Indigo condos planned on Ashley River

Finding a new riverfront residence on the Charleston peninsula is getting harder to do. That's why backers of Indigo, to be near the Ashley Marina off Lockwood Drive, are so excited. "We feel we have a real advantage being on the waterfront and being downtown," says John Hassell, partner with contractor Paul Lauer in Turtle Bay Development & Investments. The complex of 46 luxury condominiums in two buildings received city Board of Architectural Review design approval this summer. The units include two one-bedroom dwellings at 1,500 or so square feet, 27 two-bedroom and 17 three-bedroom dwellings at 2,600 square feet. Also available will be two penthouse condos at 4,100-4,500 square feet. Condos are priced from $850,000 to $2.4 million, with the penthouses $3.5-$3.6 million. Presales should start by early October, and "we hope to be able to pull a building permit in seven to nine months," Hassell said. People showing interest in the community include "baby boomers" now in middle to senior age and empty-nesters who don't need a big house anymore. The condos come in 17 floor plans with flexibility built into the designs. They will have top-of-the-line accoutrements, including hardwood floors and Sub-Zero kitchen appliances. Residences have private elevators. Turtle Bay took over the project after a Raleigh-based group backed out. The North Carolina company did come up with the complex's name, which plays off Charleston's ties to the Lowcountry plant used in dye-making. Charleston-based LS3P is the project architect. Seagrass Real Estate & Development is handling sales and marketing. "We are sort of offering the best of both worlds," Hassell says. For more information, call 416-1195. Turnaround? Real estate figures for the Charleston area still aren't rosy, but there may be a ray of sunshine. The quarterly report for Greater Charleston from Rocky Mount, N.C.-based Market Opportunity Research Enterprises shows sales plunged 31.2 percent in the second quarter to 3,299 from 4,802 a year ago, average prices dipped nearly 1 percent to $320,747 from $323,678 and median prices dropped 3 percent to $205,000 from $211,400. So where's the hopeful news? Well, condo and townhome average prices shot up 26 percent and 23 percent, respectively year-to-year. And average lot prices increased to $91,768 in the quarter from $73,836 a year earlier. In Charleston County, the sale total slid 31.8 percent, but the average price hit a record $405,189, up from $396,557 and median price was $255,500, up from $250,000. Meanwhile, foreclosure rates in metro Charleston-North Charleston jumped in June to 1.1 percent of mortgage loans, compared with 0.6 percent a year earlier, First American CoreLogic housing researcher says. Still, the figure is below the 1.6 percent national average. Charleston area home prices decreased by 2.03 percent in June to a median $205,000. But prices nationally sunk 10.7 percent.