Demand high for downtown housing

"We have a lot of close friends in the New York City and the Washington, D.C., areas," Warren said. "Most of them, when they get to retirement age, they head back here. The ones that will be coming will look very, very seriously at those apartments."

Jaren L. Davis, broker at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Sandy, said today's homebuyers are looking not only at location when purchasing a home, but also at lifestyle. Downtown's proximity and convenience to cultural and entertainment attractions, Davis said, is appealing to a new set of buyers.

"People are thinking more in terms of, 'How do I allow myself in my time off from work to be out recreating?' And it isn't in the back yard cutting the lawn," Davis said. "It used to be that the developer would look to that product as being for an empty nester, but we could see families moving down there."

Even without the City Creek Center, interest in living downtown remains strong.

At the American Towers condominiums, located at 48 W. 300 South in downtown Salt Lake City, only nine of the towers' 357 units are currently for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, according to Davis. Smaller units are selling for $240,000 for 927 square feet of space. Larger units are listed at more than $500,000. Two units in the tower are currently under contract in the $350,000 to $430,000 range.

Gibbons said the City Creek Center's condominiums will be offered at a wide range of prices. One of the towers, called Tower 2, is planned to rise 415 feet above the ground, which would make it the third tallest building in Salt Lake City, behind the Wells Fargo Center (422 feet) and LDS Church Office Building (420 feet), according to Emporis.com.

"Right now there is interest and demand for downtown, not just with the LDS Church. There are other tremendous projects that are being announced and built," Davis said. "Yeah, there is probably going to be some overbuilding, but developers will go into that appreciating that and probably make efforts to avoid competing."

At the Metro Condominiums, currently under construction at 350 S. 200 East, 200 people last year put down $2,500 each to get on a waiting list to buy one of the project's 117 units, priced at $120,000 to $510,000. The units will be completed in early 2008. In addition to the reservation holders, another 1,400 people signed a list expressing interest in the Metro Condominiums.

Andrew Pratt, branch broker and director of sales and marketing for the Metro, said people from as far away as Australia are on the reservation list.

"It's mostly local," Pratt said. "Our biggest out-of-state buyers are certainly from California. But we draw from New York. We draw from Washington, D.C."

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Contributing: Doug Smeath

E-mail: danderton@desnews.com