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PostJul 17, 2015#26

Just for my own knowledge, who are the big developers Downtown these days? I can recall the days when McGowen-Walsh and Pyramid were common names on the scene. Are most of the developers from out of town? Where does Blue Urban fall into the picture? Is KM's company relevant any longer. I was reading up on some old MW Tower articles. Do developers today, see any of the indicators still there, that led KM to thinking building a 90-story tower in Downtown STL would work? I would really like to see a new 50+ tower to fill the gaps in our skyline. If Milwaukee, Cincy and other 'peer' cities can build towers, why not STL?! I know AT&T will increase the vacancy rate, but it is lower now than back when KM proposed the tower. Back to my original question, are there any big local developers left, that could pull off building a tower? Finishing off the remaining historic buildings?

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PostJul 17, 2015#27

^ The biggest single player recently has to be Brian Hayden/Brandonview who has been doing his multiple projects on his own with no HTC's, etc. to get in the way. The rest I think are a hodgepodge of local and out-of-state developers who are working on a smaller scale.

I don't think there is any hope for a spec tower but there have been arguments that new Class A space is needed in the market and hopefully a company could be found to anchor something new; I'm sure it would be in the more modest range though of maybe 20 stories or so unless something completely lucky came our way. Best bet would be on BPV for that.

Also, fortunately the vacancy in the AT&T Center isn't being counted in the CBD's vacancy rate until owners decide to actively make it available for lease.... one brokerage told me they don't think that will happen until they can secure a huge anchor tenant(s) taking up about half of the building.

PostJul 17, 2015#28

Thanks, presby! I've a few notes below:
Presbyterian wrote:Here's a working list:

Central Business District:
505 Washington - 3-level mid-century gem
510 Locust - Mercantile Building (A.H./Spinnaker) Now owned by Brandonview
921 Locust (UrbanStreet)
923 Locust - Noonan-Kocian Art Co. (UrbanSt.)
509 Olive - LaSalle Building (Rothschild)
511 Olive (Amos Harris / Spinnaker) Now owned by Brandonview
611 Olive - Railway Exchange Building (Rick Yackey)
777 Olive (Chemical)

West of Tucker:
401 N. Tucker - Jefferson Arms (David Jump)
1511 Washington (International Shoe)
1706 Washington (Old CPI HQ)
725 N. 23rd (Old Commercial Letter)
1717 Olive - Butler Brothers Building
1711 Locust - Locust St. Substation (Kopler)
1815 Locust - The Weber Building (TireMart)
3120 Market? - Municipal Courts plan dead? Actively marketed

South of Market:
200 S. 4th - Millennium Hotel
Is this on the National Register? /

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PostJul 17, 2015#29

Koman might be the biggest in terms of commercial space with the recent Cupples 9 and American General Buildings

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PostJul 17, 2015#30

^ Right. Hayden may not have the highest square footage of the recent developments, but has the most active roster of sizable projects with having the recently executed or in the pipeline redevelopment of the old W, Millennium and Laclede Gas buildings and the Alverne waiting in the wings after the 720 Olive project gets done.

Personally, I wouldn't mind, and actually would prefer him to tackle the Mercantile Building before the Alverne if he has a plan, but I suspect that large of a project may be a ways off.

PostJul 17, 2015#31

presby, up to you, but I guess you also could add the Saint Louis Braiding Company warehouse and its neighbor on Delmar that is going through the redevelopment plan.... those two are a bit different b/c I think they are currently occupied to a decent degree but a re-use seems in store.

....

Also, besides the ones currently having some kind of existing plan, which ones do people think have the best chance of moving soon? I think 505 Washington has to have a bright future and wouldn't doubt that will be soon. Not sure how much space the Post-Dispatch needs these dwindling days. but I kind of see it at 505 Washington with a wrap-around news ticker. (I guess their current HQ could be added.)

PostJul 19, 2015#32

1706 Olive can also be added.... a nice building directly across 17th from Cityblu and across Olive from Butler Bros. There are other nice buildings as well but are smaller sized, And if you want to buy one, Hilliker has them all for sale. In fact, as it also has the listing for the Butler Bros., it looks like it has the entire 1700 block of Olive for sale... that would be cool if they could pool as a group: "Buy the Butler Bros. Building and get the rest free!"

Edit: here is 1706 Olive, which was/still is? Henschel Manufacturing Co. (hats)



Hilliker is listing for $800K
http://hillikercorp.com/item/1706-olive ... -mo-63103/

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PostJul 19, 2015#33

^ I think it would be nice to see Koman tackle a couple more projects downtown. They seem to take on projects that clients already have in mind. But I believe their next big project revolves around Koplar signing them up for their prime CWE location

In terms of hotels, LHM tackling Union Station as well as the Gils move on downtown property/possible boutique hotel development. Drury secured the Laclede's landing property and then was promptly picked for operating a new garage on the landing. I think Drury is waiting to see what happens on the N. Riverfront and or CVC improvements while the Arch Grounds still in the works.

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PostJul 19, 2015#34

^ I vacillate between wanting a couple big projects or an army of smaller ones. Short of having it all, I guess a mix is best. For example, if we got the big guns like Jefferson Arms, Butler Bros. and RR/X knocked off say one every other year along with a couple of the smaller ones every year that would be pretty cool and keep the momentum going. I also hope that we can get some more creative office rehabs for some of these like what happened down in Cupples.

btw, I don't think that Arch replacement Drury parking garage project is moving forward in The Landing.

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PostJul 20, 2015#35

^
I'd probably prefer an army of smaller ones.

To me, the Railway Exchange is the most critical out of the big projects with Butler Bros. being the lowest priority and Jefferson Arms in between.

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PostJul 20, 2015#36

^ I tend to agree and I think with the Butler Bros. Building if we can get the Dragon Trading building and say something on the other side like 1706 Olive that would make redevelopment of the monster more likely.

The unfortunate thing though about the Railway Exchange and Mercantile is that both of those big boys are next to each other so I wouldn't mind juicing one or the other as a priority.

PostJul 20, 2015#37

First floor commercial and 5 residential units up top for 2000 Washington! Call the fire department, cause Downtown West is almost on fire again!

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PostJul 20, 2015#38

^Great news. Can't wait to see this one in all of its refurbished glory. I wonder if it will include 503 N20th. Hopefully it does.


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PostJul 21, 2015#39

^ As far as I know that is a separate ownership and still is a private residence/art gallery currently owned by the guy behind White Flag Projects in the Grove. Is that not the case anymore?

PostJan 09, 2016#40

With the news that the Union Trust at 705 Olive is slated for redevelopment, I thought it was interesting to note that almost 100% of the building stock on Olive between 7th & Tucker is either already on line or has redevelopment plans. The currently vacant or vastly underutilized buildings are:

705 Olive Union Trust: slated for redevelopment by Gills
777 Olive Chemical: ??? c'mon, man!
1011 Olive (w/ the old Bussone's storefront): slated for redevelopment by Bailey
1107 Olive (w/ the old Mauruzio's): ??? probably the most challenging
1116 Olive (w/ the old Something Tasty): ???

So just three buildings in question isn't bad compared to where things were a few short years ago.

(On more of an anal note, I wish the lengthy Cosentry data farm building would have a sign or something to at least indicate it is occupied.)

PostJan 09, 2016#41

^ doing the same for Pine as I did for Olive, with 1115 Pine recently rehabbed and the upcoming rehab of 1133 Pine for the law firm, it looks like the only building on Pine Street east of Tucker that is up in the air is the old Tanner B's at 1113 Pine. RIP, Tanner B's.

(Oh, yeah, and non-historic 900 Pine a.k.a One ATT Center!)

EDIT: we can add the lovely old bank building (recently Schupp Advertising) at the corner of 4th and Pine that the city addresses as 201 N. 4th. Good news with this building though is its in good shape and doesn't need major rehab.


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PostJan 09, 2016#42

^ i would love to see a several-story modern addition rise on top of this building. i assume that would require gutting and reinforcing it, though, so it probably won't happen for a few hundred years until DT demand has increased substantially.

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PostJan 09, 2016#43

^IIRC, that's one of those buildings that was originally planned as a multi-story structure, but only the first floor was ever finished. Or something like that. So it may be ready to go as-is.

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