Grand Atlantic Condos: One Sold To Date
The Public Works Ministry has confirmed that as of this time, one Grand Atlantic Condo has sold.
The Grand Atlantic Development is located in Warwick, and comprises of 60 two bedroom/one bathroom homes and 18 three bedroom/two bathroom homes. Prices range from $495,000 for a 2 bedroom home, up to $665,000 for an ocean view 3 bedroom unit.
Six months ago Public Works Minister Michael Weeks announced that 100% financing for the units will be offered to qualified first-time home purchasers.
With 100% financing, a 25 year mortgage [at 6.5%] for the 2 bedroom is approximately $3,340 per month, while a 25 year mortgage for the 3 bedroom unit is approximately $4,500 per month.
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I went to check on these condos with my lady and they are wonderful, but i think the prices can be much better. so i suggest people dont purchace so the prices will be rethinked.
They don’t look wonderful to me, they look like a prison camp.
thats not cheap for the normal bermudian!!!! no wonder only one has sold. . . not to mention they arent attractive!!! looks like the projects to me
I guess they missed the mark on low-income housing. With only one sold…what does that say?
I think it says that a) they are NOT low-income housing and that b) nobody wants to wake up in the Atlantic one morning!!
They are not low income housing. They are just made to LOOK like low income housing!
Queue Minister statement that the successful sale of a Grand Atlantic condo clearly demonstrates the success of the program and confidence in Bermuda real estate.
Sadly the developer got away risk free and this project is due to add to our overall debt load.
“BHC will purchase the condos from the developer and then resell to pre-approved buyers.”
http://www.21square.com/2011/08/benevolent-meddling.html
I wish we did proper analysis before embarking on such endeavours.
If we sell one per year they’ll all be sold by 2090.
Of course, they’ll all be in the sea by then too….
so funny zombie but so true!
Well at least you can add quiet neighborhood to the short list of nice things about them. See, always a silver lining.
I was thinking the same thing
Nice!! I have the whole place to myself!!!!! lol
Not any more, you should hear the noise generated by that natty looking gas station, let alone the never ending traffic.
Goverment should be congratulated on this spectacular return on our investment!….right
you must be that 1 buyer
LOL!
tough times. they should rent em out jus to them places aint going to waste
Im sorry even if they were 1/2 t price I wouldn’t put my family and money at risk. The places actually look nice and the view and location is great but , no thanks.
they are too small inside too and no elevator..can you imagine all the grunting and groaning moving in and eventually out and the damage to the walls and doors cause everything is so small with little room to move?
yep!!…….rent them out to tenants that don’t care about landlords property, only to leave them in a mess when they haven’t paid the rent…….good idea indeed!!! I’m the landlord……..no thanks.
These are not affordable. SORRY!!!! I mean if one can afford to buy a 3 bedroom appartment for a mortgage of $4500, don’t you think they might be more sensible to RENT a 3 bedroom apt for $3K…..there are plenty of them – just check the classified and emoo!!!
“In General” the best comment thus far…you beat me to it!
ONE HAS SOLD? Wow, what an epic waste of money.
Can we get an “AMEN”???
Ok So they are supposed to be considered as low income housing. The average bermudian family cannot afford a half of million dollar condominium. Whats so low cost about these when your actually paying the bank back double. Purchase price 495,000 and you pay the bank back over 1,000,000 within 30 years. You can call it high way rubbery to me.
you are lucky if the average family can even afford $100,000. I know being an average Bermudian I will have to pay rent my whole life as I could never afford these so called “low income housing”!
And if I could I still wouldnt buy one of these places!
The availability of these “excess” units has further depressed housing prices in that tier across the island – if you own a condo, this development cost you money.
The Grand Atlantic just shows what happens when developers push the scale of a development and get greedy. Just compare the overall feel of the Grand Atlantic to the rather well scaled Loughlands development. The difference is clear. If the Grand Atlantic had been one story lower and the blocks that are right up against the road were never built, the overall effect would have been far more desirable and marketable. It is an eyesore and will remain so. Along with a dead real estate market, they got greedy and are paying the price. I bet the only real reason the PLP flip flopped the land ownership policy was because suddenly they actually felt the effects of sitting on real estate that was not moving. The damage had already been done though and the market remains stagnant. The stretched out election wait only stops people from actually committing. 1 unit out of 78 units is a fail.
How about letting me HAVE one of them for FREE and I can than let everyone one know how it is living there and then maybe you might get some potential buyers…..It could be like a Pilot Programme and I can be the test subject…….Just a thought….
BHC please turn these into Suites for guest rentals or something….we are loosing money and it is costing the taxpayer!!!!
and Name them : Cliff Hotel Rental Apts
There aren’t any guests, they’ve all gone to Barbados, and the expats are in Cayman or have gone home. Cheers Paula, you’ve royally screwed it up.
Perfect temporary housing for four distressed Uighar families.
Charge the U.S. 3 million each for “All” of G.I.t.m.o. Prisoners from Cuba and we should place them in our own camp on south shore……put up the barb wire and pay off our debt, case closed!!!
They would make great tourist accommodation for those who prefer an efficiency apartment type of place instead of a hotel room. And when a storm pushes them all into the sea, the tourists will have left the day anyway so no problem!
I hope Government considers this as an option instead of trying to find someone to build a hotel.
The only problem is that tourists don’t usually want to vacation in accomodation that looks like a high security prison.
I agree turn them into guest houses rent then to tourist,put some of the lost tourism jobs back into play…. lets get it Wayne Furbert, government cant just leave then sitting there uninhabited like that in these economic times
The biggest eyesore the South Shore has seen since…ever.
Not to mention the not so ‘low cost’ price.
The over-Americanized gas station next door comes in a close second….
“Over-Americanized”? Street wise is just about as wise as you can be, huh? Jealous people make me holler…
I don’t mind the gas station so much, it was in need of updating and its really no different from collectors hill, crawl or 24/7. Its definetly a hell of a lot better than that useless yellow and blue building across the street. Wasn’t that supposed to be an imported local vegetable store…I mean arnolds store?
there’s no grass and a lovely chicken wire fence…looks more like a concentration camp. is this where the PLP wants to keep our expats?
Loughlands appears to be a well scaled development when your observing from the outside of the gate. However the units are cheaply built and they are not worth the price. Then you have to deal with pokey neighbours and a dysfunctional management committee. Its a piece of the rock for some people while others its just a stepping stone.
495k – 695k to put up with that crap. I dnt think so. Government needs to drop the price or do a rent to buy.
Great opportunity for a first time homeowner to get a start, the prices have come down. It is a starter home, to get on one’s feet..I wish I had the money I would buy at least 2 as an investment property. Great deal ! Good
Only problem with these as a starter home (or investment) is that you have to be able to sell it down the road. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
You can only be a 1st time homeowner once.
bad bad mistake
Do not let those negative comments prevent you from investing, as they usualy already have a home, and do not need another. It is indeed a great start for any young persons, and some not so young.
The point is that there are far better options available for the same price or less.
Not to argue but the truth is the truth. These houses are not low cost. Not many people have $3400 – $4500 a month for 25 years for what is being dubbed as a starter home and no I don’t own my own home.What will the maintenance fees be per month?
Sounds like you were the one buyer, Sweetgirl!
Yea she is “Special” alright……………………
LOL
Yea have you noticed some of the grammar on here is remarkably similar in some cases? Its that Betty Trumph style.
one sold!!!!..Que the announcement from Ms.Cox that this is another sign of the recovery of Bermuda’s economy…..
I would buy one however the price is what stops my interest in it. There are additional upgardes that I would have like to have seen included in this property including more storage and a higher quality kitchen. Other than those three things I would invest in this property.
And a surfboard for the day you wake up in the Atlantic???
@Sweetgirl – how much are the PLP paying you to post these pep rally comments anyway? They look sort of lost and out of place with the majority of those commentators that have come to terms with reality!
@ sweet girl: “It is indeed a great start for any young persons, and some not so young.”
$3000+ for a 2 bedroom apartment where you don’t even own the land, your neighbours are almost on your doorstep, and you have to pray every time a hurricane threatens hardly seems like a “great start.”
Ok lets look at what a family of two adults and 1 daughter and 1 son would pay.
$4500.00 per month mortgage
$ 400.00 per month maintenence fee
$ 350.00 per month electricity
$5250.00 in Total a month for first-time home purchasers!!!!! oh lets see do I have any money for groceries, cable, telephone, gas, school uniforms.
insurance!!
Who can afford that? Maybe the drug dealers?
Drug Dealers wont even purchase these apartments because they bear too much resemblance to actual prisons!
Regular Everyday working folk cannot afford this Sh!T!!
This is so Ridiculous!! Start homes for Who???
Not me thats for sure!
Not to mention they are so UGLY!!
South shore Eye Sore is what they should be name
feel a little sorry for the persons that got one they just got ripped right off!!!
This is a total travisity.
The total destruction of the South Shore forever!
What tourist wants to spend good money to come to Bermuda to see what will be in a couple of years a ghetto known as Grand Atlantic.
This should never have been permitted on Bermuda’s golden coast line – incidentally have you noticed how all the a/c units are rusted already! Probably slapped into place without any protective spray on the exterior units…
Just wait a few more years. As someone who lives on the South Shore, maintenance is no joke and very expensive. Those units are new now but as they start aging the place is going to need serious upkeep, added expenses down the road for any potential gullible buyer. If not they will start to look much worse than they do right now. You would think Ewart Brown would have realised that fact as he too lives right on the South Shore. He has the wealth to deal with it though. I would never have built so called ‘affordable housing’ directly on the South Shore.
I hope they didn’t by one near the cliff….
It looks like they are going to build more of them, as they have escavated the land to the east of the current one… if so, why?
Gilbert Lopes is building more! He is building 1 bed units. Hard to believe at this time isn’t it? He certainly has the money to blow on them as he has cleaned right up with all the condos he has built in the past 10 years, both privately and the Government ones. Just visualize more of the same up there at Grand Atlantic! A wall of concrete that is only going to be even larger by the time he has finished there.
I’m sorry but combined my husband and myself make less than a monthly mortgage payment for a 2 bed, how is this supposed to be “affordable living”?
Rent them out at AFFORDABLE prices.
We are suppose to support each other in times of need, surely the economy as it stands is putting everyone into that time of need????
Sorry we can’t all have high paid jobs but we also cannot all afford to go to college in the states, Canada or the UK!!!
Remember, this project was conceived during to boom years. The plan was to create decent housing for the middle class, not for the low wage earners. By filling the 78 units with over 150 voters that were only too grateful to have a decent place to live in an overheated and impossible housing market, the PLP thought they would have secured the area for generations as a PLP stronghold. Things haven’t quite worked out that way for them though. The reality right now is that they might have just 2 more votes with those new occupants.
At least the UBP did actually create a lot of affordable housing for average folk. Which is still evident all over the island. The same can’t be said for the PLP.
This is sad are they going to at least lower the price………..$5000 per mth just to live??? thats just crazy talk!!
and people will continue to vote for them.
excuse me…5000 a month is your payment not the cost to live. You still have all your other bills – electricity, food, cable, internet and then car payments, fuel and of course food.
The one purchaser must be feeling a bit silly right now, having been duped into purchasing unpopular and unsellable property.
Prices will probably have to be reduced to get rid of them. If they reduce by – say – 40%, the one current purchaser will be seriously out of pocket, because he will now own an apartment worth 40% less than he paid for it.
Oh well. That’s what you get for trusting this lot.
If the price drops 40% I’ll buy one…close to the road. In 10 years and 3 hurricanes it will be a wonderful stand alone ocean side condo so the value will automatically increase. Now that’s how you get returns on your investments. Lol
Just wait till the election, wounder if a whole bunch of people are all of a sudden registered to those places.
LOL
Who knows what back room deals will be done to get bodies in there to be used as political propaganda.
Vote plp get a condo half off…ok 75% off…ok ok will you vote plp if we give you the condo?
Another spectacular PLP failure.
Vote these jokers OUT! C’mon, PC, call it!!
I can’t imagine why even one person would purchase one of these eye-sores. The Exterior looks like a public-housing project and the interiors look cheap and outdated, especially the kitchens and bathrooms…did the builder buy up a load of old stock and appliances from a failed 1980s building supply business? SMH….
lol, since when does $40,800 a year qualify as affordable housing, and that for the cheapest 2 bedroom unit
Since WE AS BERMUDIANS refuse to stand up and do something when all the high rents start coming into this Island by one foreign affiliated real estate firm that no one took to task,then the BERMUDIANS got greedy and went after the high end market and profit from it at a time we had many foreign companys in here paying top dollar and the bases before leaving here had there personnel doing the same as to the foriegn companies,offering the GREEDY BERMUDIAN LANDLORDS more then the average Bermudian can afford,then the majority of landlords got on the band wagon and did the same and the sad part is that many of them had put their rents up high but still had a low mortgage even with the fluxuation of the interest rates.then the real jokers who had their homes paid off already took advantage and raked up their rents and their houses are paid for and some of those jokers still refuse to have low rents even in this bad economy and they are PART OF OUR DOWN FALL..so do the math and tell me how does one collect this same amount $30K and higher a year for units back in the day under rent control would not have even been suitable to collect half of that,but because our government has not been dillegent in these areas of seeing which hoes should really be under rent control,many home owners are getting away with high class robbery.guest workers in this country being charged by the head up to $1000.00 a month and higher per person with nothing less then 6 in a dwelling,do the math and see why we are in the postion we are.
I count two full-stops.
In all honnesty I see this as a great oppurtunity to take an invest back into our own with these units becoming another Far rockaway developement,far rockaway was developed to assist our seniors with affordable housing and it actually has worked and is working with the acception that there are still seniors out here needing these types of units but being able to have someone live in with them.
Many of our seniors are able to do for themselves but have a constant fear of living alone in todays society and insecurities about their future,be it health,finances,affordability or crime and feel more comfortable just knowing someone else is living in the dwelling with them,be it a relative or friend. so if we cant get them sold why not make it a developement that would help them,after all you do have the new gas station that is like a small mini variety store and convient store,you have southlands that once developed into a national park on the northern section and a public beach on the south,it will be a great area for retirement not to mention who ever opens the new grocery store after all the wrangling is over.then you still have what seem to be the developement behind the gas station,that at last check I thought was a new hotel up an coming.
As many folk think this developement is not worth the time money or energy,i think it can worka nd the units are very attractive for seniors living or first time home owners,or those that want to down size.
Seniors with all those stairs…really! It is an epic fail of the PLP and they spent our money to do it.
Yeah, Duane, seniors love all that going up and down several flights of stairs just to get to their front door.
Or maybe they could use the elevator…..? Oh no, not in this case. No elevators here.
Duane, if you think its such a great investment, go to Butterfield and get a 100% loan for $650,000, buy an apartment, and take advantage of Paula’s “economic recovery”. Rent it out to the flood of expats coming in. Can’t fail, right?
This development was ‘sold’ to the gullible Bermudian public as a wonderful new HOTEL development and the condo units were to be sold to finance the wonderful new HOTEL that was to be built there. Well that definitely ain’t gonna happen at the Grand Atlantic site. Now to add insult to injury the developer is gonna build a bunch of additional smaller units out of his own pocket that he will sell for a profit while competing with the plp who can’t sell the larger completed units. This is complete madness bought to you by the illustrious plp who…”Had to deceive you and have continued to do so since 1998″
And they like to be deceived, because they will continue to vote them back in until it is to late.
Should be rented out to people who cant afford much most ppl jus want a roof over their head financial assistance should look into this. Pay what u can affford! Even if its 600 per month. Somethin is better then nothin. Not everyone needs cable. A roof.
Food and running water is all we need!!!!
“Affordable” for a family of three (and one on the way) means purchase price of $150,000 maximum.
Also it would be an idea to build a fenced bridge as a crossing to the grocery store on other side of the road.
What grocery store is that? Oh, you mean that empty building?
how r those monthly payment affordable?
unfortunately we built affordable housing for people to buy, when we needed to build affordable housing for people to rent.
as someone who has done a far bit of work on this site, i will say that the interiors are not that bad, but the overall design of the individual blocks is very unattractive.
i.e.. walking past my neighbours kitchen and bedroom on the way to my unit is not what i would want to be buying into.
we are living in a time with many single parents, and people needing to work more than one job to be able to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. i cannot understand for the life of me WHO thought that building housing to buy at this cost was a good idea.
the government should own them, the government should rent them out, and the government should maintain them. rent them at an affordable price, take care of them and it could 20-25 years from now be a contributor to our public purse.
If something is not selling it means that it is OVERPRICED. $195K – sounds good to me. More Govt. failure…
way over priced for a condo, half a mill to live in a complex that reminds me of a project in the us! best of luck W&E selling those for that price plus the ledge under it looks like those houses will give out in 20 years
I wonder whether they are considering offers or are the prices fixed?
I wonder what the first cost of each unit is? Obviously if only one has sold out of 78 the pricing is set too high and just like in the real world if a property does not sell at a given price, the price is reduced to attract offers and a potential sale. I have not seen any reduction on the sales prices so far. I have not seen any promotion of the units. Do they really want to sell them?
Well the affordable prices surely has had an impact on the familys at Loughlounds. Go up on MyBermudaHouse and eMoo and see the units that are up for sale at Loughlands! $3,500 mortgage maintenance $375 and other utilties adds up to $5,000 per month. This is definietly not AFFORDABLE.
I don’t no much about this project since I have left the island. this brings back to mind something that was being said back in 1988, Bermudians will not be able to buy a home in Bermuda because it will be to over priced. And it is very true today. Must people can come up with $4,500 a month and then try and pay all the other bills in a household in this day and age. No I am not sure how many of you all remember that it was once said that Bermuda is going to the haves and the have nots. no middle class and from what I am seeing not only in Bermuda but around the world this is so very true. If the governments don’t step in and help the people buy actually trying to help the peop[le of their nations, who the hell will. It seems to me that the people in power already have the money and the power and those that would like to have just a little of that will never get it nor will they ever pay of a home as they could have done back in the 70′s,80′s and 90′s. If you are down at the lower end of thepole you the system to me seems as though it will keep you there. In times not so long ago if you paid $4,500 a month for a house you would have been paying and $800,000 home not some half ass Condo with no grass with a chain link fence in the back of it.
Just my thoughts good luck to the one person or persons that purchased that single condo
Interesting: On June 1st the Royal Gazette quoted Minister Weeks as saying five units had been sold and 15 more purchasers were being screened for approval.
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20120601/NEWS/706019978
Public Works Minister Michael Weeks has defended the Grand Atlantic housing project against critics, saying interest in the development remains high.
Five units have been sold and 15 people are being screened for approval, he stated.
I wouldn’t want to accuse Minister Weeks of being dishonest, after all, he may be just unable to count.
Actually, there have been numbers given before about loan approvals [5], those being screened by the bank [15] and amount of people interested [190] – but we believe the first time the Ministry confirmed the amount of sales was this week….we have been asking about actual sales for some time lol. What Minister Weeks said in June was 5 persons received approval to purchase. The video of his full statement at that press conference is here.