Nearly four years after architect Bill Atwood completed a mixed-use building on Water Street to house the educational travel agency WorldStrides, the 17 deluxe condos on the top floors have finally gone on the market as some of the most expensive real estate downtown.
The problem, said Atwood, was trying to add a ninth floor after WorldStrides was already installed in 2011. He had to start over with the Board of Architectural Review, he said, and getting materials up to the top was a real pain. “I won’t do that again,” he said.
Condo sales also were hampered by the real estate bubble and the derelict structure that was going to be the Landmark Hotel, according to Atwood. “The hotel is a huge visual downer,” he said. And it’s the views that make Waterhouse ultra desirable—and at around $400 a square foot, ultra expensive, although Atwood said the price is comparable to the top floors of the Randolph or Gleason, other downtown condos.
A condo has already sold on the sixth floor for $1,060,000, said Atwood. “To have a unit on the lowest floor sell for over $1 million sets a certain tone,” he said. A top floor, 3,600-square-foot abode is listed at $1.6 million.
Said listing agent Steve McLean, “We’ve had good interest.”