An article in the Business Journal mentioned that the Stern Fixture Co. is going out of business. The company had been located at 1910 Locust Street, which I believe is the building pictured below:







The company is being liquidated to satisfy creditors. If Stern's owners owned the building, maybe we'll be hearing redevelopment plans soon.

is this directly across the street from Panama Reds?

TheWayoftheArch wrote:Whats happening with their old building? Is it going on the market?



Its the one with the funky of-kiltered facade, right?

You're right. It said they're going to lease the space.

It'll be great to see what a hip design-oriented firm will do with this cool old building.

i'm so glad to hear something is finally being done with this building and the old tudor one just north of it on washington. with 2020, majestic, edge, westgate, packard,a nd adler completed or near completion, i hope to see some new stuff opening around the area within the next few years - particularly in the bottom of adler and packard. it's a shame that the giant commercial building just south of stern building on olive has been sitting vacant for so long.

From MayorSlay.com...

Paradowski Creative is proposing the $8.7 million historic rehabilitation of the former Stern Fixture headquarters at 1910 Locust. The new and expanded location will allow the Paradowskis’ successful graphic design firm to continue to grow in the City. Paradowski expects to add at least thirty jobs over the next five years. Stern terminated its business operations in 2006. Paradowski is currently located at 303 North Broadway, in an eclectic structure the company purchased and renovated in 1995 to make its move from the suburbs to downtown. The company is the recipient of numerous awards for its graphic design work. The developer is requesting a $1.4 million TIF.

^ possibly 30 new hires in the next 5 yrs. That's 30 more people who might want to live dt west.

Good news. This is a great building, and a great location for mid-sized creative-type companies.

saw some action in the stern building the last few mornings. Some workers had the big garage door on locust open and it looked like there was a decent amount of junk to be moved out. I hope that this action means the work on this building will start soon. I really like this building and I think this area on locust all the way down to mid town is going to see a lot of development, at least I hope!

It's a neat building. I'm glad to see somebody moving in.

Nice. Can't wait to see what the design firm does with this building.

The buildings shown are the 1889 electric works and 1891 boiler house addition to the Missouri Electric Light and Power Company complex. This company started producing electricity in St. Louis in 1889 and was absorbed by Union Electric in 1903. It operated as an electric substation until 1974 when it was sold to Stern Fixture.



Source: Missouri Electric Light and Power Co. National Register Nomination: 2005

The infill over the large arched window openings on the west side of the building was removed on Sunday. Hopefully some new windows will be going in shortly.

Just got a letter in the mail from the city notifying me that a business called "McGarvey's Gathering PLace and Grill" located at 1911 Locust will be applying for a liquor license. Proposed use of the premises include "dance, bar, restaurant, extended hours and summer garden/sidewalk"

If the picture of the building posted on the first page of this thread is 1910 Locust and the Tin Can is 1909 Locust, then 1911 must either be the empty lot across the street or the building adjacent and to the west of Tin Can...?



Another dining establishment in DT west!



Imo's

The Tap Room

F15teen (although the way business is looking lately...)

El Borracho

Pepper Lounge



coming soon:

Wicked Fresh Subs

Smoking Joes Bar-b-Q

Fusion

McGarvey's

It is indeed the parking lot across the street:



http://stlcin.missouri.org/assessor/pop ... OCUST%20ST



Fantastic to see infill in this part of town! Let's hope this one happens...



-RBB

This empty lot?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 4011755892

I just cant imagine what downtown will look like in 20 years with all this infill and rehabilitation going on. It's really exciting to think about it.

I am Alex Paradowski the owner of Paradowski Creative and the old Stern Fixture building. I noticed the conversation about the building so I thought I'd give you more complete information.



I purchased the building in December of 2007. From that time until several months ago we were in the plannig stages and going through all the hoops involved with tax credits etc.



Months ago we began demolition and abating environmental issues.



We are now fully under construction.



We are restoring the building's exterior to it's original 1889/1891 condition.

We are restoring all the arched window with new windows to match the original windows as closely as possible.



The same is true for the two major entrances on Locust.



The 1942 building, the showroom build by Union Electric, immediately east of the surface parking is also being restored to it's original facade which was mostly glass.



We are currently excavating to build underground parking beneath the two west buildings and are beginning to replace the roof.



Tentative completion date is late November of this year with our planned occupation of the building at or about the first of the year. We will move in with approximately fifty employees. All the buildings will have second levels inside that will add about one third to one half more square feet than the foot print.



We will occupy all of the West building and about two thirds of the center building with the rest of the center building and the showroom available for tenants. The original plan of a coffee shop on the corner has been changed.



We are restoring the building as "green" as financially sound and possible. We are planning to get LEAD certification but at this time we are not certain of what level we will be able to qualify for.



We love our broadway building, but have just out grown it. We plan to sell it and create a super-cool space on Locust. We are pretty much leaving no stone unturned, right down to new sidewalks and trees.



One last comment. We are anxiously waiting to move in and become part of the "new" Locust neighborhood shopping on Washington and eating at the near by restaurants.

^

Outstanding! Thanks for checking in.



I was just checking out your new building the other day, and it's really going to look amazing once those new windows go in. Lots of exciting things going on in that part of downtown.

I went by today to check it out. Nice looking buildings. Great to see all the workers buzzing around. This is gonna be great.



BTW, Alex, any chance of posting some renderings of the finished product?

that's great news Alex. I'm happy to finally see that parking paved with new asphalt this week. totally changes the look of the area.