Update: I would strongly recommend that anyone thinking of buying The Crane wait a while. There is almost NO availability. We have a Platinum 2BR (the 19,200 unit). After trying several times to book various weeks in 2020 and becoming somewhat exasperated, the HGVC representative told me that only 4 2BR units show up on his system, and only 1 2X (the other 19,200 unit which is interchangeable for home week purposes FYI). I did not get numbers on the other units, but availability even of one bedrooms seems pretty limited (I can get that 9 months out since its not my home unit, but nothing was available in any platinum week either). I am guessing that this means either: (1) construction is not complete (see below), and HGVC only has a few show units to sell (most of which are probably taken with marketing offers to try to sell), OR (2) the move into the Crane is much more limited than the offering documents suggested or maybe HGVC isn't getting the reaction it expected from buyers and has halted the project. I have a call into the HGVC rep who sold us the unit to see if they can give us more info, but it is very strange that 9 months after they announced the units were available, I can't get a reservation for 2020.
I did nab a reservation in 2019, but I can't make it (I basically took the only week I could find with availability as soon as they told me the units were available). My son will be taking it with some friends, so will have a trip report in a few weeks. I am going to have him look around to see if there is construction going on actively also. It will also be interesting to see if the unit he gets put into is in the newly constructed area of the Crane that HGVC purchased, or instead are just rehabbed units in the older Crane constructed buildings.
Another reason to avoid purchasing until we know more is the maintenance fee (around $3,500 for my unit). On a price per point that is actually pretty good, but you can currently rent a similar unit from the crane for about $2,200 per week so the Crane is not a good option for renting. How similar those older units are to the new construction HGVC units I don't know - I am hoping that my son will report back that the new units are much nicer than the older Crane ones, but not sure at this point.
Anyone with better information than me, please post!