urbanSTL

Kind of like the exciting change when Hotel Indigo on Lindell became a Comfort Inn.

I wish the Roberts Bros would get rid of there properties they are sitting on so a viable investor can turn them around. The Orphieum could be a great asset to downtown but sits vacant 28 days a month. I have said it once and will say it again the Roberts are terrible at real estate business.

downtown2007 wrote:I wish the Roberts Bros would get rid of there properties they are sitting on so a viable investor can turn them around. The Orphieum could be a great asset to downtown but sits vacant 28 days a month. I have said it once and will say it again the Roberts are terrible at real estate business.

Most development teams are having difficulty obtaining financing which results in stalled projects. With that said, the Roberts Bros. may have greater financial issues than most.

^^Apparently, they are not very good at any business.

Their Tower needs to be sold immediately. Once those units begin to be filled, it is going to be a huge catalyst for the area.

Also, they spent a fortune on that tower. Bad business again. $70M+ for a 52 unit condo building? There is a proposal here in Minneapolis right now for a building in the neighborhood of 200 units and ~400ft that is estimated to cost $100M. The economics of Robert's Tower have not really made sense from the start. I am sure I could pull up some posts talking about how I highly doubted they would get $400ft for condos here. Glad it got built, but they need to get this thing occupied.

newstl2020 wrote:^^Apparently, they are not very good at any business.

Their Tower needs to be sold immediately. Once those units begin to be filled, it is going to be a huge catalyst for the area.

Also, they spent a fortune on that tower. Bad business again. $70M+ for a 52 unit condo building? There is a proposal here in Minneapolis right now for a building in the neighborhood of 200 units and ~400ft that is estimated to cost $100M. The economics of Robert's Tower have not really made sense from the start. I am sure I could pull up some posts talking about how I highly doubted they would get $400ft for condos here. Glad it got built, but they need to get this thing occupied.

I doubt this tower will see interior construction until 2014 at the earliest. The only way they will make money (or break even) is if they're condos; not apartments. And we know how terrible the for sale market is right now.

newstl2020 wrote:^^Apparently, they are not very good at any business.

Their Tower needs to be sold immediately. Once those units begin to be filled, it is going to be a huge catalyst for the area.

Also, they spent a fortune on that tower. Bad business again. $70M+ for a 52 unit condo building? There is a proposal here in Minneapolis right now for a building in the neighborhood of 200 units and ~400ft that is estimated to cost $100M. The economics of Robert's Tower have not really made sense from the start. I am sure I could pull up some posts talking about how I highly doubted they would get $400ft for condos here. Glad it got built, but they need to get this thing occupied.

I agree, I wish the tower would be sold asap, but like stlien, I don't know who's going to take a leap on building out the interior and selling high-end condominiums in the current economic environment.

It will eventually happen, but the building is probably going to be a shell for awhile, unfortunately.

So, has anyone heard about the "exciting" replacement for Shula's in the ground floor space? And if the Roberts Bros. have enough change in their pockets to open the place, will they actually pay the employees?

Anyone been to the new restaurant that has opened here yet?

RobbyD wrote:A shame...I still say the OPO plaza there is (was) probably the best dining spot downtown in terms of aesthetics and views...

My gut feeling is that the city and therefore the region would be better off if Robert Brothers real estate empire would crumble sooner then later. Cant'f fault them for constructing an impressive residential tower next to the OPO. But you have to wonder if they are ever going to be able to execute properly the construction as well as marketing of their properties or at least find someone who can.

I suppose its implied but the City and all of us should glean an important lesson from this train wreck in slow motion:

"Development" is not always indicative of "Progress." Visually? Yes. You can literally see progress in a building taking shape. However, we would all do well to remember that commercial and real estate development has a lot more to do with managing a finished project as opposed to building it.

For better or worse, that is one reason why Biondi's suburban masterpiece on Pevely has a small amount of appeal to me; at least we know its going to begin generating tax revenue at some point.

Prediction: Roberts Brothers are not the owner of this building when it finally reaches completion. Matter of fact, I predict an ownership change as a part of a bankruptcy restructure for their completely insolvent company.

Unlike most, I happen to think the Robert's Brothers have hurt the area more than helped it. Just my bitter outlook on things...