrap yard.
Maybe “IN THE BAG” Watts, LAY, and Liah-rah will all pitch in and finance this idea. Think of the spin possibilities. LOL
Maybe “IN THE BAG” Watts, LAY, and Liah-rah will all pitch in and finance this idea. Think of the spin possibilities. LOL
The condo market has officially jumped the shark with this one.
I’ll be ashamed to live in Mpls if anybody buys one of these.
Reminds me of a song.
Row row row your condotel,
Gently down the Mississippi
Merrily Merrily Merrily Merrily
You’ll lose all of your money!
clouseau.
The only person I can see buying one of these would be MARK TWAIN.
and TWAIN has been dead for 100 years. And the Dodge comment was also perfect. Closeau, great adaptation. Jump the shark says the closing.
Mark Twain quotes:
“There are 2 times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can.”
“August: This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in..” (riverboat condos), “..The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, October and February.”
I can’t believe someone stole my idea.
Now I’m worried that someone will develop my other idea before I do: SUV-condo conversions for immigrants and little people.
Now what am I going to do with a yard full of Explorers and Suburbans?
Actually, I think that the Ford Excursion is about the same size as some of those $500k condos in San Diego and Miami.
“‘What’s unique about this is that these people will have a sense of ownership of the entire Mississippi River that few other people would,’ said Patrick Seeb, head of the St. Paul Riverfront Corp.
By that rationale I own the stretch of I-25 that I drive to work. All of you serfs and vassals who motor down my highway must henceforth pay tribute, say, a dollar a mile?
“What’s unique about this is that these people will have a sense of ownership of the entire Mississippi River that few other people would” said Patrick Seeb, head of the St. Paul Riverfront Corp.
Yes, I imagine five football field-long boat loads of geezer Boomers peeing into the Mighty Mississippi on their perpetual “tours” would tend to promote a unique feeling of ownership.
Still, it’s not all whiz ‘n shuffleboard, this one. Imagine the Homeland Security resources necessary to secure this denture flotilla from certain terrorist attack!