One of the things they don't mention in the article is if the condos come with indoor parking. You need a place to keep a 914 on jackstands.
QUOTE
HAMPTON, Ga. — The sound of automobile traffic was deafening. Inside Jim and Muriel Dollar's two-bedroom penthouse condominium here, a party was going on, and the guests leaned in close in their theater-style leather chairs to make themselves heard, their drinks set in cup holders that occasionally vibrated ever so slightly.
With the Tara Place Condominiums in the background, some Nascar fans still spend race day in the infield of the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
But no one seemed to mind the noise or the tremors. In fact, some had binoculars in their hands to get a close-up view of what was going on nine stories below. That was because the apartment's floor-to-ceiling windows looked directly onto the racetrack of the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where cars were roaring by at speeds up to 190 miles per hour.
"It's the best seat in the house," said Mr. Dollar, 65, the president of a concrete construction company in Norcross, Ga., gazing out at the jet-black oval on a recent Saturday. Anyone who doubts that the traditionally blue-collar sport of Nascar has gone upscale need look no further.
The Dollars are among the dedicated fans who have forsaken the track infield — the home of tricked-out R.V.'s, makeshift barbecue pits and parking spaces passed down from generation to generation — to root for Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr. from the plush confines of apartments that, in some cases, cost $1 million or more.
The Dollars said they paid $500,000 for their condo when they bought it about eight years ago.
There have been condos at Nascar tracks for several years, but it is only recently that the market for those second homes has become almost as active as that of a hot New York City neighborhood.
The building pace is accelerating, prices for some condos have more than tripled, and now — with Las Vegas getting into the act — the number of Nascar condos around the country is expected to almost double in the next few years.
In March, Speedway Motorsports Inc. announced plans to build 120 units at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway at prices ranging from $600,000 for a one-bedroom condo to $4.5 million for a three-bedroom penthouse. At three other tracks it owns — the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., the Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth — the company has built a total of 174 condo units in the past couple of decades.
Some 15 percent to 20 percent are owned by corporations, and the rest by individuals.
The Trophy Towers, as the Las Vegas condominium building is called, will have a swimming pool, a workout room and a spa. Each of the 120 units will feature stainless steel appliances, oversize bathtubs and panoramic views of both the track and the Las Vegas Strip. One feature may be heavy-duty soundproofing. Apparently, the roar of the action is an acquired taste.
The International Speedway Corporation, which owns or operates 11 racetracks around the country, is conducting a feasibility study on a possible mixed-use development across the street from the Daytona International Speedway, which could include offices, restaurants and up to 100 loftlike apartments.
No one seems to doubt that Nascar fans can afford the prices of the condos — the race-car world's equivalent of golf manors on the 18th hole.
Nascar research shows that the sport's following has grown 19 percent since 1995, to 75 million, 22 percent of whom are estimated to have household incomes topping $70,000.
The ever more elaborate condos are part of a trend that has seen tracks add amenities like high-end spas where fans can get $75 facials in between races.
Trackside condos, built adjacent to the course and often located near a turn to give a good view of the action below, are a step up from the luxury boxes that are now a standard feature at most sports stadiums.
But although the condos come with all the trappings of a second home, most owners occupy them for no more than a few weekends a year, typically bringing family, friends and business clients for big racing weekends.
At the Dollars' 1,600-square-foot penthouse, the chef arrived around 11 a.m. for the Nextel Cup Series race. He tied a black apron around his waist and began preparing a spread on a speckled brown and white stone countertop that had been shipped from Brazil and hoisted into the home by a crane.
Before the starting flag fell, chicken and goat cheese tamales with chipotle salsa and cilantro sour cream, baked Vidalia onion dip with crostini, jumbo lump crab cakes, carved beef tenderloin and Gruyère in a puff pastry were ready to be dished out.
A group of burly guests — clients of Mr. Dollar's construction company — strolled up the spiral staircase to a rooftop terrace to take in the panoramic view of the track and thick wafts of fuel.
"Look at all those high-end trailers out there," said Bill Jaynes, 62, an electrical contractor from Fayetteville, Ga., motioning out the condo's windows toward the track's infield, where hundreds of trucks, mobile homes and R.V.'s — including one with Oriental rugs — were the scene of a giant tailgate party. "It's millions of dollars out there."
Sinking into the brown leather couch beneath the large flat-screen TV, Mr. Jaynes said, "If this is a redneck sport, I want to be a part of it."
Ken Barbee, 65, the retired owner of a plastic injection molding company, liked Nascar so much he decided to live full time at the racetrack.
After separating from his wife in 1994, Mr. Barbee moved into a two-bedroom condo at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina and has called it home ever since.
"For me, being single, living alone, it's the greatest place in the world," he said.
The condo was also a good investment. Mr. Barbee bought the unit in 1990 for $140,000 and estimated its current value at $450,000. "I should have bought two or three," he said.
When the Tara Place Condominiums at the Atlanta Motor Speedway went on the market in the 1990's, a basic two-bedroom condo on the sixth floor was listed at $250,000, said Beverly Currie of McDonough, Ga., who helped sell the first units and now handles many of the resales. The penthouses ranged from $455,000 to $495,000.
Now, Ms. Currie has a handful of listings ranging from $350,000 for a basic two-bedroom unit to about $1.5 million for a penthouse. Each comes with at least five tickets, which are required for entrance to the apartment building on race days, and V.I.P. parking passes. Some owners who bought their condos early get as many as 33 tickets.
Trackside condos took a while to catch on. "People thought it was so crazy," said H. A. Wheeler, president of Speedway Motor Sports and head of the Lowe's Motor Speedway, where the first condominiums went up in 1984. "They were just laughing at it."
Some apparently still are. Bill Young, 64, a business owner from Wichita, Kan., said he could have snatched up one of the condos when they were first built. Instead, he said, he is happier in the infield, where he pays about $2,000 each for a handful of parking spots and entertains guests from his $400,000 motor home.
"You feel the race down in the infield," he said. "You're kind of isolated in the condos."
But Jim Dollar seems to prefer it that way. "It's not like sitting in the stands," he said of his penthouse view. "You have a lot of your friends up, and it's just a big party."
With the Tara Place Condominiums in the background, some Nascar fans still spend race day in the infield of the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
But no one seemed to mind the noise or the tremors. In fact, some had binoculars in their hands to get a close-up view of what was going on nine stories below. That was because the apartment's floor-to-ceiling windows looked directly onto the racetrack of the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where cars were roaring by at speeds up to 190 miles per hour.
"It's the best seat in the house," said Mr. Dollar, 65, the president of a concrete construction company in Norcross, Ga., gazing out at the jet-black oval on a recent Saturday. Anyone who doubts that the traditionally blue-collar sport of Nascar has gone upscale need look no further.
The Dollars are among the dedicated fans who have forsaken the track infield — the home of tricked-out R.V.'s, makeshift barbecue pits and parking spaces passed down from generation to generation — to root for Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr. from the plush confines of apartments that, in some cases, cost $1 million or more.
The Dollars said they paid $500,000 for their condo when they bought it about eight years ago.
There have been condos at Nascar tracks for several years, but it is only recently that the market for those second homes has become almost as active as that of a hot New York City neighborhood.
The building pace is accelerating, prices for some condos have more than tripled, and now — with Las Vegas getting into the act — the number of Nascar condos around the country is expected to almost double in the next few years.
In March, Speedway Motorsports Inc. announced plans to build 120 units at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway at prices ranging from $600,000 for a one-bedroom condo to $4.5 million for a three-bedroom penthouse. At three other tracks it owns — the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., the Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth — the company has built a total of 174 condo units in the past couple of decades.
Some 15 percent to 20 percent are owned by corporations, and the rest by individuals.
The Trophy Towers, as the Las Vegas condominium building is called, will have a swimming pool, a workout room and a spa. Each of the 120 units will feature stainless steel appliances, oversize bathtubs and panoramic views of both the track and the Las Vegas Strip. One feature may be heavy-duty soundproofing. Apparently, the roar of the action is an acquired taste.
The International Speedway Corporation, which owns or operates 11 racetracks around the country, is conducting a feasibility study on a possible mixed-use development across the street from the Daytona International Speedway, which could include offices, restaurants and up to 100 loftlike apartments.
No one seems to doubt that Nascar fans can afford the prices of the condos — the race-car world's equivalent of golf manors on the 18th hole.
Nascar research shows that the sport's following has grown 19 percent since 1995, to 75 million, 22 percent of whom are estimated to have household incomes topping $70,000.
The ever more elaborate condos are part of a trend that has seen tracks add amenities like high-end spas where fans can get $75 facials in between races.
Trackside condos, built adjacent to the course and often located near a turn to give a good view of the action below, are a step up from the luxury boxes that are now a standard feature at most sports stadiums.
But although the condos come with all the trappings of a second home, most owners occupy them for no more than a few weekends a year, typically bringing family, friends and business clients for big racing weekends.
At the Dollars' 1,600-square-foot penthouse, the chef arrived around 11 a.m. for the Nextel Cup Series race. He tied a black apron around his waist and began preparing a spread on a speckled brown and white stone countertop that had been shipped from Brazil and hoisted into the home by a crane.
Before the starting flag fell, chicken and goat cheese tamales with chipotle salsa and cilantro sour cream, baked Vidalia onion dip with crostini, jumbo lump crab cakes, carved beef tenderloin and Gruyère in a puff pastry were ready to be dished out.
A group of burly guests — clients of Mr. Dollar's construction company — strolled up the spiral staircase to a rooftop terrace to take in the panoramic view of the track and thick wafts of fuel.
"Look at all those high-end trailers out there," said Bill Jaynes, 62, an electrical contractor from Fayetteville, Ga., motioning out the condo's windows toward the track's infield, where hundreds of trucks, mobile homes and R.V.'s — including one with Oriental rugs — were the scene of a giant tailgate party. "It's millions of dollars out there."
Sinking into the brown leather couch beneath the large flat-screen TV, Mr. Jaynes said, "If this is a redneck sport, I want to be a part of it."
Ken Barbee, 65, the retired owner of a plastic injection molding company, liked Nascar so much he decided to live full time at the racetrack.
After separating from his wife in 1994, Mr. Barbee moved into a two-bedroom condo at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina and has called it home ever since.
"For me, being single, living alone, it's the greatest place in the world," he said.
The condo was also a good investment. Mr. Barbee bought the unit in 1990 for $140,000 and estimated its current value at $450,000. "I should have bought two or three," he said.
When the Tara Place Condominiums at the Atlanta Motor Speedway went on the market in the 1990's, a basic two-bedroom condo on the sixth floor was listed at $250,000, said Beverly Currie of McDonough, Ga., who helped sell the first units and now handles many of the resales. The penthouses ranged from $455,000 to $495,000.
Now, Ms. Currie has a handful of listings ranging from $350,000 for a basic two-bedroom unit to about $1.5 million for a penthouse. Each comes with at least five tickets, which are required for entrance to the apartment building on race days, and V.I.P. parking passes. Some owners who bought their condos early get as many as 33 tickets.
Trackside condos took a while to catch on. "People thought it was so crazy," said H. A. Wheeler, president of Speedway Motor Sports and head of the Lowe's Motor Speedway, where the first condominiums went up in 1984. "They were just laughing at it."
Some apparently still are. Bill Young, 64, a business owner from Wichita, Kan., said he could have snatched up one of the condos when they were first built. Instead, he said, he is happier in the infield, where he pays about $2,000 each for a handful of parking spots and entertains guests from his $400,000 motor home.
"You feel the race down in the infield," he said. "You're kind of isolated in the condos."
But Jim Dollar seems to prefer it that way. "It's not like sitting in the stands," he said of his penthouse view. "You have a lot of your friends up, and it's just a big party."