Excess "E"s

From VoiceOfSanDiego.org:

This is a big week for Vantage Pointe, downtown's biggest condo building.

Next weekend is circled on the calendars of as many as 72 contracted buyers there, people who signed up in 2004 for a chance to own a piece of the then-hypothetical high-rise.

That's the date -- Saturday for a couple, Sunday for the rest -- that comes 42 months after they reserved their condos with 5 percent deposits in 2005. If the developers fail to make their units ready for move-in by then, some buyers could walk away from their contracts, their deposits in hand.

[snip]

The building is unprecedentedly large for San Diego, comprising 679 units in 40 stories, built with the largest private sector construction loan -- $210 million -- for a single building in county history. It takes up the entire block between 9th and 10th Avenues and A and B Streets. In Vantage Pointe, buyers have signed contracts to buy about 290 condos -- less than half the building's total.

The building's success as it moves through the next several months is being watched by market analysts and downtown planners.

It is unclear even yet what effect the building's opening will have on the rest of the downtown real estate market, already weighed down by more than 850 finished unsold units, according to MarketPointe Realty Advisers. The homes at Vantage Pointe and another 148 at another under-construction project downtown will double that number.

[snip]

Brian Stoddard, president and chief operating officer of Pointe of View, said on Friday the company has not yet officially split the project into the three phases, and so it is too early to tell if the Fannie Mae conditions will be met before the first buyers' deadlines next weekend.

Wow! 679 units and only 290 sold! Pretty crazy! However, the craziest part of the article is the affinity of the developers for all those excess "E"s. Vantage Pointe? Pointe of View? Way affected!