I ran into this while doing my photo tour. I never heard of it. Did I miss this one?
Mississippi Place Townhomes - 1907 Lafayette Avenue
Mississippi Place Townhomes - 1907 Lafayette Avenue
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That development is being done by the same group that is rehabbing City Hospital. They tore down the 1960's church that used to be on that corner - should be pretty sweet.
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it does look pretty sweet, especially with the lawrence group designing it
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I guess the Post-Dispatch reads this site! 
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... 8E001083D4
Mississippi Place, a $5 million development, will include construction of four mansion-style structures, complete with signature porches that stretch across two sides.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... 8E001083D4
Mississippi Place, a $5 million development, will include construction of four mansion-style structures, complete with signature porches that stretch across two sides.
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Those renderings look pretty nice. Lafayette Square seems to be getting lots of improvements lately. I'm happy to see all of them.
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This is going to lot nicw with all the other stuff being built in Lafayette Square.
Good looking project.
Glided Age is doing things!!
Bravo!
Glided Age is doing things!!
Bravo!
This article is exciting.
Developers would give Lafayette Square a full smile
By Tavia Evans
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/18/2005
Developers Chris Goodson and Trace Shaughnessy are planning projects to fill in the "missing teeth" around Lafayette Square: vacant lots and desolate street corners.
The southeast corner of Lafayette Park, once home to a row of turn-of-the-century Victorian mansions, will be reincarnated. The duo plans to replicate those houses, which were demolished in the 1960s.
Mississippi Place, a $5 million development, will include construction of four mansion-style structures, complete with signature porches that stretch across two sides.
The new-age twist - they are actually townhouses. Four units will go into two of the structures; two more buildings will have three townhouses each.
The new houses will mimic their Victorian predecessors, with 10-foot-high ceilings, double-hung windows and multiple entryways. Two carriage houses will sit just off the alley behind - each with a townhouse averaging 1,450 feet.
Paul Doerner, a principal with the Lawrence Group, said the architecture firm used old photos as a guide for keeping plans as close as possible to the originals.
So, the facades still will feature long vertical windows, with extended window sills and cast-iron brackets. Mansard roofs will top the buildings.
The main townhouse units, with about 1,900 square feet, will be priced at $275,000 each.
"This empty lot was the missing tooth in the whole streetscape," said Goodson, whose Gilded Age has tackled other projects around Lafayette Square. "Looking at the older pics, we wanted to fill in the missing gaps with what used to be there and make it work."
Goodson and Shaughnessy's second project, Park Avenue Condominiums, will fill in a space where a junkyard once occupied the middle of the neighborhood's business district.
The three-story building will have eight condo units, each with balconies. The condos will average about 2,100 square feet; an elevator will service the building. Underground garage parking for all residents is part of the package, with gated guest parking behind the building. The units will be priced at about $210,000 each.
Commercial space will occupy about 8,600 square feet on the first floor, where developers said Sqwires owner Bethany Budde plans a restaurant and diner.
National City Bank is financing the $4 million project.
The new construction piggybacks on other projects that Goodson and Shaughnessy have done in the area.
They are redeveloping the old City Hospital complex into condos, where nearly half of the units have sold. The Eden Publishing Lofts on Chouteau Avenue will go straight to condo units instead of apartments, as initially planned. The building will be converted into 40 units, with prices near $200,000.
They go where most developers won't even touch, said Sanford Scott, managing director of the PrivateBank, which funded the $5 million Mississippi Place development. "We're bullish in general on Lafayette Square. Their projects make good economic sense for the market and the neighborhood."
Developers would give Lafayette Square a full smile
By Tavia Evans
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/18/2005
Developers Chris Goodson and Trace Shaughnessy are planning projects to fill in the "missing teeth" around Lafayette Square: vacant lots and desolate street corners.
The southeast corner of Lafayette Park, once home to a row of turn-of-the-century Victorian mansions, will be reincarnated. The duo plans to replicate those houses, which were demolished in the 1960s.
Mississippi Place, a $5 million development, will include construction of four mansion-style structures, complete with signature porches that stretch across two sides.
The new-age twist - they are actually townhouses. Four units will go into two of the structures; two more buildings will have three townhouses each.
The new houses will mimic their Victorian predecessors, with 10-foot-high ceilings, double-hung windows and multiple entryways. Two carriage houses will sit just off the alley behind - each with a townhouse averaging 1,450 feet.
Paul Doerner, a principal with the Lawrence Group, said the architecture firm used old photos as a guide for keeping plans as close as possible to the originals.
So, the facades still will feature long vertical windows, with extended window sills and cast-iron brackets. Mansard roofs will top the buildings.
The main townhouse units, with about 1,900 square feet, will be priced at $275,000 each.
"This empty lot was the missing tooth in the whole streetscape," said Goodson, whose Gilded Age has tackled other projects around Lafayette Square. "Looking at the older pics, we wanted to fill in the missing gaps with what used to be there and make it work."
Goodson and Shaughnessy's second project, Park Avenue Condominiums, will fill in a space where a junkyard once occupied the middle of the neighborhood's business district.
The three-story building will have eight condo units, each with balconies. The condos will average about 2,100 square feet; an elevator will service the building. Underground garage parking for all residents is part of the package, with gated guest parking behind the building. The units will be priced at about $210,000 each.
Commercial space will occupy about 8,600 square feet on the first floor, where developers said Sqwires owner Bethany Budde plans a restaurant and diner.
National City Bank is financing the $4 million project.
The new construction piggybacks on other projects that Goodson and Shaughnessy have done in the area.
They are redeveloping the old City Hospital complex into condos, where nearly half of the units have sold. The Eden Publishing Lofts on Chouteau Avenue will go straight to condo units instead of apartments, as initially planned. The building will be converted into 40 units, with prices near $200,000.
They go where most developers won't even touch, said Sanford Scott, managing director of the PrivateBank, which funded the $5 million Mississippi Place development. "We're bullish in general on Lafayette Square. Their projects make good economic sense for the market and the neighborhood."
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Wow! Go Gilded, this is awesome and their dedication is extraordinary! Lafayette Square has hit the bigtime in regaining it's old stately edge.
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I'm a little confused by the article. I thought that the owner of Sqwires was opening a new restaurant in Vail Place.
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DeBaliviere wrote:I'm a little confused by the article. I thought that the owner of Sqwires was opening a new restaurant in Vail Place.
No, the new restuarant called "Soda Fountain Square" under the same ownership as SqWires Restaurant will be a part of the <A HREF="http://www.urbanstl.com/viewtopic.php?t=82">Park Avenue Condominiums</A> project.
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It's very encouraging to hear that someone is trying to restore the original streetscape there with replica housing. The pictures look great. Hopefully they'll do a nice job and not cut too many corners (i.e. the new houses in McRee Town with wood floors and high ceilings downstairs, cheap carpet and low ceilings upstairs). I'm interested to see if the carriage houses actually sell, and if so, how quickly.
And while Gilded Age is doing something important here, this project isn't half as important as that of all the individual rehabbers who've fought to bring back Lafayette Square--at times, things were pretty rough for them. In the 80s, many of them stayed up all night long regularly to fend off people from trying to steal those wonderful wrought iron fences of theirs. Now that's dedication.
And while Gilded Age is doing something important here, this project isn't half as important as that of all the individual rehabbers who've fought to bring back Lafayette Square--at times, things were pretty rough for them. In the 80s, many of them stayed up all night long regularly to fend off people from trying to steal those wonderful wrought iron fences of theirs. Now that's dedication.
steve wrote:This article is exciting.
This story was picked up by Knight Ridder and ran in the Chicago Tribune 2/5/05
St. Louis `mansions' are actually townhouses located near a park
By Tavia Evans, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Knight Ridder/Tribune
Published February 5, 2005
ST. LOUIS -- Developers Chris Goodson and Trace Shaughnessy are planning projects to fill in the "missing teeth" around Lafayette Square: vacant lots and desolate street corners.....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classifie ... whomes-hed
Good. Chicago newspapers have been picking up stories about St. Louis residential construction lately. It's very good publicity.
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Here are a few more rendering and a PDF from the city's preservation board for Mississippi Place.
http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/pla ... ayette.pdf
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http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/pla ... ayette.pdf
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Two displays have been completed, with a third 1BR carriage house opening late this year.
Eventually there will be 16 townhomes in this development with attached garages (when was the last time you saw that in Lafayette).
To make the deal sweeter, Gilded Age is offering up to $30,000 off as part of a pre-construction sale through the end of November.
Eventually there will be 16 townhomes in this development with attached garages (when was the last time you saw that in Lafayette).
To make the deal sweeter, Gilded Age is offering up to $30,000 off as part of a pre-construction sale through the end of November.
This is a damned handsome project filling a critical corner. I hate to nitpick, but...I'm just not a fan of stucco facades. I wish they would have been brick.
I can't wait to see this in person or some good pics. I don't mind stucco in this area - it goes with some of the 2nd Empire houses around the square. Besides, it beats vinyl!
I think the stucco facade is the only way they can reproduce the light color on the front of many of the homes in Lafayette. As you've undoubtedly noticed, some of the homes have a front facade that looks like some kind of stone or maybe even concrete. I think this is what they will try to do with the stucco, not the swirled or textured type you see on arts and crafts style and southwestern style homes, for instance. The textured stuff, although fitting on arts and craft and southwestern homes, would look really tacky on second empire architecture.
Anyway, years ago when many homes in Lafayette were first being restored, I asked a rehabber about that type of facade and he told me it was a lost art. Maybe someone else knows more about it than I do, in which case I would be glad to find out if this is indeed the case.
Anyway, years ago when many homes in Lafayette were first being restored, I asked a rehabber about that type of facade and he told me it was a lost art. Maybe someone else knows more about it than I do, in which case I would be glad to find out if this is indeed the case.
That is what I was thinking. The existing 2nd Empire houses appear to have stucco or something. I don't know what it is and I am certain it is their intention to copy that look.
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Marmar wrote:I think the stucco facade is the only way they can reproduce the light color on the front of many of the homes in Lafayette. As you've undoubtedly noticed, some of the homes have a front facade that looks like some kind of stone or maybe even concrete. I think this is what they will try to do with the stucco, not the swirled or textured type you see on arts and crafts style and southwestern style homes, for instance. The textured stuff, although fitting on arts and craft and southwestern homes, would look really tacky on second empire architecture.
Anyway, years ago when many homes in Lafayette were first being restored, I asked a rehabber about that type of facade and he told me it was a lost art. Maybe someone else knows more about it than I do, in which case I would be glad to find out if this is indeed the case.
I believe the stucco is designed to immitate limestone blocks. If you would like to see some actual stone examples, drive through Portland/Westmoreland. The cost of covering the front of a home with cut limestone would be beyond belief.
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Just out of curiousity ... does anyone know why Stucco use is so rare nowadays? I remeber hearing once that at one time St. Louis was the Stucco capital of the world (i.e. we made the most stucco). Why did we stop? It would seem to be a failty easy way to add ornamentation to a building .... maybe I fundamentally misunderstand what stucco is but isn't it just a plaster like substance that can be molded into virtually any shape ...