urbanSTL

It went very well. Sorry I haven't posted sooner, I've been pretty busy this week.



Laurie (sp?) from the design studio accompanied us over to the building and we used the buckhoist elevator to get in. Once inside, the supervisor joined us as well. They were both very professional, and answered all questions to the best of their ability. Anything they couldn't answer was noted for later response. Of particular interest to other Dorsa buyers: The soundproofing is supposed to be better in Dorsa than Bankers, as they say they are using more and better materials/techniques between Unit walls, and said walls are very bit of 6 inches thick. The supervisor said those 6 inches will be fully insulated with a few different materials. Also, they mentioned the thing that will make or break the current project timeline is the installation of the elevators. As for right now, everyone I spoke to is confident of the current progress and timeline.



The walkthru is about what you'd expect; go over the power outlet locations, cable/data/phone locations, water and gas connections, where your switches lead, and in some cases (like myself) if you had any custom work ordered, they point that out as well. Laurie carries a copy of your floorplans and checks everything off as it's point out to you.



Mine took about a half hour-45 mins, but that's because I was snapping picks (which I would post but don't have my computer currently). It can be as short as 15 mins. to as long as an hour, if you had many questions or a lot of custom work...or just didn't want to leave.



All in all, I was very pleased, with both my unit and the people involved. BTW, the windows are much larger than they appear from the outside...they're big!

The Bankers Lofts Display Unit will be on the loft tour this weekend, as will the BRAND NEW Dorsa Display Unit, as will the ARCADE Display unit. And you won't need the loft tour bracelet to get in to any of these.



Also, I was told today that my walk-through will be next week (if not at the end of this week, though probably next). My intuition is that Pyramid has been going crazy trying to get the two new display units done in time for the loft tour, and that may have slowed the purchased units a little. But that should be done by this weekend. So we'll see.

Nice new windows have gone in on the first two floors. The frames are black - don't know if they're going to be painted a different color or left as-is, but it certainly looks better.

My wife and I just had our pre-drywall walkthrough. Very neat.



Some things we learned:



Closings probably won't start until August for the 2nd floor (at this rate). The floors above and below your floor must pass a city "nothing's gonna kill anyone" test. So 3rd floor will likely be more like September. Or October, if anything causes a slow down.



Parking spaces won't be assigned (and thus second parking spots won't be offered) until very near closings start ... they have to know who's going to be slotted where before they can start offering.



Of the elevators, one will reach the garage, and one will go to the penthouses. I can't remember if it's the same elevator that does both, though.



There will be a main entrance into the Dorsa building, and a secondary entrance in the 1015 Washington building (the building that connects to the original Dorsa building and is now part of the Dorsa Lofts) that leads to the Dorsa lobby and elevators.



The ceilings on the 3rd floor are right at 12'4".



I love my loft.

I walked by the Dorsa on my lunch hour today, and I had to make mention that there's much progress going on on the outside now. (sorry...I wish I had my camera with me )



On the front of the art-deco building, they finally took down the boarding to reveal lots of glass...it'll be a really nice HUGE window when the framing is done. Also, it appears on the front of the other building that they're going to be keeping the frame color black...and the new windows are in the 1st and 2nd floor to boot.



On the back, the balconies on the art-deco building are installed and the doors/windows are starting to go in! I asked a worker, and he said the balcony platforms for that building are 5' by 20'. Of course, that serves two units, so they're 5' by 10' for each unit. On the other building, you can tell the window/door/balcony work is about to start, and the same worker said that the balcony platforms for this building would be 4.25' by 25' (and thus, 4.25' by 12.5' per unit).



Good stuff! It was encouraging to see outside progress!

What's going on at the sales center? I noticed that there is now paper over the windows and it looks like construction work is being done there.

The sales center moved from the corner of 10th and Washington 1 space west (still in the same building). Mosaic is moving into the space formerly occupied by the sales office.



I assume that's what you're talking about ...

^

Ah yes, I forgot about Mosaic's upcoming move. Thanks!

The latest progress pics, mostly featuring the display unit, are now up on the website, http://www.dorsalofts.com/progress.php

This is my first post here so I don't have much to say for now. I've been reading for awhile now though and I do want to say that I've found a lot of great information thanks to you all! I plan to move into a 4th Floor unit at the Dorsa Lofts this Fall.

Meteo wrote:This is my first post here so I don't have much to say for now. I've been reading for awhile now though and I do want to say that I've found a lot of great information thanks to you all! I plan to move into a 4th Floor unit at the Dorsa Lofts this Fall.

Congrats on the new loft. A few of us on the board (as you may know) will be on the 3rd floor, so we'll let you know how it is in a couple of months.



Welcome aboard.

I don't know how exactly this affects the rest of construction, but I now have a date for my pre-drywall walkthough for my 4th floor unit (the end of this week). Thus, some sort of progress must be happening. Hopefully the 2nd floor folks will have closing dates soon.

I emailed Stirling today about the issue.



At this point, it's looking like the 2nd floor units will start closing the last week of August through the first week of September (since that's less than a month away, I assume the 2nd floor people have closing dates ... or have at least been contacted about setting closing dates). There are only something like 3 units on the second floor that are under contract, so that shouldn't take all that long. Finishing those 3 on the second floor will "quickly trigger" the 3rd floor closings.



The 3rd floor has quite a few units sold, so that could take a while.



As for the rest of what Stirling said:



"The front lobby & elevators are almost complete (they’ve changed the temp doors at the fire exits to the fire doors – good sign)."



That's all I've got for now.

Firstly, I want to wish a belated welcome to Meteo. I'll be in 308.



Secondly...Looks like it's shaping up to be a similar schedule to what Bankers' had: One month off.



Though it's not quite as encouraging to see so many unsold units, I'm happy that at least as a result of it, I'll get into mine quicker

The unsold units are pretty similar to what Bankers had as well. One encouraging thing - there are only 2 penthouses left uncontracted for or unreserved.



Unsold units happen in most all buildings. There are some people who are willing to plunk down money on the basis of a mere floor plan to save some money (me), and there are others who are willing to pay a little more to see the finished product before they buy. That's the nature of things. No big deal. Bankers is almost fully sold at the moment, and they were in the same position.



All we can really do is move in and run the Home Owners Association well.

Wow. That is disappointing since they are less than 1/2 sold. The amount of time this project has taken has been mind blowing. What is taking this bldg so long? I remember this was introduced the summer of 2005. Does anyone know what the retail space will be?

Downtown2007 wrote:Wow. That is disappointing since they are less than 1/2 sold. The amount of time this project has taken has been mind blowing. What is taking this bldg so long? I remember this was introduced the summer of 2005. Does anyone know what the retail space will be?

Mind blowing? They're about a month and a half behind Ely Walker and pretty close to Bogen, both of which were announced around the same time. How is that mind blowingly late? They didn't even have a real website until early 2006 (I think). Plus, Bankers, which is directly next door: (1) has the same internal construction; (2) is by the same developer; (3) has the same finish; and (4) was done a year earlier, probably took a few of the people who would have been Dorsa buyers away. But even Bankers was in the same position a year ago and is now almost full.



As for retail, Mosaic is moving into the corner of 10th and Washington, a sushi restaurant is moving in below the 1007 building, and we're still waiting on what will be below the 1015 building.

I don't recall exactly but I don't think that Bankers was this far along and only half contracted, I could be wrong.



However, don't discount the difference in the market right now. When Bankers was first available, there wasn't too many other options - and if you wanted to be in the (at the time) more developed area of downtown, there weren't any other options.



Bottom line is look at the other buildings on the market now, none of them are flying "off the shelves." I wouldn't be concerned.

No, I would be overly concerned either. Ely was introduced at the end on 05 and completed June 07. Its is also three times as big. Its not a terrible thing that this has gone rather slow but more importantly that it was done right.

Slow doesn't always mean right. Loftworks (LW) is ahead of schedule on the Syndicate. However, that doesn't take into consideration the possible differing philosphies between Pyramid & LW. In terms of timing, LW may underpromise and over deliver where the Pyramid seems to do the opposite.

BL211 wrote:

JimJim15 wrote:All we can really do is move in and run the Home Owners Association well.

You won't run the HOA until the building is over 70% closed.

Not completely. But I believe we get a few representatives on the board from the beginning, with full control coming with more closings.

I think this project is really looking good. Any retail been announced/rumored?