October 1 - Downtown St Petersburg has 164 condos currently on the market, nearly the same as a month ago. There was one more closing than in August, for a total of 4. Two of these were Bayfront Tower resales, under $500,000 and the other two were new condos at 400 Beach, one just under $1 Million and the other in the $1-2 Million range. A better reflection of current activity, though, is condos going to contract. These increased by 25% - which was only an addition of two condos, going from 6 to 8. Using contracts pending, we've pared down 7 months of inventory, now holding at 20.5 months (using closed sales we'd be at 41 months of inventory). The least inventory, same as last month, is the $250,000 - $500,000 price range, though the supply has increased from 8.8 months to 13.3 months.

75% of the contracts were for resale units. Bayfront Tower was the winner again, with 3 contracts, all of them under $500,000. Parkshore has 2 contracts, both listed under $1,000,000. Obviously, it's all about price! The two new condos to go under contract were one at the Plaza on Fifth, in the $300s and one at 400 Beach, a prime southeast corner unit on the 22nd floor, listed at $1,635,000.

Both Ovation and Signature Place have topped out, and are on track for completion and closings in 2009. There are still unsold developer units at 400 Beach, Plaza on 5th, 475, and The Sage, as well as one at Parkshore Plaza.

Some restaurants have closed downtown, but The Arts are doing well - really making this area the QuARTer. The Palladium Theater opened Saturday night after its renovation, The Arts Center at the corner of 2nd Ave N and 3rd St N is coming along well, and plans are proceeding for the start of the new Salvador Dali Museum by the Mahaffey Theater.

Add to that the wonderful success of The Rays, going from worst to first! It's an exciting time to be downtown, and the weather is getting cooler so that we can enjoy the outside tables.