PANAMA CITY, FL-Months before its actual groundbreaking, Sterling Realty LLC says it has sold 60 condominium homes and received reservations for 133 of the 203 available units in the Marina Tower component of the planned three-tower, 393-unit Snug Harbour Marina & Condominiums. The $240-million, 15-story enterprise is in this Florida Panhandle tourist destination.

In a prepared statement, Grady Elder, vice president of sales at Sterling Realty, the Destin-based real estate arm of Sterling Resorts, says the initial selling prices for Unit C at Marina Tower are $499,900 to $564,900 or an average $532,500 per unit. That equates to an estimated sales volume of $30 million over the past two months.

Sales have been "brisk" and buyer response has been "overwhelming" since formal marketing of the units began in September, Elder says. "It's a unique development, offering homebuyers a waterfront lifestyle like no other condominium property in Northwest Florida," he adds.

He says the anticipated completion of the entire project is September 2007 but hasn't announced a ground-breaking date. Area construction sources familiar with comparable luxury shelter undertakings in Northwest Florida tell GlobeSt.com the project would have to begin in first quarter 2006 to have it completed by fall 2007.

Elder says a 132-slip marina will also be developed, overlooking Watson Bayou in Panama City. The one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom condos will have living areas ranging from 999 sf to 2,168 sf, the Sterling Realty official says. Although prices in the popular Marina Tower are higher, prices start in "the low $500s" for most of the units in the other two planned towers, Elder says.