annapolis

Luxury Condos Up For Auction In Annapolis

Another big condo event is scheduled for Maryland. As many as 30 units at the GrandView at Annapolis Towne Centre will be auctioned off on November 14. Units that were priced from $415,000 to $995,000 will be sold at 60 to 70 percent off recent asking prices. A condo last priced at $995,000 has a minimum bid of $308,00 while a condo last priced at $415,000 will have a low minimum bid of $148,500. Condo fees range from approximately $275 to $600 per month. Auctioneer Sheldon Good & Co. says the builder and its lenders will sell at least 10 units if they get bids at least as high as the minimum. According to a post in the Baltimore Sun, two-thirds of the 150-unit building is empty.The auctioneers will take sealed bids on three of the 10 penthouse units with current asking prices of just under $1.2 million to just over $1.7 million.

Tags: annapolis, condo auction, grandview at annapolis towne centre, maryland real estate, sheldon good

The Classicist: Touring in the New Touareg TDI

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Luxury Cars & Autos, Events, Green, The Classicist

Volkswagen is not a marque one usually associates with luxury, and so we admit to being somewhat skeptical about the new 2010 Touareg V6 TDI and not all that enthusiastic at first when the chance came to test it out. MotorTrend changed our mind with its recent comparison of diesel and hybrid luxury SUVs - amazingly, their pros all concurred that it outclassed more expensive models like the Mercedes ML320 BlueTEC, BMW X5 and Lexus RX 450h. Plus it's one of the most fuel efficient and cleanest SUVs in the world.

We had a chance to experience it firsthand on a recent jaunt to Washington, DC and Annapolis, Maryland. The Touareg handled all situations with poise and equanimity, from navigating the city streets to an amazing dinner at Wolfgang Puck's The Source, to finding the right marina in Eastport through the bay's backroads for some sailing (the touchscreen GPS was a big help there). We could easily have kept on going, as the comfy interior with its wood and leather resembles in MotorTrend's words "a den in a ritzy Alaska fishing lodge" - or for our purposes make that the upstairs bar at the Annapolis Yacht Club.

Don't think that "diesel" means noisy and slow like those old Mercedes wagons of your youth. The Touareg TDI is powered by a hushed 3.0L, turbocharged six cylinder engine that produces 225 horsepower and an impressive 407 lbs-ft. of torque. Tourque, we learned en route, is more important than horsepower in diesel engines. The TDI's torque gives it performance equal to the gas-powered Touareg V8 that's rated at 350 hp and 324 lb-ft of torque, to give you an idea. And whereas the latter has an EPA mileage rating of 13/18 mpg city/hwy, the TDI gets 17 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway.

Gallery: Touring in the Touareg TDI