urbanSTL

Took a walk around the Lemp Brewery today because why not. The gate was open so I went in. The sign said "No Photography" so I took that as a challenge and took photos anyway. It's not like I'm up to anything bad, just curious. 

I have some ideas of how to redevelop the Lemp Complex and came to the site to see how vast it really is and how hard it would be to redevelop it. It would be a huge undertaking. I'm not going to put them out there publicly since I've shared them with some developers who may pursue it and keep me on board as advisory.

Also, the collapsed section still hasn't been cleaned up yet.





The sign that I took as a challenge. I was sure to wave at every security camera in the complex.


When you first come in...






The Abyss Haunted House area...








Near Broadway...



Sent my drone up too to get an up close look at the silo with LEMP on it.

^Lovely stuff, Chris. As always.

Using google maps, drawing shapes, converting acres to square footage and then multiplying square footages depending on floor count at the buildings, my idea yields 1,101,418sf of usable space. So it's a mega project in a way. 

The specific breakdown into usages ranges, but it seems to all be in balance. The actual number is not including elevators, stairwells, hallways, back of house areas, and more. So the actual amount of rentable space is more than likely closer to 900,000sf, which is still no small number.

Additionally, I envision 148,275sf of activated pedestrian and green space throughout the Complex with special features honoring the past and looking towards the future. 

One thing that I'll mention, just because it's a good idea overall and should be applied no matter what happens here, is that the pedestrian spaces would include plaques with a paragraph about a building's history, the complex's history, or the Lemp family history. So say you're a curious visitor who likes history, you'll be able to read as you go along exploring and get a feel for the significance and history of the Lemp Brewery Complex, Lemp Family, and the Lemp and Falstaff beer brands and their significance in the St. Louis beer scene.

Reminds me of this classic "brewery" kit for model railroaders:

One chunk event space, another apartments, another, a craft brewery.  The final, small artist spaces.  I know it's been used to some degree for artist spaces but seems like the majority of the complex is still not available for occupancy.  So much potential here, but watching it slowly slip away is dreadful.

Love this pic from Facebook

framer wrote: ↑

Apr 07, 2021

Love this pic from Facebook

Interesting how since that photo was taken, not much has changed. The streetcar tracks are gone and the sidewalks are no longer brick. Road is paved in asphalt now too, but all the buildings in view, including the one with the balcony sticking out along the side, are all still there, just hidden by trees.

The streetcar tracks are still under the intersection, you can see their impression in the form of a long curving crack in the asphalt 

Talked to a business owner near Lemp; they're basically saying Shashi wants to be able to sell the whole thing at once rather than piecemeal.

I have to say starting with selling one of the buildings would be the smart move.  Who knows where further momentum could come from.

^ is he even marketing it? how very St. Louis of him to let his property deteriorate and collapse while holding out for the jackpot.

I’ve been in contact with people who are preparing to make offers on the entire property in the next few weeks or two months, depending if they can justify the cost of acquisition and then redevelopment. Preliminary numbers put the entire project at $325 Million, but that’s before structural problems are addressed among other things.

Any developer that seeks to do this project will seek a TIF and/or tax abatement to help cover the costs of the infrastructure upgrades and other things.

^ awesome. keep us posted. if there was ever a project deserving of TIFs and tax abatements and historic tax credits, it's this one.

Totally TIF-worthy

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2021

I’ve been in contact with people who are preparing to make offers on the entire property in the next few weeks or two months, depending if they can justify the cost of acquisition and then redevelopment. Preliminary numbers put the entire project at $325 Million, but that’s before structural problems are addressed among other things.

Any developer that seeks to do this project will seek a TIF and/or tax abatement to help cover the costs of the infrastructure upgrades and other things.

Wow, that is good news.  Well, any news is good news, as long as it doesn't involve more structural failures.

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2021

I’ve been in contact with people who are preparing to make offers on the entire property in the next few weeks or two months, depending if they can justify the cost of acquisition and then redevelopment. Preliminary numbers put the entire project at $325 Million, but that’s before structural problems are addressed among other things.

Any developer that seeks to do this project will seek a TIF and/or tax abatement to help cover the costs of the infrastructure upgrades and other things.

For some perspective, I'm not sure what the renovation of Union Station would be in 2021$, but I'm fairly certain the Lemp complex would top it as the most expensive restoration project in St. Louis history.

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Apr 12, 2021

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2021

I’ve been in contact with people who are preparing to make offers on the entire property in the next few weeks or two months, depending if they can justify the cost of acquisition and then redevelopment. Preliminary numbers put the entire project at $325 Million, but that’s before structural problems are addressed among other things.

Any developer that seeks to do this project will seek a TIF and/or tax abatement to help cover the costs of the infrastructure upgrades and other things.

Wow, that is good news.  Well, any news is good news, as long as it doesn't involve more structural failures.

Just putting it out there, as I said in a previous post, the building that collapsed last year could suffer another collapse. The East wall, at the bottom, is leaning inward. I don't know if it has been that way for a while, but it doesn't look good.

No matter what, that building will have to come down and be rebuilt 

Your pics of the Lemp complex really remind me of this place in Berlin, the Kulturbrauerei, it is a whole complex of buildings that used to be a brewery but are now home to all kinds of activities. Bike rental, cinema, musuem, beer garden, classrooms, and on and on. It really is a like a village unto itself. Would be so fantastic to see the Lemp brewery transformed this way.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulturbrauerei

^Now that you mention it, this would be an even cooler location than the Foundry for a Foundry style project. And it's close enough to Soulard and Cherokee that it's got to be possible to make it work. Some residential, some commercial, some cultural treasure . . .

danke0 wrote: ↑

May 18, 2021

Your pics of the Lemp complex really remind me of this place in Berlin, the Kulturbrauerei, it is a whole complex of buildings that used to be a brewery but are now home to all kinds of activities. Bike rental, cinema, musuem, beer garden, classrooms, and on and on. It really is a like a village unto itself. Would be so fantastic to see the Lemp brewery transformed this way.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulturbrauerei

I'll have to look into this a bit more. It's sort of like what I was envisioning, but would be totally St. Louis and Midwest-based with a focus on brewing beer, prohibition, and more. Throw in some housing units and other things, and you got yourself a destination. 

It would be a perfect southern cap to a dense N/S Riverfront Corridor.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote:It would be a perfect southern cap to a dense N/S Riverfront Corridor.

More so than that, I think the redevelopment of the Lemp Brewery would be key to redeveloping the stretch of Broadway between the highway and where it merges with Jefferson at Chippewa. And I don’t mean by building large buildings along Broadway there. I mean by renovating the smaller existing buildings and building new ones that match the scale of the old ones. Lemp is the biggest puzzle piece in creating a vibrant area down there. You already have Cherokee Street, but Lemp would really make it pop.

^Agreed. Lemp would be more than just an end-cap. It could be the spark to make things spread further. In an ideal world we could have a good, fairly dense corridor all the way down to Carondelet, at least.