On January 10 the local Ritz team held a REALTOR® orientation of the 130 unit first phase of the Ritz-Carlton Residences Mammoth. Prices originally set to shove off at $2 million, were dialed back to a cozy $1.4 million for a 1200 s.f. one bedroom "residence". Reservations will open January 30th and Cypress Equities, the developer, hopes to have 65 residences worth $200 million under contract following a late April launch at the Laguna Beach Ritz.
Of course, the property should be splendid and we all wish them well. Somewhere in the mythical Ritz ether mythical buyers lurk, Texas oilmen, New York bankers, Beverly Hills movie producers eager to gather with fellow moguls, dying to be pampered by an attentive Ritz staffer—imported no doubt, the Westin scoured the bottom of the local service labor pool and came up a few attendants short—before retiring to their multi-million dollar suites. It could happen even though I estimate that 65% of Westin Monache buyers were investors and investors are as rare in this market as competence in the Bush White House. Not to mention that fine homes are available in Mammoth for less than $1.4 million.
With luck we'll have regional air traffic by December of 2008, and as one developer put it, by the time the Ritz is built (2010-2011) the market will have recovered.
