An auction of 54 unsold condominium apartments at the Solaria at 640 West 237th Street in the Riverdale section of The Bronx was held yesterday at the New York Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan.

Most of the units at the auction were reported sold at prices that were about 35 to 45 percent below "list" prices. According to an article by Sara today at curbed.com, the developers said the prices "were within 5 to 10 percent of the current going rates for the neighborhood." The winning bids, the article continued, "are still contingent on the seller's approval."

The 20-story apartment building has 64 apartments.

A blog by Malcolm Carter, a broker with Charles Rutenberg Realty in Manhattan, said that at the end of the three-and-three-quarter-hour auction "the total bid was $39,900,000 - 55 percent of the list price," adding that "the average price per square foot was a mere $440, and only four units went for $1 million or more."

An article today by Phoebe Kingsak at amny.com said that Jim Corum, president of REDC (Real Estate Disposition), which conducted the auction, said that "it's a great, viable platform with which to move real estate." Her article maintained that REDC "was on pace to close a majority of the units."

An October 23, 2009 article in The New York Times by Josh Baranel noted that "soon after the Solaria went on the market in fall 2006, the development announced that 20 percent of the 64 apartments had been sold." "Since then," the article continued, "the developer has offered a variety of incentives: a one-time $30,000 educational credit, a promise to make mortgage payments for up to a year if a buyer were to be laid off, and even a free iPod for everyone who showed up at a marketing event."

Several of the "buyers" were knocked out by the financial crisis, however, and the project's developer, Joseph Korff of Arc Development LLC, "said he has not facing pressure from lenders, but was frustrated because buyers who seemed to like the project were uncertain about where the market was headed and how much apartments were worth," the article said, adding that Mr. Corum of REDC, which is based in California, said that "while auctions of large blocks of homes are not unknown in more distressed parts of the country, this will be the largest auction in the current downtown in the Northeast."

The building has many balconies, a doorman, a garage, a canopied entrance, a commuter shuttle, a roof deck with a Meade telescope observatory, refrigerated storage for grocery deliveries, a fitness center, a residents' lounge with a 20-seat dining area with kitchen, a children's playroom and an outdoor play area.