urbanSTL

Alex Ihnen wrote:^ Agreed. Can't blame him for being smart, and if I understand the history, Jump didn't sit on buildings for years.

He's a shrewd businessman. He did sit on his buildings for a few years, getting into the game in the late 90s and selling out around 2006 or so, IIRC. He's a speculator, as opposed to a developer.

He doesn't have any plans for the Jefferson Arms, although he says he's going to make repairs to its garage.

I'd be interested to know the details on Sherman's attempt to purchase the building.

^

The half-million-square-foot property, which hosted the 1916 Democratic National Convention, had been owned by Pyramid Cos. until Citicorp foreclosed on it last year.

Jump said he initially plans to make improvements to the garage on the property. He would not disclose his long-term plans. “I haven’t gotten that far yet,” he said. “It’s a great building. It’s big. It has a lot of history. It’s going to have another life, I just don’t know what my role is in it yet.”

John Steffen’s Pyramid Cos. shut down in April 2008, two years after purchasing the property and before starting any work on it. Pyramid paid Barry Cohen $19 million for the property in 2006 and planned a $75 million conversion of the 13-story building. The property has sat vacant for three years, since Pyramid closed its 529 apartments.

Jump owns American Milling Co., a Cahokia, Ill.-based grain processor. The privately held company does not release revenue figures.

He also is a big land owner in Illinois. In 2008, he bought a 500-acre riverfront property in Cahokia for a new barge facility. Jump acquired the bulk of the real estate for $7.7 million from Eagle Marine Industries Inc.

Jump, a longtime Clayton resident, bought more than a dozen vacant commercial buildings in downtown St. Louis for bargain-basement prices in the late 1990s, and they sat vacant until he sold them to developers several years later.

Jump made $9.15 million in 2005 from the sale of four buildings: the 1113 Washington building, which Jump bought for $900,000 and sold for $4.8 million; 1021 Washington, which Jump bought for $700,000 and sold for $2.3 million; 1706 Delmar, which Jump bought for $300,000 and sold for $1.1 million; and 1635 Washington, which Jump bought for $1.35 million and sold for $4.2 million.

Jump, who is also a partner with Bob Cassilly in the City Museum at 701 N. 15th Street, cited downtown’s revitalization over the past decade as the driver behind his purchase of the Jefferson Arms. “I think downtown St. Louis was a neglected treasure that an increasing number of people have been waking up to over the last 10 years or so.”

Rich Birner of Homeland Realty represented AB Acres LLC, Jump’s investment entity, in the purchase of the Jefferson Arms. “We felt it was a good value for what the property was...and a good investment.”

Ken Aston and Andrea Kendrick of Hendricks & Partners represented Municipal Realty Corp., a division of Citicorp. Citicorp had a first mortgage on the property for $19 million and bid $5.5 million at public auction in August 2009. Real estate sources said Jump paid less than $5.5 million for the Jefferson Arms.

Aston declined to comment on the terms of the deal but said Citicorp received nine offers for the property. Minneapolis-based developer Sherman Associates, a co-developer on the Syndicate condos and apartments downtown, had the Jefferson Arms under contract in 2009, but a deal never materialized.

“The interest level was better than expected,” Aston said. “It’s a building that needs substantial rehab, which will only work financially if there are tax credits involved along with other forms of government subsidy.”



Read more: Jump’s back in downtown St. Louis - St. Louis Business Journal:
http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory1.html

$100 million plan for Jefferson Arms
Premium content from St. Louis Business Journal by Evan Binns

For a year and a half, Scott Baier has been working with developers David Jump and the McGowan brothers to jumpstart the renovation of a former downtown hotel into inexpensive office space and affordable housing for teachers, one of the first projects of its kind in the country.

Now, the groundwork is being laid for a $100 million revitalization of the Jefferson Arms at 401-415 N. Tucker, turning it into the St. Louis headquarters for Teach for America. Baier, executive director for Teach for America in St. Louis, said the nonprofit has signed a letter of intent to occupy almost 10,000 square feet of office space within the half-million-square-foot property as well as house its teachers there.

Link

The apartment market is hot in downtown. They fill up so fast. The last big buildings could be renovated in the next couple years causing a need for new infill.

I also like that this building is marketed to teachers (specifically Teach for America). This will bring in a lot of young people from all over the country. When I briefly worked at SLPS I met many young teachers from the suburbs that yearned to live in the city, but had limited knowledge about the city. Maybe this will introduce many of them to urban living.

This is awesome.

Awesome. This is a huge building that can add a lot to this area. No only if the US Bank could be raised for a multi use tower.

downtown2007 wrote:Awesome. This is a huge building that can add a lot to this area. No only if the US Bank could be raised for a multi use tower.

Only a matter of time. Does anyone know if financing is in place?

Yes, I've been told that the financing is in place.

Good article in thePost today on this project. Like the fact it will be a mixed use development and be a people generator.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... mode=story

StL317 wrote:Yes, I've been told that the financing is in place.

I dont think the financing is in place. Unless you know something we dont know.

I apologize. I was not as clear as I should have been.

I have it on good authority that there is a project under way which would seek to renovate that building. The project contemplates a few different uses for the building, and accordingly, a few different parties/partners for the project. Assuming that the partners come to terms, financing the project would not be an issue. However, I realize that my statement could also be summarized as, "I heard that someone is working on it".

Financing setback. Off to plan B. Hope they can make it work.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46761465

downtown2007 wrote:Financing setback. Off to plan B. Hope they can make it work.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46761465

I don't follow.

ImprovSTL wrote:

downtown2007 wrote:Financing setback. Off to plan B. Hope they can make it work.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46761465

I don't follow.

I think ImprovSTL meant to post the PD biz story on how part of the financing package was based on the hope of securing $108 million in New Market Tax credits.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 0f31a.html

Yes my bad

The McGowans didnt get an allocation from the US treasury. They can still get an allocation from local orgs. So no need to worry about that.

Anyone have an update on this? There were supposed to know by now if they could find the financing.

Still trying to secure financing.

It really is exciting to picture downtown with a rehabbed and filled JA, Arcade, and Alexa. Maybe by 2016.

Great photo of the Jefferson Arms in the early 1930's, care of Metro's NextStop Blog:

Could someone post the content of the article where the Jeff Arms was discussed?