A man who built an empire on the idea of living large in retirement is having to scale back a bit himself.
John Erickson, whose Erickson Retirement Communities operates 19 communities in 11 states, will try to unload his Inner Harbor corporate penthouse in an auction Saturday.
Bids for Harborview's Penthouse 4A begin at $950,000. List price for the 3BR, 3.5BA, 3,922-square-foot waterfront condo was $4.6 million when Erickson first put it up for sale a year ago.
"The goal of the sale is to support Erickson's ongoing efforts to maintain and enhance liquidity," said Mel Tansill, an Erickson spokesman.
Erickson Retirement Communities' real estate arm has been struggling in this economy, in part because some seniors have had to put off moves because their own homes haven't sold, The Baltimore Sun's Lorraine Mirabella reported recently. The company has had to resort to layoffs, debt restructuring and now this: a real estate fire sale.
How much of a fire sale remains to be seen.
Despite the headline on the media release - "Multi-million dollar Baltimore Penthouse on the Auction Block for Only $950,000" - there's an "unpublished reserve price" somewhere above that figure, and bids below that mystery floor price will be rejected, said Mike Kim, chief operating officer for Great American Home Auctions. No one is going to walk away with the place for $950,000, Kim acknowledged.
John Erickson and his wife, Nancy, moved into the penthouse shortly after the company bought it in 1998 and moved out in early 2008, Tansill said. It was never their primary residence. That's in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The Harborview penthouse was just a place to hang their hats when in Baltimore. But it was one gold-plated hatrack.
The gourmet kitchen, whirlpool tub and other features are on view at the auction Web site. I asked Kim to reel off the luxury appointments, but he only wanted to talk about the view. You can put granite counter tops into even the most cramped Baltimore rowhouse, but not a 320-degree waterfront view, "from the cruise ships all the way over to Ravens stadium."
"You could literally look out the window all day long. It's pretty mesmerizing."
A governor and a scholar?
Friday's season finale of Real Time with Bill Maher will feature a discussion with actor/comedian Garry Shandling, actor Alec Baldwin, TV host Chris Matthews and some scholar from Maryland.
