Update on Landmark Towers

June 2, 2009

Hello All,

Thanks for finding me and coming on over to read. There has been a TON of interest about the Landmark Towers and the comment thread is wonderful – full of info from actual residents.  Thank you all for reading and taking the time to comment!    

Please note that all new comments (and the entire blog) have been moved to:

http://thephoenixagents.com/landmark-towers-even-more-updates-opinions/

The rest of the blog is available at www.ThePhoenixAgents.com

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I’ve got some updates on the info in my August post about the troubles plaguing Landmark Towers.

I got this info through various buyer showing appointments, talking to some HOA management representatives, talking to some residents in the elevators and lobby, and quizzing a local Realtor acquaintance who lives there.

Regarding the A/C issue. A resident I met in the elevators said they need a new chiller and the expected cost was $1M. I’m unsure if the Landmark has a chiller instead of an A/C system, or if the chiller is a component of the existing A/C system. Wikipedia makes them seem inter-related: a chiller is either air-cooled or water-cooled and pumps cold air through ducts to cool buildings, and a chiller can be stand alone or part of an integrated HVAC system.

Mechanical engineering aside, my inside informant confirmed this. Plus his inside tipster on the HOA Board says they’re cutting some other areas of the budget so that they can absorb the chiller repair cost without raising HOA dues for 2009. Some of the expected cuts for 2009 are the valet service is gone, and the Direct TV satellite service will be changed a bit too. Since there are 2 central elevators that run from the parking spots in the basement to rooftop, the valet service always seemed a little silly to me, but what do I know? My informant said the valet cost about $125,000 a year to maintain. Holy Short Trip Driving, Batman!

I can tell you from personal experience that the climate control system at the Landmark currently works like gangbusters. No matter whether it comes from a chiller, an A/C or a group of hamsters running treadmills in the basement, that air blows cold!

I showed about 10 or 12 condos there on October 9 and 10 when it was still really hot and sticky. The units with A/C on and blowing were our favorites. Standing in front of those blowing ducts was like an icy blast from a wind turbine. That stuff blows cold! We also visited several condos with the power off completely and therefore no A/C blowing. Those units were fairly comfortable to stand in for 10 minutes at a time or longer. Considering that 1 entire wall of every condo is floor-to-ceiling glass, and these units have been on the market for months without power, I was impressed by the building’s overall ability to hold in the cold and keep out the heat.

My buyers and I calculated that at most, the cost of absorbing some increases to the monthly HOA dues to cover repairs to the climate control would be either $0 as the HOA Board indicates, or at most a thousand or two spread over time.

Considering we were looking at a 6th floor 1-bedroom unit with 180 degree views off the North side of the building, from the White Tanks to Camelback Mountain, and the asking price was $42,900 – we were all pretty sure it was still a great deal.

Bottom line – I’d buy in the Landmark. In fact, I was trying to figure out where to scrounge $42,000 to buy that 6th floor view once my buyer client took a pass.

(BTW, this bit I can’t confirm… my friend the Landmark resident says there has been a lawsuit either considered or filed over the local newspaper story covering the Tower’s troubles. I can’t confirm or deny that, but wouldn’t be surprised. Prices at the Landmark have plummeted in the past year, more so than other nearby towers that were also affected by the Light Rail construction.)

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