No one needs any more proof of the US condo market downturn but there is a trend that is taking hold of cancelled condo projects caught in the middle of the downturn.

ConAm Group has just bought the 14 acre Piazza d’Oro project in La Jolla California for 30 million dollars. This is a project originally approved by the local Planning Commission as a mixed-use project including 201 condos.

ConAm will develop the site as apartments now with the option to turn them into condos at an opportune time in the future.

This is just a single example of a scenario being played out numerous times across the US, and it’s something to watch as a possible longer term method of developing condos into the future. We may see especially in the low-to-mid priced condo market a trend where it becomes common to build some kind of a mixed breed condo/apartment with the stated intention of having them convert at a later date.