Friday, September 19, 2008

1015 Locust gets overhaul as pace picks up in district

St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown

The new owners of the 1015 Locust Street office building are pumping $3.5 million into an exterior and interior overhaul of the property. The investment is one of many planned improvements along Locust Street.



Los Angeles-based ICO Development and New York-based Sovereign Partners bought the Locust Building in January for $6.1 million from Downtown Locust LLC, an investment group led by managing member Tim Crowley of St. Louis.



Work is under way on a gut rehab of the ground floor lobby of the 270,000-square-foot building.



Eileen Hamburg of Quintin Design Resources is redesigning the space and AJ Brown is the general contractor. The next phase of the overhaul, to be completed in 2009, includes new awnings and signage.



Since the acquisition, the new owners of 1015 Locust signed lease renewals and expansions totaling 42,742 square feet, bringing occupancy to 67 percent, said John Warren, an associate with CB Richard Ellis, leasing agency for the property. St. Louis Development Corp., the city’s development agency, leases several floors in the 12-story building. “We’re trying to get a restaurant or bank on the first floor for the 5,100 square feet of retail space,” Warren said.



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... ory12.html

Good news..one of the ugliest POSs downtown. Is that just a facade or is that how it was built?

bprop wrote:Good news..one of the ugliest POSs downtown. Is that just a facade or is that how it was built?

It's a historic building that was recladded at some point.

3.5 million for exterior and interior...



Wonder what portion will be for interior and what for the exterior. What can they even do besides power wash the grunge off the white tiles?



Edit: Actually I always thought replacing the windows with a dark red/brick color reflective glass and change the tiles out would look really nice and compliment the Merchandise Mart, just modern instead.

They were washing windows this morning, I wonder if they will wash the rest of the building while they are at it. Construction in the lobby has been going on for a few weeks now.

zink wrote:


Edit: Actually I always thought replacing the windows with a dark red/brick color reflective glass and change the tiles out would look really nice and compliment the Merchandise Mart, just modern instead.

Nothing says "lifeless, suburban office building" like reflective glass. Increasing transparency would go a long way to making the street a friendlier place to be at all hours of the day and night and present a more interesting face on the building itself.



For what it's worth, the cladding is a product of its time. It may not be to an individual's taste but it is at least a well done example of the period. I personally think its a good-looking (if dated) building. This particular cladding is more conducive to removal and restoration of the historic facade like the old Post-Dispatch building as opposed to say, the Farm & Home or Mercantile Library where little to none of the original exists. I don't know what's under the cladding of 1015 but I like it the way it is.



The existing facade will look very sharp when its "restored." I am glad to see the new owner's approach is not to disregard it for what it is.

zink wrote:Wonder what portion will be for interior and what for the exterior. What can they even do besides power wash the grunge off the white tiles?

What can they do? Just about anything. Reclad it in all glass, or glass and marble, or glass and whatever. But they obviously aren't going to spend that kind of money.



Does anyone have a picture or postcard of this building pre-rape?

Cityboy wrote:I don't know what's under the cladding of 1015 but I like it the way it is.

Here's what's underneath:

jlblues wrote:What can they do? Just about anything. Reclad it in all glass, or glass and marble, or glass and whatever. But they obviously aren't going to spend that kind of money.

About ten years ago, the Millenium Center at 6th and Olive (the building with the Starbucks) received a facelift, which I think looks great. The building - which was not a recladding of a historic building - originally looked kind of like the Locust Building looks right now, but it was given sleeker-looking black panels and nice awnings. Something similar might work for this building.

Oh, I didn't realize this was the old Rice-Stix Department Store.



So, it wasn't a rape, it was more like a gang rape, torture, and burning alive.

Grover wrote:

DeBaliviere wrote:

Cityboy wrote:I don't know what's under the cladding of 1015 but I like it the way it is.

Here's what's underneath:

^ You've got to be sh!tting me!

There is no question in my mind that the original is superior and I think contemporary tastes would likely agree. At the time the building was reclad they obviously thought "old" was bad and sleek and new was good. And while I think it wasn't the best choice, its still a nice expression. Most of all I am happy that the form of the building and it's relation to the street remain and the original did not wind up in a landfill.



Whether much of the original exists, I think it would be difficult for the owners to justify the expense of restoring it-- particularly based on their budget. Who knows? Maybe someday that will happen. Until then, I am happy to see it spruced up appropriately.

It's a shame that that building was skinned. I especially like the cornice.



Was the interior also destroyed?



And is that the Farm and Home building there next to 1015 Locust?



Interesting that 2 buildings right next door to each other were both reskinned to this extent.

STLCardsBlues1989 wrote:It's a shame that that building was skinned. I especially like the cornice.



Was the interior also destroyed?



And is that the Farm and Home building there next to 1015 Locust?



Interesting that 2 buildings right next door to each other were both reskinned to this extent.

From what I've seen of the interior, it's unrecognizable. There's even a garage on the first floor.



And that is the Farm & Home Building next door. Sad.

Cityboy wrote:Whether much of the original exists, I think it would be difficult for the owners to justify the expense of restoring it-- particularly based on their budget. Who knows? Maybe someday that will happen. Until then, I am happy to see it spruced up appropriately.

The cornice and the 1st floor stone and/or terra cotta storefronts obviously don't exist any more. Stating the obvious I know, but if enough of it existed under the cladding, I'm sure someone would have tried to get it on the National Register and get federal and state historic tax credits, which would have really helped out with that renovation budget.



I wish the historic tax credit legislation could be modified for cases like this to make a true restoration/reconstruction viable, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Maybe once every intact historic building downtown has been restored, and residential, office, and retail space rates go up, such projects will make more sense.

Maybe I'm too young, but I don't understand the 50s and 60s attitute that "old" is bad and ugly is good.



I guess this uglified building is better than a parking lot, though.



Obviously not all buildings need to be historic and brick, but it looks better than this certainly.



I wonder where that site got the photo? I'd kind of like to see what the Farm & Home building looked like (more than just a corner of it).

They are indeed cleaning the facade, definitely looks better, however still nothing compared to what is under the clading. Now that they are half way done you can see the contrast between the clean and unclean, I wonder how long it has been since the facade has gotten a good cleaning? I think awnings will finish it off nicely.

I heard that the owners looked into restoring the original facade, but that it was too far gone. This whole block will look so much better. Now to get Sam Berger to sell the Alverne and Bluestein Bridal Building...

i drove by this building the other day. I wonder what kind of retail they'll be able to get on that corner. Left Bank and Schnucks will be new additions to the street/area. the street is really improving.

It appears the facade is getting more than just a washing, they have started masking and painting, it looks like the white panels on the building are being painted black. The lobby looks like it is complete and seems to be a nice mix of the existing marble and modern wood panels. There has been no work to the retail as of yet. I am not sure what to think of the paint job just yet, I guess I will have to wait and see.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -data.html

This building is for sale, currently only 48% occupied, but could be totally unoccupied by 2028 except for a data center that just signed a long term lease extension.

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