^ A lot of neighborhoods are looking for people like him 
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I spent a lot of time along Manchester in FPSE in 2001/2002 and I'm glad to see that the mythical savior developers swooped down from heaven and landed on this great area. The commercial along Manchester is amazingly intact and the housing stock all around is as solid and varied as you'll find in the City. I do remember there was a fear of oncoming gentrification at the time, but it was evenly balanced with a fear of continuing decline if help didn't come soon.
If you've never seen the re-styled elementary school in FPSE, I recommend it. I used to daydream about the buildings along the old racetrack remnant that were tucked in on the south end of the neighborhood on Vandeventer.
By the way, either Amy or Amrit Gill will be addressing the final Rehabber's Club Class this next Wednesday evening, so if you've got any gripes, ideas, comments, pleas to be adopted...this would be a good opportunity to air them. The Gill that shows up that night will be joined by Sean Thomas of ONSL and Kevin McGowan of Blue Urban (formerly with McGowan Walsh). Details for the event can be found here: http://www.rvstl.org/
If you've never seen the re-styled elementary school in FPSE, I recommend it. I used to daydream about the buildings along the old racetrack remnant that were tucked in on the south end of the neighborhood on Vandeventer.
By the way, either Amy or Amrit Gill will be addressing the final Rehabber's Club Class this next Wednesday evening, so if you've got any gripes, ideas, comments, pleas to be adopted...this would be a good opportunity to air them. The Gill that shows up that night will be joined by Sean Thomas of ONSL and Kevin McGowan of Blue Urban (formerly with McGowan Walsh). Details for the event can be found here: http://www.rvstl.org/
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Been a while since I've heard about anything new in the area. I went for a drive in the neighborhood today and it seems that new projects have unceremoniously begun. Here are the three most obvious examples I found:
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4301 Arco - This one is at the corner of Arco and Tower Grove. This is a Restoration St. Louis building, but that's all I have been able to determine. I have been trying to sell the building next door for a client and he said that he heard it was going to be a dance studio. Don't know where he heard it or if there is even an ounce of truth to it, but its a start.
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4501 Manchester - This one is at the corner of Manchester and Taylor. This one was rumored to be a cajun restaurant way back when, but when that fell through it just sat there. Looks like Restoration St. Louis is going at this one at full speed. Any word?
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4512 Manchester - Saved the best for last. I've always love this building and it looks like something might actually happen with it. The entire property and adjoining lot are fenced off and there are constrution trailers parked to the side. One of the trailers reads "Sidelines." I pulled up their website (http://www.sitelinesllc.com/home.html) and was quite intrigued by the fact that their office address was listed as 4512 Manchester.
Anybody have any insight on these projects?
4301 Arco - This one is at the corner of Arco and Tower Grove. This is a Restoration St. Louis building, but that's all I have been able to determine. I have been trying to sell the building next door for a client and he said that he heard it was going to be a dance studio. Don't know where he heard it or if there is even an ounce of truth to it, but its a start.
4501 Manchester - This one is at the corner of Manchester and Taylor. This one was rumored to be a cajun restaurant way back when, but when that fell through it just sat there. Looks like Restoration St. Louis is going at this one at full speed. Any word?
4512 Manchester - Saved the best for last. I've always love this building and it looks like something might actually happen with it. The entire property and adjoining lot are fenced off and there are constrution trailers parked to the side. One of the trailers reads "Sidelines." I pulled up their website (http://www.sitelinesllc.com/home.html) and was quite intrigued by the fact that their office address was listed as 4512 Manchester.
Anybody have any insight on these projects?
Looked at some FrontDoorSTL apartments in FPSE last week - I was really impressed with the quality of the rehabs. Might have just been salesman hyperbole, but he said that they're being snapped up pretty quickly. The Newstead Tower apts were particularly impressive, though kind of small. It'd be fun to live over a pub though. He mentioned that the Gills will soon own over 100 buildings in the neighborhood, and they want to buy more. He also said they are running into a lot of property owners who are resisting selling, in the hopes that they'll be able to get more from developers after the Gills finish what they have now, presumably driving interest in the neighborhood up.
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I'm am amazed how quickly this area has changed since the Gills took over. It goes to show how much more effective neighborhood transformation can be when one capable developer is in control verses those that espouse "organic" change. I wish Restoration St. Louis would focus on South Broadway in Carondelet next.
This information was thrown out at the last Gibson Heights neighborhood meeting, but I can't say exactly how reliable it is:
4301 Arco: yoga studio
4501 Manchester: Italian restaurant, I think by the same chef who was involved in Blue Water Grill
4512 Manchester: office space
4301 Arco: yoga studio
4501 Manchester: Italian restaurant, I think by the same chef who was involved in Blue Water Grill
4512 Manchester: office space
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wuphys wrote:This information was thrown out at the last Gibson Heights neighborhood meeting, but I can't say exactly how reliable it is:
4301 Arco: yoga studio
4501 Manchester: Italian restaurant, I think by the same chef who was involved in Blue Water Grill
4512 Manchester: office space
The yoga studio is pretty consistent with what I've heard so there might be some truth to that one. There isn't an Italian restaurant yet on Manchester so I can buy that. Since Sitelines has their office address listed as 4512 I can buy that too.
Sitelines was just down on Vandeventer, and they left those offices a few months back. So that one seems very likely.
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wuphys wrote:This information was thrown out at the last Gibson Heights neighborhood meeting, but I can't say exactly how reliable it is:
4301 Arco: yoga studio
4501 Manchester: Italian restaurant, I think by the same chef who was involved in Blue Water Grill
4512 Manchester: office space
I was talking to Restoration St. Louis' Forest Park Southeast real estate agent on a separate matter this morning and asked him about 4301 Arco and 4501 Manchester. He verified the yoga studio and Italian restaurant. It sounded like leases were signed and sealed. He said the Italian restaurant was going to be called Mia Rosa and described it as "rustic Italian".
KMOV did a piece on Forest Park Southeast's revitalization:
http://www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/k ... fb700.html
http://www.kmov.com/localnews/stories/k ... fb700.html
Nice story, but it would have been nice if they mentioned the Gills. They have done more for Manchester and the surrounding streets than WASHU Med Center Redevelopment Corporation.
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^ WU seems to get little credit for their work in this neighborhood. I see it as the Gills putting the icing on the cake. OK - maybe they also put the cake in the oven, but WU supplied the ingredients and turned on the oven! Let's not forget the residents as well. It's a more attractive neighborhood for the Gills because of some of the residents. BTW - Angie lives right behind me. She's an awesome person with lots and lots of stories to tell.
I wasn't disagreeing that WashU did a lot of the ground work. Just saying the Gills need proper credit in a story like that. The residents and WashU certainly got it, so let's not leave out any of the others including the entrepreneurs that took the plunge on Manchester.
Conurbation wrote:wuphys wrote:This information was thrown out at the last Gibson Heights neighborhood meeting, but I can't say exactly how reliable it is:
4301 Arco: yoga studio
4501 Manchester: Italian restaurant, I think by the same chef who was involved in Blue Water Grill
4512 Manchester: office space
I was talking to Restoration St. Louis' Forest Park Southeast real estate agent on a separate matter this morning and asked him about 4301 Arco and 4501 Manchester. He verified the yoga studio and Italian restaurant. It sounded like leases were signed and sealed. He said the Italian restaurant was going to be called Mia Rosa and described it as "rustic Italian".
It looks like the yoga studio at 4301 Arco is open for business and the website has some sweet pics of the finished rehab. Check it:
http://www.thenurturingspirit.com/index ... &Itemid=62
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I wonder if any of the Gills legal/financial trouble with the parents will affect their continuing work in the area? I sure hope not.
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southcitygent wrote:I wonder if any of the Gills legal/financial trouble with the parents will affect their continuing work in the area? I sure hope not.
It seems hard to believe that loan repayment couldn't be worked out. Those family Thanksgiving get togethers must be mighty awkward.
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southcitygent wrote:I wonder if any of the Gills legal/financial trouble with the parents will affect their continuing work in the area? I sure hope not.
That's news to me. Are we talking about literal parents here, or a parent company?
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I believe its Amy's parents, the story was in the Business Journal a few weeks back.
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Here's the link to the report on the lawsuit from the January 16th issue of the SLBJ:
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html
Hugh Ferriss wrote:Here's the link to the report on the lawsuit from the January 16th issue of the SLBJ:
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html
Wow, must be nice..... If i/we had mommy and daddys coin, i/we could of of bought up cheap swaths of the city and rebuillt em as well....
At least now we know the rest of the story.
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The Gills received $2.5M in tax credits to build "new mixed-use buildings" and renovate "existing buildings that will seek LEED certification, including one that will be "the first zero carbon-emissions building in St. Louis." (all according to the STL Bus Journal)
Anybody know the latest on what's going on with Restoration St. Louis? I took about a 7-mile walk this evening through FPSE/Cortex/Shaw, and noticed a few boarded up buildings with the Restoration St. Louis logo stamped on them that just seemed forgotten. Their website doesn't seem like it's been updated in years. Has development stalled?
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I'm thinking there should be some growth coming in the pretty near future. I would figure after all they put into the grove they needed to let the grove catch up to them a bit. Just keep an eye out