Didnt see this posted about development in North St.Louis

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 6b4ba.html

I saw an article (http://www.stlmag.com/St-Louis-Magazine ... e=0#artanc) in St. Louis magazine over the weekend regarding Craig Heller and Loftwork's next project, Farmworks. I was surprised not to have seen it mentioned here.



The development (http://farmworksstl.com/) is situated between Cass, Florida, Collins and 1st and will feature LEED-certified designs and forward-thinking features. It will have a subterranean fishery, natural rooftop gardens and crop patches at street-level. It will offer education services with the help of SLU, WashU and MoBot, as well as business incubators for green entrepreneurs and environmental start-ups. There will also be transitional housing in the form of lofts -- a move I don't particularly like, as I would expect some city-dwellers to cherish the opportunity to be a part of this development.

I really, really hope this thing takes off. With William A. Kerr and a future Laclede Power Center development to the south, and this project connecting north to the trails and the Trestles, there's a chance of reviving the north riverfront as more than the industrial staging area of our city. And it sits so close to the Cotton Belt building too, that you'd almost have to expect that, if this works, that building would be the next to be saved, renovated and revitalized.

The transitional housing is key to the project and I'm all for it. Hopefully it moves forward and help spur other development in the area.

This type of industry is the next wave of job creation, would be good for STL to get on the bandwagon early. With population running rampant, the demand for food will be astronomical. The more we can export, the wealthier the region will be.

I'm interested about the 'transitional' housing aspect. The proposal is to house, train, and employ ex-cons as I understand it? Ok, great social justice - but will their housing be a condition of parole? Will being fired immediately cost them housing? I can see this getting real messy. This seems to go beyond the usual CSR (corporate social responsibility) - which is fine. I just hope they know what they're doing - building housing and providing housing for a transitional workforce are two very different things.

Roger Wyoming wrote:The transitional housing is key to the project and I'm all for it. Hopefully it moves forward and help spur other development in the area.

How is it key? In the sense that it won't happen without it or that it won't succeed without it?

I only ask because this is the type of project I've always wanted to see on our underutilized North Riverfront. Not just as a method by which to use vacant or abandoned space, but as a way to push downtown's "boundaries" further north and better connect with North City. You don't do that by further catering to social service cases. By turning these lofts into transitional homes for homeless and/or criminals, you are giving people who would spur its success a reason to avoid it. Now whether that's wrong or right isn't the question, but it is the truth.

As I said in my original post, people are eager to move to the city (and pay an acceptable living rate for it) to be active in its development and in its future. Projects like these are what they are looking for and what they want to be a part of. If you can pull in those with the means to stake their money and invest their lives in an area, there's a better chance for that area to grow and become commercially and economically viable ("Gentrification" isn't always a four-letter word, you know).

The transitional housing aspect of this project is noble, yes, but St. Louis' positive future (and that of its less fortunate citizens) lies in innovation, stability and growth, not an ever-escalating catering to social service recipients.

^ From what I understand and read into, this project is reliant on a range of public and philanthropic partnerships and grants for this holistic project to work.... it essentially is a super-robust City Seeds program and the housing component seems central to the goals of the project and perhaps crucial for its funding success. As for the social/gentrification issues, I understand your concerns but the partners they have (Gateway Greening and St. Patrick's, etc.) are top-notch and this is the type of thing I think we need to give at-risk people opportunities. These people are out there regardless, and its better to have them be productive and with hope rather than at Lucas Park, etc. All vibrant urban areas have these issues/challenges and I think that research has shown that this type of holistic program produces much better results for the community. Now if this were a Larry What's His Name project, I would be a bit more skeptical.

I saw this sad news last night.

http://fox2now.com/2012/02/29/strong-wi ... -building/

downtown2007 wrote:I saw this sad news last night.

http://fox2now.com/2012/02/29/strong-wi ... -building/

Oh no...the last thing this project needs is to have funds pulled because the building is deemed unsound. Get some new support walls in place quickly and reinforce the existing structure stat!

ALso, might I recommend moving these comments over to the Farmworks - North Riverfront thread in Downtown Projects & Construction. I know FarmWorks is "technically outside of downtown, but it borders Cass....as close as you can get to downtown without being in it. Also, that thread has pretty, pretty pictures.

Kevin B wrote:

downtown2007 wrote:I saw this sad news last night.

http://fox2now.com/2012/02/29/strong-wi ... -building/

Oh no...the last thing this project needs is to have funds pulled because the building is deemed unsound. Get some new support walls in place quickly and reinforce the existing structure stat!

ALso, might I recommend moving these comments over to the Farmworks - North Riverfront thread in Downtown Projects & Construction. I know FarmWorks is "technically outside of downtown, but it borders Cass....as close as you can get to downtown without being in it. Also, that thread has pretty, pretty pictures.

Merged, though it may make more sense in the North City forum.

I have plenty of info on the current status, but I'll have to add it a little later. Helpful knowing the GC and having the carpentry sub GCing your current project.

You have to like the story coming out of the PD. Looking forward to you insight Mttn STL

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... f6878.html


A day after high winds damaged part of his project’s area, developer Craig Heller on Thursday announced financing for a plan to link housing to green businesses and indoor fish-farming on the North St. Louis riverfront.

A crew from E.M. Harris Construction examined the partially toppled four-story brick structure to determine how much havoc 40-mph winds inflicted on the former St. Louis Stamping Co. factory, where his apartments will be erected. The factory was built in 1870.

Heller said that Harris, the general contractor, will repair the damage “and carry on.”

Sorry for the delayed response. Because the area that blew over needed to be largely rebuilt anyway, this will not prevent the project from moving forward. There is obviously a bit of a delay now, but nothing too bad. This section was missing the roof and a chunk of interior framing already, so it had been weakened. It was braced, but you can only brace so much for the type of sustained winds we have been experiencing lately. Luckily, no one was inside at the time, and no injuries came from the collapse. The building is secured and there is actually a guard posted, so hopefully nothing more will happen. The majority of the building is still intact.

MattnSTL wrote:The building is secured and there is actually a guard posted, so hopefully nothing more will happen. The majority of the building is still intact.

That was, sadly, one of the first things I thought of when I saw the wind damage...Brick thieves going out there to try to take down the rest of the building before crews could come and brace/build.

They had to be itching to get down there after everyone left to throw a pull-line around the unstable upper walls. Glad to see security has been brought in.

Alex Ihnen wrote:Great news. It's just incredible that buildings in this condition can be re-used with the proper motivation and funding. Things like this make me more and more upset about Pevely and the like.

No doubt about that. The fact that I have been able to rebuild a building in horrible condition by myself on a very modest non-profit salary proves that there is no excuse for not reusing a building. Unless there is a much better plan for the parcel. Then I am OK with demo.

Is this project going to have a farmers market also? something like Soulard?

The Northside needs something like this desperately.

While there is no farmers market like Soulard in North City (that is a unique market in the City and region), there is a Farmers Market in the summer In Old North. The North City Farmers Market kicks off it's season June 2 this year, and runs through October on Saturday mornings in Crown Square. There is also a Grocery Co-Op in Old North supplying fresh produce and other foods year round- Old North Grocery Co-op. It is open to all, but membership has extra benefits.

The Loft portion is opening -


http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... 28.twitter

Phase II begins: "...installing a fish farm and other urban agriculture operations."

Also states: "The lofts, opened in February, already have 16 residents."

And: "Heller said he hoped to have the entire project, dubbed FarmWorks, operating by early next year."

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 9eb2e.html

Adding to the excitement of the Bissinger's announcement, here is a great new update on FarmWorks:

We have been so busy since our last post, but St. Louis Stamping Lofts is complete and all apartments are occupied.

http://farmworksstl.com/

Awesome photos at the link.

Roger, pretty impressive that this is actually an $18 million dollar investment if I read it correctly. To me it looks like an unique industrial opportunity along the lines of what you are seeing for breweries in the Grove and Maryland Heights.

Like a brewery, I think the capacity is very much expandable and hopes it works out well considering it is an outright revenue generator in which the fuel itself can be sold to delivery trucks running out of the area. To me, that is even a bigger plus for N. Riverfront development. Think trucks leaving Schafly fueled by Farmwork. N. Riverfront industrial development will soon produce produce (forget the name of the outfit growing for Schnucks), Protein (Believe Farmworks plans to have a fish farm) and the fuel to hopefully deliver some beer to go with the meal.