urbanSTL

From the biz journal article.

King is building a mixed-use property at 1801 Washington Ave. The 184 apartments will be a mixture of studios and one-bedrooms, with expected monthly rents between $1,295 and $1,800. Construction is planned to start in the third quarter of 2021, with estimated completion in the first quarter of 2023. We spoke with King about why he’s developing in Downtown West, why now, and what it means for the neighborhood. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The newest renderings of this project (just sent to me today). The blank space on Washington has been removed in favor of more retail space. Beyond that, nothing much else has changed. Design is now entering the advanced design and engineering stage. Everything still seems to be on track with this.

I included one of the zoomed in renderings since you can see the "art wall" inside of the building better.

^^Any indication what the cladding material is? It looks like wood oe some type of faux wood material.  In other words, it does not look like metal panels, which is what it appeared to be in the first rendering.

urbanitas wrote:^^Any indication what the cladding material is? It looks like wood or wood-colored fiber cement board. It does not look like metal panels, in other words, which is what it appeared to be in the first rendering.

Still metal panels, white brick, and corten steel.

Happy to see a surface lot filled. Also happy to see more of Wash ave fill in. It would be nice to see it have street level activity (or as much as it can have) from Broadway all the way out to Jefferson.

As long as they aren't throwing the shipping container facade on this, it looks so much better.  Especially adding that additional retail space.

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Feb 13, 2021

urbanitas wrote:^^Any indication what the cladding material is? It looks like wood or wood-colored fiber cement board. It does not look like metal panels, in other words, which is what it appeared to be in the first rendering.

Still metal panels, white brick, and corten steel.

Looks like significantly less corten steel, as they've gotten rid of that big sort of fence of it that was planned for the middle of the Washington-facing facade.

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Feb 12, 2021

I understand these renderings are quite a bit higher in quality...but this looks way, way better than the original renderings showed.  Really great addition for the Wash Ave corridor.

+1 on this.

Looking like a fantastic addition to the area. Extremely excited to see this one progress.

I may be in the minority here but I really don't mind the tax breaks for projects like this. 

• Solid massing
• Great retail streetwall addition on one of the cities most important streets
• Replaces a surface parking lot
• New construction in DTW where rents and vibrancy aren't where they should be

This project is a big deal. Hopefully it can be a proving ground to pave the way for 30 similar projects in DT/DTW

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Feb 15, 2021

I may be in the minority here but I really don't mind the tax breaks for projects like this. 

• Solid massing
• Great retail streetwall addition on one of the cities most important streets
• Replaces a surface parking lot
• New construction in DTW where rents and vibrancy aren't where they should be

This project is a big deal. Hopefully it can be a proving ground to pave the way for 30 similar projects in DT/DTW

there are 2 apartment projects (one across the street) and another a block away that is under construction right now with no incentives.....nor was there incentives for the apartments that opened in late 2018 across the street at 1910 Washington. 

1800 Washington got 90% for five years plus 85% for another five years, and federal and state HTCs

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Feb 13, 2021

Happy to see a surface lot filled. Also happy to see more of Wash ave fill in. It would be nice to see it have street level activity (or as much as it can have) from Broadway all the way out to Jefferson.

And the good thing is that there aren't all that many vacant/unused lots left along Washington.  Hopefully the north and south sides of the 21xx block will be the next to see new construction.  It would be really amazing to then see new infill along Lucas, from 14th to 23rd.

Geotechnical work happening today.

chriss752 wrote:Project still advancing (moving on to advanced drawings and what not). Hopeful start in the early fall.

Good news! Thanks Chris.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Is the 90% 10-year tax abatement locked in for this, or could the Mayor's office still put their foot down?

Tim wrote:Is the 90% 10-year tax abatement locked in for this, or could the Mayor's office still put their foot down?

Locked in and signed my Lyda Krewson back in February.

^ anything that hasn’t started construction can be unlocked and I suspect the new SLDC Director will review all pending projects and re negotiate

^^  Backtracking and not honoring a deal that was signed is a recipe for pissing off pretty much everyone in the development community. 

Every admin at every level reviews decisions by previous admin and charts it own course

There's a pretty big delta between "reviewing decisions by previous admins" and ripping up signed deals. And who knows, maybe the new SLDC won't bat an eye when they review it.

I can only speak from experience that, if I was a developer who spent the time, money and resources to navigate the full entitlement process on a major development only to have the city claw it back and renegotiate prior to breaking ground through no fault of my own, I would likely smile and finish the project, then avoid working with that city again at any point in the future.

jbacott wrote: ↑

Jun 04, 2021

There's a pretty big delta between "reviewing decisions by previous admins" and ripping up signed deals. And who knows, maybe the new SLDC won't bat an eye when they review it.

I can only speak from experience that, if I was a developer who spent the time, money and resources to navigate the full entitlement process on a major development only to have the city claw it back and renegotiate prior to breaking ground through no fault of my own, I would likely smile and finish the project, then avoid working with that city again at any point in the future.

I highly doubt the SLDC will renegotiate the tax abatement for this project. If they do, I'm sure this project will die.