Downtown Residential Market Thriving

roger wyoming II · PostApr 22, 2014#2012014-04-22T16:21+00:00

Downtown Cleveland has seen quite a bit of action with former office buildings being converted to residential.... here's the prominent 11 story Garfield Building (built in the late 1800s by Pres. Garfield's sons) being converted to residential by a 200 employee real estate firm that also is seeking to move from the suburbs to downtown:

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index ... er_default

There is vacant land next to Thornburg Station, where Sinito originally planned to build a new headquarters complex as his company grew.

But his plans, and the market, have changed.

"When we think about recruiting and we think about really good employees, I think that there's a lot of excitement downtown," Sinito said. "People that are younger than me, they want to work down there."

I still wonder what will happen with Union Trust, Frisco, etc.... I wouldn't doubt seeing those become residential as well.

PostApr 22, 2014#2022014-04-22T19:25+00:00

^ And here is a lovely commercial building in Baltimore being renovated into residential:
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/bl ... rt-st.html

It is one of the oldest buildings to yet be converted downtown, having been constructed in 1891, and is unique in being one of the few downtown buildings to survive the Baltimore Fire of 1904.

PostApr 23, 2014#2032014-04-23T01:16+00:00

Tower OPOP folks pleased with fast pace of leasing:
http://fox2now.com/2014/04/22/tenants-s ... -downtown/

And one of the penthouses can be yours for under $5,000/month!

PostMay 08, 2014#2042014-05-08T01:29+00:00

Marquette Building is converting all of its apartments portion of the building to condos... 36 units. Get yours beginning this Saturday. (The existing condos are 100% occupied.)

An additional 10 units will be created out of the old Y space.

PostJun 04, 2014#2052014-06-04T16:27+00:00

With the Alverne and Arcade/Wright plus smaller projects underway. we have at least 375 units under rehab in the downtown core. In downtown west, I believe Landmarks Assoc. said the Laccassian Lofts are fully occupied in its write-up of its Most Enhanced recipients.

bigmclargehuge · PostJun 04, 2014#2062014-06-04T17:37+00:00

Anyone know how The Tower is doing. They have been sitting at approx 30 either reserved or unavailable, on their website, for a few weeks now. Is that a good number, ok number, or underwhelming number?

roger wyoming II · PostJun 07, 2014#2072014-06-07T14:50+00:00

I wonder what the impact of the SLU Law and now upcoming Webster U Gateway Campus expansion at the Arcade-Wright will have on downtown residential. (I believe SLU Law has about 1,100 students/staff and Webster should have about the same capacity but that may take a few years to get to.)

I'm sure the SLU Law move quietly has helped fill up some of the existing properties in its vicinity and of course the Alverne in 1000 block Locust is underway nearby, but there also was excitement expressed by owners of vacant properties they thought would good for students.... I'm thinking of the Jefferson Arms, the Rothschild-owned 4 story on Pine next to the old Tanner B's (I miss that place) and the upper floors of the Y (which are separately owned and most recently were smaller senior housing units.... the owner who is looking to sell says they could make good studios for students).

Unfortunately, none of these prospects have gotten out the gate yet, but hopefully more of the SLU Law community will continue to have interest in downtown living and help push some of these prospects into reality. And the Gateway Campus sure can't hurt things. Another prospective building that comes to mind that could appeal to students is the old Maurizio's on the 1100 block of Olive and in good ownership hands. And of course the Chemical.

Perhaps with the SLU/Webster additions, a revision of the plan for Jefferson Arms that would have featured Teach for America can finally get that key building back in service... that I think would be the crown jewel.

robertn42 · PostJun 09, 2014#2082014-06-09T14:55+00:00

^We were showing our loft on 15th last month to prospective renters. We had a ton of interest and offers. I expected several SLU Law students, but we didn't have a single one come through. May have been the price or the timing, but I was surprised we didn't have more interest from SLU law students and/or faculty.

mattonarsenal · PostJun 09, 2014#2092014-06-09T16:02+00:00

bigmclargehuge wrote:Anyone know how The Tower is doing. They have been sitting at approx 30 either reserved or unavailable, on their website, for a few weeks now. Is that a good number, ok number, or underwhelming number?

Generally, you should look for buildings to lease about 5% to 10% of their units per month. If a building building is filled (well, 94-97%) in less than 10 months that is a sign of a strong market, less than 18 months is good, and 24 months is OK. Banks doing the financing for big projects want these buildings occupied in less than 2 years. Beyond that there would be some concern.

Speed of leasing isn't the only thing, they may be pushing the rent levels a bit early on to see if renters will bite and how long they will keep biting at that level. If things slow down, they lower the rents to fill the units.

In some hot markets, units will rents so quickly that they raise the rents and slow things down, because otherwise they are leaving rents on the table.

roger wyoming II · PostJul 16, 2014#2102014-07-16T02:55+00:00

Hopefully new residential construction will land in downtown before too long, with townhomes as part of the mix. This project was started in Cleveland's downtown edge pre-recession with some for sale units completed and sold and now it looks like it will resume with 108 more units (now apartment rentals instead of homes)

This would be a great project for Downtown West, or possibly Laclede's Landing or 'Downtown South' b/w 64 & Chouteau.

jstriebel · PostJul 16, 2014#2112014-07-16T04:12+00:00

There are SO many empty lots just off of Washington in Downtown West. It would be great to fill them up.

It really put a damper on my first visit to the City Museum in a long time. I was thrilled to show that place off to a friend from Chicago (as well as reacquaint myself with it), but almost half the view is empty buildings or run down parking lots. Not exactly something to take pride in.

Redbrickcity · PostAug 06, 2014#2122014-08-06T19:21+00:00

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyr ... s_st_louis

some changes are coming to the Mark twain.

roger wyoming II · PostAug 06, 2014#2132014-08-06T19:31+00:00

^ thanks for posting.... its a really good read and touches on a lot of issues/opportunities facing downtown.

Redbrickcity · PostAug 06, 2014#2142014-08-06T19:52+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote:^ thanks for posting.... its a really good read and touches on a lot of issues/opportunities facing downtown.

your welcome but I think all homeless shelters downtown or what ever you want to call them should also have drug testing too. But I am not crazy about have these services downtown. Why not rehab buildings in ESL like the Spivey building for low income housing.

Greatest St. Louis · PostAug 06, 2014#2152014-08-06T19:54+00:00

As someone who lived in the PBL for a couple years across the street from the Mark Twain Hotel, I'd make the argument that it's important these services be placed in parts of the City in which the people they're serving are not isolated from the rest of the world. I think sticking these people in ESL would cause that to happen.

To be clear, though, my opinion overall is such that the most effective way to distribute low income housing projects is to do so evenly over an entire area. Concentrating them in one place only destroys the surrounding area (see: Spanish Lake).

roger wyoming II · PostAug 06, 2014#2162014-08-06T20:06+00:00

^ I agree... I think the best thing is to have them in a number of smaller groupings with some supportive services and transit access rather than congregating in one or two places with no support. I believe a supportive housing facility should be opening soon on S. Jefferson in one of the old school buildings. It also is great to see the historic rehab on Delmar for veterans and the Salvation Army has done some great infill in Midtown. (Remind me again why NLEC is open?) There are also places in the County that should work well.

jstriebel · PostAug 06, 2014#2172014-08-06T21:21+00:00

Hopefully we'll finally get a ruling on the NLEC this month. I'm not sure what date that's scheduled for, though.

robertn42 · PostAug 07, 2014#2182014-08-07T18:17+00:00

The NLEC cannot close soon enough. The decades of inaction against Larry really rub me the wrong way. I've spoken with Rainford about it several times and was happy when he helped clean up the block about 3 years ago. However, it is time for the hotel permit to be yanked. No more excuses. No more stalling.

Gateway City · PostAug 11, 2014#2192014-08-11T23:04+00:00

Redbrickcity wrote:
roger wyoming II wrote:^ thanks for posting.... its a really good read and touches on a lot of issues/opportunities facing downtown.
your welcome but I think all homeless shelters downtown or what ever you want to call them should also have drug testing too. But I am not crazy about have these services downtown. Why not rehab buildings in ESL like the Spivey building for low income housing.

Drug tests cost a sh-tload of money. And what's going to happen if one comes back positive? "Sorry, we know you're here to turn your life around, but since you do drugs we won't help you, so have fun living on the streets and continuing to do drugs."

Ebsy · PostAug 16, 2014#2202014-08-16T07:20+00:00

Putting more poor people in East St. Louis sounds like a great idea! When they aren't breathing in highly toxic chemicals from Monsanto... er I mean Sauget, they can wade through the sewage from the collapsing sewer system!

threeonefour · PostAug 16, 2014#2212014-08-16T18:53+00:00

Ebsy wrote:Putting more poor people in East St. Louis sounds like a great idea! When they aren't breathing in highly toxic chemicals from Monsanto... er I mean Sauget, they can wade through the sewage from the collapsing sewer system!

Sad, but true. It's only one of the many reasons East St. Louis was doomed to fail. My parents grew up there; I wish there were easy and long-lasting fixes for that community. There are still good people there who deserve so much better.

wabash · PostSep 12, 2014#2222014-09-12T16:44+00:00

Under Construction / Announced:
Arcade - 282 apartments
Laclede - 111 apartments
Alverne - 81 apartments
Courtyard by Marriot (former Lennox Hotel / Renaissance Suites)

Recently Completed:
OPOP Tower - 128 apartments (about 33% leased)
Magnolia Hotel

Now can we get a Walgreens or CVS in the CBD?

downtown2007 · PostSep 12, 2014#2232014-09-12T17:13+00:00

What about the Millennium Center? How many apts?

And while I think it's great to see this investment, Denver, a metro the same size, has 4000 units proposed for their downtown. Still a long was to go.

wabash · PostSep 12, 2014#2242014-09-12T17:57+00:00

Oh yeah, should have included that:

Millenium Center / Gallery 515 - 102 apartments

roger wyoming II · PostSep 12, 2014#2252014-09-12T18:42+00:00

wabash wrote:Oh yeah, should have included that:

Millenium Center / Gallery 515 - 102 apartments

only an idiot would compile a list.

Downtown Residential Market Thriving

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