by Mira Jang
The Orange County Register - Wednesday, June 14, 2006
With at least 4,000 people on the waitlist, the developers of a new condominium project in the Platinum Triangle plan to open up a sales office by the first weekend in July.
Managed by DOMA Properties of Long Beach, the sales office will be located at the club house of the 390-unit "Stadium Lofts" on Katella Avenue and State College Boulevard.
Forty condominiums will be available for purchase by the end of July; another 40 units will be released a couple of weeks later, according to Eric Heffner, spokesperson for Nexus Properties.
"We get calls to our office every hour (about getting on the waitlist)," Heffner said.
Two-thirds of the project will be completed by September, and the rest will be done by mid-November, Heffner said.
Originally planned as apartments, the project was converted to condominiums in January by a 3-2 City Council vote.
Council members Lorri Galloway and Richard Chavez opposed the conversion, citing a need for more rentals in the area.
"To me it's not an issue of affordable housing," Galloway said. "It's too late in the game to bring that up."
She said rentals would allow young professionals without a large savings along with older couples that want a second home the opportunity to experience the urban lifestyle.
With only 10 percent of housing in the Platinum Triangle approved as rentals, Galloway said this council decision sets a dangerous precedent for other developers who may want to convert their apartments.
"This sends a really bad message. What stops them from coming (to council to request a conversion)? Then we'll have zero rentals," she said.
However, Heffner said his company is simply responding to the housing market.
Mayor Curt Pringle and council members Harry Sidhu and Bob Hernandez supported the developer's decision, saying that's it's a matter of private property.