By Molly Parker
SCIBZ Daily Staff

MOUNT PLEASANT -- In another sign of the sagging economy, one of the region’s most expensive condominium projects remains more than 40% vacant almost a year after the bulk of construction wrapped up. 

Owners of the Tides condominium complex in Mount Pleasant are offering incentives worth up to almost half a million dollars in an attempt to move 51 vacant units that remain in the high-end real estate project overlooking the Cooper River. 

“Sales are slow,” said developer Richard Coen. “We want to do anything and everything we can to turn them around.”

Seventy of the complex’s 121 units have sold.

Some 40 buyers have backed out of preconstruction contracts to purchase units, which are listed at between $700,000 and $3.7 million, Coen said. Earlier this year, several entities filed suit against Carolina Eastport, the development company Coen and partner David Sidbury own, claiming their contracts were void because the buildings were not completed on time. 

The majority of those lawsuits have been settled, Coen said. 

The sluggish economy has made even aggressive investors skittish, he said, attributing it partly to “hysteria and panic” about the economy.

“If people believe, then it becomes real,” he said.

Among incentives offered by the Tides developers is a credit worth three years of interest, the amount determined by assuming a mortgage of 80% of the list price with a 5.5% interest rate. The developers also are offering to credit three years’ worth of regime fees and give that amount to the homeowners’ association at closing. 

Using these discounts, a buyer of a five-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath penthouse listed at $3.2 million could save $498,660, according to promotional material.

Coen announced plans for the massive project in late 2004 when the real estate market was booming and the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge was under construction. The two large concrete structures that make up the complex are situated on a prime parcel in Mount Pleasant close to the riverfront park the town is constructing underneath the bridge. By time the project neared completion late last year, the real estate market had changed dramatically.

Coen said he is optimistic the economy will rebound.

“I’ve got a good stomach for it, but it’s not much fun,” Coen said.