Downtown Pittsburgh's first new condominium building since Richard Nixon was elected president in 1968 is off to a booming start.

Called 151 First Side, the 18-story high-rise overlooking the Monongahela River has exceeded pre-sale goals, with 30 of the 82 condos under contract 15 to 18 months before the first units will be completed.

Ralph Falbo, the developer spearheading the $26 million project, said some people have purchased condos over the Internet without ever having visited the site, bordered by Fort Pitt Boulevard, First Avenue and Chancery Way.

"I'm just so happy to see this happen in Downtown Pittsburgh because it sure needs a shot in the arm," he said yesterday from his office on Wood Street a short block from the proposed complex.

With 151 First Side under construction, Mr. Falbo already is looking for an opportunity to build a second condominium building Downtown.

He has approached the Pittsburgh Task Force, the private group working to revitalize the deteriorating Fifth and Forbes avenues retail corridor, with a proposal to put an upscale grocery offering fresh meat, fish, vegetables, prepared foods and other items, and 39 condominiums at the old G.C. Murphy's store on Fifth Avenue.

Mr. Falbo estimated that the project would cost $12 million to $15 million. He already has talked to a contractor about the construction and a New York group about the grocery, which is at the top of the wish list for many Downtown residents.

"I think it would be charming. I think it would be dynamite," he said. "A lot of people work Downtown after 5 p.m. To be able to have [a grocery] as a resource would be fabulous."

The Pittsburgh Task Force has been working with Washington, D.C.-based developer Madison Marquette on a residential and retail complex on Fifth and Forbes avenues utilizing the Murphy's building and other government-owned property.

Mr. Falbo said he was hoping he might be able to work with Madison Marquette.

Herb Burger, Pittsburgh Task Force chairman, said he would let Madison Marquette officials know of Mr. Falbo's interest.

"We all have good regard for Ralph Falbo's efforts in contributing to the renewal of Downtown," Mr. Burger said. "The problem with splitting off any given property, such as the Murphy's block, is it would eliminate the possibility of any major developer taking on the Fifth and Forbes project in total."

Mr. Falbo said the 151 First Side project has attracted a range of buyers, including attorneys, doctors and college administrators. Of those who have committed so far, 20 percent are young professionals and 35 percent are empty-nesters.

Prices range from high $200,000 to more than $1 million for a top-floor penthouse bought by an industrialist. Buyers have come from New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Virginia as well as locally.

"I'm elated," Mr. Falbo said. "I'm delighted that the situation is going as it is going."

He hopes to have the first residents in the building by December 2006, with all units completed by spring 2007. The 151 First Side project is one of a number of Downtown residential projects in the works.

On Wood Street, the former Union National Bank Building is being converted into 61 luxury condominiums. A 151-unit apartment complex is being built on Seventh Avenue and Fort Duquesne Boulevard in the Cultural District and another 23 apartments are being completed on Penn Avenue.

Mr. Falbo doesn't see the other projects as competition.

"I think we're different products," he said. "I welcome what's happening. For the first time in Pittsburgh, people are getting a choice."