WASHINGTON — In what has got to be a first in the District’s aggressively competitive condo market, dozens of potential buyers (or their brokers) started lining up at 9:30 p.m. Sunday for a shot at putting a contract on one of a handful of West End condos that top out at around $4.5 million.
Developer EastBanc put the first 20 units at the Westlight Condominiums at 23rd and L Streets in Northwest on the market at noon Monday, with a line of dozens ready to sign contracts by the time the sales office’s doors opened.
But there likely weren’t many, if any, well-heeled buyers themselves in the line.
“You have real estate brokers who have specific buyers,” Mei-Mei Venners, Westlight director of sales, told WTOP.
“Some of the brokers have their associates standing in line,” Venners said. “Some have hired line-standing companies and some of the brokers themselves were here in line all night long personally.”
Venners said the first person to line up Sunday night was actually an agent.
Westlight will secure 20 contracts Monday. A second phase of units will not be up for contracting until after the presidential inauguration.
Condos at the Westlight range from one- to three-bedrooms and are priced from $625,000 to $4.5 million. The development replaced the former West End Public Library and a D.C. police station.
The 10-story building includes a total of 71 condos and ground floor retail. The first condos are expected to be ready for occupancy in spring of 2017.
