The 903 Residences condominium complex adjacent to the Providence Place mall is being offered for sale.

Providence Journal File

PROVIDENCE — In a further sign of the slackening housing market, the condominium complex behind Providence Place mall, known as The 903 Residences, is for sale.

“In this real-estate climate, you have to look at all your options,” said Frederick J. Vincent, project manager for the 330-unit condo.

Perhaps best known as the employer of former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. near the end of his federal prison sentence, the property is owned by a partnership that includes another former Providence mayor, Joseph R. Paolino Jr.

Vincent said yesterday that the partnership between the Athena Group, of New York, and Paolino Properties decided to “test the market” after being approached by European investors looking to capitalize on the euro’s strength versus the dollar. “There’s no asking price,” he said, adding, “We’re here to sell condominiums. We’ll sell to individual owners or we’ll sell to bulk investors.”

Vincent said that, for the two years since the partnership closed on the complex in October 2005, it focused on marketing units to individual buyers. But, six to eight weeks ago, the partners hired Apartment Realty Advisors to market The 903 to investors, who would buy out both partners.

Vincent said the partners, who paid $81 million for the property, will not sell at a loss. “They will not. They don’t need to.”

Although fewer than a third of the units have sold, Vincent said, “We’re the best-selling condominium project in the state.” He said the complex has done $35 million in sales. As of yesterday, the 903 had 234 unsold units.

But, like the rest of the Providence condo market, sales have been lackluster in recent months as a buyer’s market has taken hold and deals take longer to close. “In Rhode Island, they shop,” said Vincent. “They shop and shop. They want to make sure that they’re making the best choice.”

He said The 903 sold 43 units last year. So far this year, two units have sold, with a third scheduled to close today, he said, adding that three more sales are “pending.”

In all of Providence, the condo market has been in decline. In 2006, 454 units sold, with a median price of $232,250, according to The Warren Group, a real-estate data collection firm headquartered in Boston. In 2007, condo sales dipped to 418 units, with a median price of $226,000.

And things aren’t shaping up better at the start of 2008, according to the firm’s figures. In January of last year, 26 condo units sold in Providence at a median price of $223,500. The same month this year, that fell to 21 units at $183,100.

Vincent said prices for a 903 condo range from $190,000 for a 560-square-foot studio to $462,000 for a 1,421-square-foot unit with two bedrooms, two baths and a loft.

JPI, of Las Colinas, Texas, built the complex in 2004, when it was luxury apartments known as Jefferson at Providence Place. After buying it the following year and announcing plans to convert it to condos, Athena and Paolino Properties renamed The 903 residences, borrowing from the 02903 ZIP code for that part of the city. Although it is selling condos, the partnership also leases some units as apartments, Vincent said.

He said that condo buyers tend to be urban professionals in their 20s and 30s, though some are people in their 40s who have relocated to Rhode Island and a few are empty nesters who downsized their housing. He said more than half have been first-time buyers. Amenities at the complex include a conference center, a movie theater, a swimming pool, a fitness center and an area for exercising dogs.

pparker@projo.com