While investors pulled away from the trouble retail condo sector in 2017, a recent spate of retail condo sales in early 2018 may signal a new optimism. The Real Deal reviewed Real Capital Analytics data and found that investors bought or put into contract a total of $276 million worth of retail condo properties in the first eight weeks of 2018. What’s impressive is that this figure is already more than half of 2017’s total of $523 million.

Some notable transactions include: In January, Status Capital paid $82 million to purchase a retail condo at the base of the Marquand condo building at 11 East 68th Street from Vornado Realty Trust. In February, Union Investment signed a contract to buy the condo at 412 West 14th Street from Thor Equities for $88 million. But despite this recent influx of retail condo sales, the market is unlikely to return to those heady days of the past — such as when Vornado and Crown Acquisitions paid $700 million in 2014 for the retail at the base of the St. Regis Hotel.