Bay Colony Condominiums

Anyone driving a boat or car through Williams Bay has certainly noticed our two brick behemoths. Built in the 1970’s, the two condominiums on the west bank of Williams Bay, just north of Gage Marine, are a rare site along the Geneva Lake shoreline. Geneva Towers is the only building on the lake that is taller than these two seven story buildings, and Fontana Shores falls two floors short of keeping up with these west bank studs. The buildings aren’t romantic. They aren’t inspiring, and they certainly aren’t classic. They are, however, they have long been extremely attractive to condominium buyers.

Today, we’re only talking about the north building, affectionately and legally known as Bay Colony. The south building is Bay Colony South, a name that is both apt and sort of boring. Was Bay Colony Awesomer already taken? The north building is the cheaper of the two buildings, owing to the fact that the south building offers garages, and the units all have spectacular views of the lake. On average, I would guess Bay Colony South is worth about $100k more per unit. Even though most people (ahem, agents) think the buildings are somehow related in an association, they are not. Each building is self contained, and does not have anything to do with the other. The north building was built on an angle, presumably to take advantage of the views to the southeast. Even with the best of intentions, this angling of the building turned out to be a horrible mistake when the owner of the residential parcel that exists in between the north and south buildings refused to sell. Instead of looking out over manicured lawns and perhaps a tennis court or two, the southern most end of the north building stares almost directly into trees.

The angled nature of Bay Colony is really only an issue to the “04” units. Picture this. The building is only one unit deep as it faces the lake, and the units stretch from north to south along the lakefront. The “01” units are the northern-most units in the building, and also the only units that have three bedrooms. Working south toward the view blocking trees, the “02” units are next, followed by “03” units and ultimately, “04” units. The “03” and “04” units have some view difficulties, but the view problems are largely relegated to the “04” units. Make sense? I hope so.

The building is rife with amenities, and most buyers will find the indoor pool quite appealing. Unlike some other complexes in the area, the pool at Bay Colony is right inside the building where the units are, so there’s no reason to bundle up when you head over towards the pool in January. There is also covered parking, and while it’s not a garage, it’s better than nothing. Each unit at Bay Colony has a boat slip, and the building is positioned very close to the water, with a completely level front lawn. If you’re not a fan of steps, this is a great property. The views from most units are amazing. The middle units (02 and 03) have huge balconies, with sliding door access from both bedrooms and the living room. In addition to the pool, there is a lounge area (of sorts), and a brand new billiard room with wet bar. There is also a basic exercise room with a couple of all in one style machines.

The building has always been a light volume building, with several years passing between offerings. I sold a unit in this building back in 2001 for around $400k, and several units sold over the past couple years have sold for around $600k, including a unit I sold for that price back in 2007. The units that have changed hands have been fairly original, which in the case of a condo built in the 1970’s, is not really a good thing.

As luck would have it, I just listed a two bedroom unit in Bay Colony. It’s one of the original units, so it will need some updating, but the space is good and the views are tremendous. The price is $649k, which is about $100k cheaper than the only other unit for sale in the building. The nice thing about updating a two bedroom, two bath condo is that the alterations are fairly simple. Two new baths, new trim, a new kitchen, new flooring, and new paint later, you have a dynamite residence right on the shores of Geneva Lake. The unit has a transferable boat slip as well, and a buyer who doesn’t mind doing a bit of work will be rewarded. Email me if you’d like more details.