urbanSTL

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Dec 16, 2020

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Dec 15, 2020

We are in the middle of a pandemic that has decimated the job market and earnings for a lot of people.  Are we really that surprised that the most expensive building in the region is taking some time to fill up in our current environment?

It just opened a few months ago...let’s not write it off yet lol.

That’s just not true tho- the entire decimation has been under $50,000 a year a job market, majority under $30,000.   People making over $100,000 (the target group for the building) are doing just fine.

I agree. I think opting out of 100 might be more about wanting more space for the money (not so much for economic reasons as just consumer preferences due to teleworking all day), outdoor space and/or just preferring a house or walk-up apartment to having to ride elevators with people during a pandemic. It's the same reason Brooklyn and its brownstones are doing better than many high-rise Manhattan neighborhoods.

^To be completely fair, I was always a little surprised they were just renting and not selling or leasing. That just looks like too much building to be a simple rental. If you could buy a unit I bet they'd be moving more quickly.

^ What Wabash said.   I think that is as fair of assessment you can get right now.

My wife and I are in the doing just fine category.  With my wife telecommuting and son zooming for school half the time the thought that crosses our my mind is that our small house would be just about perfect with one more room as a home office/family TV room.   Extra bathroom is just more cleaning, extra walk in closet space means buying more clothes and shoes you are not going to wear.  But space that can be utilized to separate us when we need to and bring us together when we want to is something in demand 

Black02AltimaSE wrote: ↑

Dec 15, 2020

I agree with the idea that a pandemic is not a time to be looking for trends but the people who would have considered moving into 100 were probably not as highly impacted in terms of job loss/economic hardship as the economy in general. 

I'm pretty sure Mac Properties stated explicitly at some point that their target demographic for One Hundred was the medical specialists, educators, and researchers at WUMC/BJC and all of the other institutions around that campus (read: very well paid people from elsewhere, and likely not here for long).

With much of the hiring and elective procedures postponed due to the pandemic, the usual inflow of such professionals to the area is likely far less than what the developers anticipated.

In other words, even though such people are doing ok and have job security, doesn't necessarily mean demand hasn't plummeted.

^Urbanitas, I believe you've nailed it. It sounds like was a solid business plan, and it will probably be just fine once the pandemic is behind us, but right now . . . it's going to sit empty a moment. That does explain why you'd go the rental rather than sale route. And in ordinary times there just might be enough demand to make it work. The prices, while high, weren't quite terrible as I recall. Particularly considering what's on offer.

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Dec 16, 2020

I think that when things return to normal it'll lease up again.  Especially since some of the rental market comes from students at WashU & SLU who were able to stay home this year.

Are there a lot of WashU & SLU students in the market for $1,800/month apartments?

^I'm pretty sure it's a non-zero number. Especially if you can split it up a couple of ways. My wife has some school age cousins that could afford the rent. Some of my own childhood acquaintances could have swung it, adjusted for inflation. Some of her classmates actually did stay at fairly swanky places. (Best I can immediately recall is the Coronado, which is probably a step down, to be fair. But it's also directly adjacent to Chaifetz and plenty nice enough.)

Young docs often have mom and dad doc money. Young business students might have middle management or even C suite money. When your parents are both pulling down six (or more) figures and the house(s) is/are paid off . . . yes, there are students who can swing that easily enough. And many of them end up at Wash U. And SLU. Not tons, maybe, but the adjacency to Barnes will surely get a lot of wealthy interns and young docs doing residencies in the door.

^^In many fewer words - Yes

The median family income of a student from WashU is $272,000, and 84% come from the top 20 percent.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/pro ... n-st-louis

The median family income of a student from Saint Louis is $133,700, and 61% come from the top 20 percent

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/pro ... university

DTGstl314 wrote: ↑

Dec 20, 2020

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Dec 16, 2020

I think that when things return to normal it'll lease up again.  Especially since some of the rental market comes from students at WashU & SLU who were able to stay home this year.

Are there a lot of WashU & SLU students in the market for $1,800/month apartments?

Definitely, especially internationals.

At Mizzou it was insane how much money the international students had compared to the average local student, and that's at a basic state school without the reputation of a school like WashU. If you saw somebody near campus driving a Maserati, Bentley, or just a souped up BMW or Mercedes, you could bet money that it was somebody from China behind the wheel. The students who come here to study are the 1%ers of China.

International students are a huge boost to the economy of uni towns and neighborhoods. Unfortunately COVID and Trump has really cooled off the demand for an American education in the past year compared to places like Europe or Canada, but hopefully a Biden admin will get things back on track.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Dec 20, 2020

At Mizzou it was insane how much money the international students had compared to the average local student, and that's at a basic state school without the reputation of a school like WashU. If you saw somebody near campus driving a Maserati, Bentley, or just a souped up BMW or Mercedes, you could bet money that it was somebody from China behind the wheel. The students who come here to study are the 1%ers of China.

International students are a huge boost to the economy of uni towns and neighborhoods. Unfortunately COVID and Trump has really cooled off the demand for an American education in the past year compared to places like Europe or Canada, but hopefully a Biden admin will get things back on track.

It is extremely expensive for an international student to study to come to the US for undergraduate studies (graduate school is a different story as there is plenty of funding available). For that reason, and the prestige that a US education confers in other countries (especially outside of Europe), most international students tend to come from extremely wealthy families.

^I wouldn't say it's quite everyone, but lots of people. Music programs manage to attract a fair few international students of modest to middling means. Might be others as well. But the business schools . . . there's some money there. And even more aspiring money. Not many folks go into business for passion somehow. (There are a few, oddly. But it's probably a small minority.) Likewise the engineering and probably medical schools.

Anyway, I expect there are a great many recruiters very much looking forward to the furious leader's last day in office. I don't think he's completely tanked the system yet, but . . . he sure tried. And I have to say, we really need international students and the perspective they bring for reasons way beyond even the obvious bottom line. And ideally . . . we need them to stay in much larger numbers. Right here we REALLY need more to stay. (And quite a lot want to and more than a few do. Not sure how to make it easier for those as wish to, but . . . we should make it easier. My wife's classmates in California make me cry.)

DTGstl314 wrote: ↑

Dec 20, 2020

Laife Fulk wrote: ↑

Dec 16, 2020

I think that when things return to normal it'll lease up again.  Especially since some of the rental market comes from students at WashU & SLU who were able to stay home this year.

Are there a lot of WashU & SLU students in the market for $1,800/month apartments?

I believe something like 30-40 units are currently held by WashU students. I expect most of those to be gone in 2021-2022. Similar story in many of the downtown Clayton apartment buildings.

Drone photos from today. It's interesting to look at these zoomed in since they show just how many empty units there are. Regardless of that, it's a very nice addition.









4 tower cranes are in this picture along with the 4 Central West End residential projects of the past few years.

A less common angle - taken from CAM 14th fl.

It definitely looks nice from CAM. Good angle.

Excellent pictures, thanks for sharing!

Hope occupancy picks up and I am interested to see how that may or may not play into any future development on the lot next door.

Great pictures!

This area is really starting to pick up! People walking around all day. Really makes you feel like you are in a big, urban area. 

jay23 wrote: ↑

Jan 13, 2021

Great pictures!

This area is really starting to pick up! People walking around all day. Really makes you feel like you are in a big, urban area. 

It's been quite the run over the last 15 years in those Forest Park Ave. to Maryland Ave blocks on either side of Euclid: 
4545 Lindell
York House renovation
Park East Tower 
9 N Euclid
The Orion
Citizen Park
The Euclid
One Hundred  
AC Hotel York Ave.
4545 Laclede 

A lot of great projects in there. But One Hundred is in a league of its own. 

Central West End development has been fantastic. 

I'm really hoping that we can see some of those big lots in the neighborhood filled this next decade.

Kingshighway and Lindell is an easy one to add the wish list, but I'd like to see something with some significant size for Euclid and Lindell as well. 

There are also two lots on Pine that I'm eyeing. One of them is the lot next to 100. 

100 seems like it was designed to have something built next to its garage. It'd be cool if we could get something around 12 stories tall there. 

Not sure what occupancy is on this building, but over Christmas we took a long walk at sunset through the park and it seemed like 50-60% of the lights were on at twilight, maybe they are turning them on in vacant units to increase attention. 

walker wrote:

Time to pull out the duct tape


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk