Boom The Existential Condos
posted by on January 4 at 13:08 PM
Who am I? Why am I here? Am I a condo or a home?
The marketing scheme for this perplexed building is perplexing. Vaguely Gibson-esque. For the home investor who seeks the unknown. A little lack of clarity amid all this hyperspecific branding. Or maybe it just asks, Why? I guess it’s not quite so deep. Just a little mystery to make us ask: What is it?
Of course I fell for it.
The Trace Condominiums have nothing to do with question marks or French philosophers. Scheduled for completion in December 2007, the units will sell for between $300,000 and $800,000. According to the PR rep for GTS Development, the lack of traditional advertising was intentional. She said advertising can “lessen the quality” of a product—so postmodern! So they’re going guerrilla, apparently, with the vague building wraps and inserts fluttering out of alt-weeklies.
The website promises 142 “wide open living spaces,” which I believe means open-floor-plan lofts. Also, “modern and historic architecture,” which means they retrofitted an old industrial building and built another from scratch. Both sit at the jumbled intersection of 12th and Madison.
The first set of units—in the former industrial building—will go on sale in February. The ground floor will have space for five retail stores. Michael Klebeck, of TopPot fame, will open a bar called the Gun Club. The theme is midcentury Manhattan. No elaboration on what exactly that means in the press release I was just sent, which was titled, “Mystery of Trace Lofts Revealed.”
To be continued…
I believe these were the condos that were postering on poles as if the condos were a show. I also believe their posters were completely ripped down (in no part attributable to me. . .ahem) in less than 24 hours. They were expensive posters, too. Glossy and color and whatnot.
why would you rip down somebody's posters? Anti-free speech or something?
Clearly the building is where you turn in a quest in the new World of Condocraft game from blizzard.
Your headline/first line accompanied with that photo made me spit-take my coffee laughing Angela.
The view from my front door is this building. I'm thrilled that the developers chose to rehab an old building (in addition to building a newer 2nd half), but their marketing is pretty off-putting.
Speaking of annoying little inserts that flutter out of weekly papers, I noticed that this week's Stranger is stuffed with Trace Lofts adverts. Does anyone ever read inserts? I always just stuff them right back in the newspaper box.
Gasp! A bar? There's going to be a bar? You mean someone is going to expand nightlife in a building full of condos? Imagine that.
hey, the address of these condos would be better suited for the first paragraph that buried at the end of the third, when most people have stopped reading.
Thanks!
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