Success of Boca resort project doesn’t reflect luxury market as a whole, experts say

At left and right: Renderings of One Thousand Ocean. Center: Jamie Techlin, LXR president of development, on the terraces of One Thousand Ocean, overlooking its construction

From the South Florida Web site: Stalled luxury building projects abound in Boca Raton.

So a recent spike in sales at the almost-finished ultra-luxurious One Thousand Ocean is cause for optimism, at least for its developer, LXR Luxury Resorts & Hotels.

On Wednesday, LXR announced the sale of six units in a six-week period from November to mid-December for nearly $23 million. That brings the total number of units sold to 32 of 52 available apartments which range in price from $3 million to $15 million.

“I just signed another contract yesterday,” said Senada Adzem of the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, and senior sales associate for One Thousand Ocean.

While LXR welcomes the jump in sales activity, it doesn’t necessarily indicate an improvement in the luxury market, one of the sectors hit hardest by the South Florida real estate downturn, development experts said. Builders in the wealthy city of Boca Raton have to reconfigure projects and lower expectations, they said.

Many luxury projects will have to have a price adjustment before there’s an improvement in the market, said Lewis Goodkin, a Miami-based real estate consultant.