urbanSTL

“It’s the only game in town now,” said Steve Smith, principal of development and architectural firm The Lawrence Group. Smith is pursuing a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan for his $120 million redevelopment of the Park Pacific building downtown.



HUD loans have not been widely used for financing new construction or rehab of commercial properties in St. Louis, as developers opted for conventional financing, which requires less up front money and less detailed information in the loan application. “There have been so many options for developers to consider before, from banks to thrifts, everyone was lending money” said Gershman Mortgage Senior Vice President Mark Unangst. Clayton-based Gershman Mortgage is The Lawrence Group’s lender on the HUD insured loan for Park Pacific and Connecticut-based Spinnaker Cos.’ lender on its $150 million redevelopment of the former Dillard’s building at 601 Washington Ave.



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html

Moorlander wrote:“It’s the only game in town now,” said Steve Smith, principal of development and architectural firm The Lawrence Group. Smith is pursuing a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loan for his $120 million redevelopment of the Park Pacific building downtown.



HUD loans have not been widely used for financing new construction or rehab of commercial properties in St. Louis, as developers opted for conventional financing, which requires less up front money and less detailed information in the loan application. “There have been so many options for developers to consider before, from banks to thrifts, everyone was lending money” said Gershman Mortgage Senior Vice President Mark Unangst. Clayton-based Gershman Mortgage is The Lawrence Group’s lender on the HUD insured loan for Park Pacific and Connecticut-based Spinnaker Cos.’ lender on its $150 million redevelopment of the former Dillard’s building at 601 Washington Ave.



http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html

This is encouraging. I wonder if the Alexa developers are looking into HUD loans as well. Per DeBaliviere's blog, which cited the Post-Dispatch, that project is alive and well despite rumors to the contrary (and it looks like it will feature rentals instead of condominiums).



I don't know about Kevin McGowan's properties in St. Louis, but as it's been noted elsewhere on these forums, he is looking into HUD loans for the conversion of the former Heer's department store in downtown Springfield, Mo. into rental units and two levels of retail space.



Anything that gets all of the above developments moving forward in this economy is a step in the right direction.

Park Pacific parked, for now



Financing problems have, for now, tripped up another downtown St. Louis project.



This time it’s the Lawrence Group’s housing-and-office rehab of the former Missouri Pacific Railroad headquarters at 13th and Olive streets.



Brownfield credits paid for interior demolition work and asbestos abatement at its Park Pacific project. But until construction financing is wrapped up, work on the $120 million project is stalled. The delay is the work of the usual culprit: turmoil in the credit markets. David Ohlemeyer, a Lawrence Group principal, says the company hopes to complete in the next month or so a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.





MORE

Gone Corporate, I would disagree that PD screams the word Fail. They are simply stating facts true to this project. Driving past the Park Pacific with the chain link fence, construction trailers and absolutely no activity screams the word fail at the moment. Put up a few signs and banners. Put a full size advertisement in the PD. The Developer need to scream out what their going to build.



I'm actually fearful of the comment that HUD is the only game in town. That is very telling sign of how tough the finance/bond market is right now.

Dredger wrote:I'm actually fearful of the comment that HUD is the only game in town.

Going back to Kevin McGowan's comments about his aforementioned project in Springfield, that's the impression I get.



He says he literally searched the world for financing before coming to that conclusion. It's scary that HUD may actually be the only option for developers to move forward with some of these projects in times like these.

so what types of restrictions are on a HUD loan vs more traditional financing options?

I would think that this project would be a good one for HUD to step in on based on what has been accomplished to date as well as the use of tax credits. It even has an office tenant ready to lease space. I would also hope that HUD could expediate their process in lieu of the lending/credit crisis. I think one of the comments concerning HUD loans was the time period to process, accept and close out a loan.



Other projects, like Ballpark Lofts with a very strong sales record, also seem like a good candidate for HUD. Throw in the Laural and you truly got some great downtown projects that HUD can help make happen.

LarsonAllen LLP, the 11th largest accounting firm in the area with 45 local CPAs, announced plans a year ago to move from Town & Country to Lawrence Group’s Park Pacific development. However, Lawrence Group has not yet secured financing for its $120 million plan to redevelop the former Union Pacific Railroad headquarters building at 13th and Olive streets into apartments and office space.



LarsonAllen Principal Scott Engelbrecht said he still plans to move the firm downtown in June 2010. “Right now we’re somewhat up in the air because Park Pacific hasn’t gotten their financing secured,” Engelbrecht said. “We’re going downtown. Downtown continues to be the primary epicenter for the community. It’s more central to all of our clients, and from a hiring perspective, we think it will help us because it will open us up to the Illinois employee market.”

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory7.html

Good to know they plan to move downtown no matter what the status of the Park Pacific may be.

Anyone have any updates about the construction loan for this place? It's been idle for over a month now.

funding in place!



Park Pacific gets $56 million HUD loan

St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown



The Lawrence Group’s stalled redevelopment of the Park Pacific building downtown failed to get traction as a condo development but now has financing in place for a $109 million conversion to apartments, offices and retail space.

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory6.html

Moorlander wrote:funding in place!



Park Pacific gets $56 million HUD loan

St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown



The Lawrence Group’s stalled redevelopment of the Park Pacific building downtown failed to get traction as a condo development but now has financing in place for a $109 million conversion to apartments, offices and retail space.

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory6.html

For us without paying accounts, does it provide any details as of a timeline for construction to restart and what the Tucker side of the development will look like?

metzgda wrote:For us without paying accounts, does it provide any details as of a timeline for construction to restart and what the Tucker side of the development will look like?

Lawrence Group CEO Steve Smith said in the article that he plans on closing on financing in January, starting construction in February, and completing the project by Summer 2011. Bids will go out to five pre-qualified contractors the first week of December.

Dowtown could have a great 2010 with this project, Laural and One Center, and maybe just maybe Ballpark Village as well as the host of smaller relocations and consolidations such as 360. It will be nice to see the regions construction market centered downtown for a change.

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/buildi ... to-resume/



Work is set to resume on the Park Pacific project downtown now that the developer, Lawrence Group, has gotten a commitment on a $56 million federally insured loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.



Lawrence Group says HUD approved the financing on Wednesday to renovate the 23-story Art Deco building at 1226 Olive for mixed-use residential and commercial space. Clayton-based Gershman Mortgage is Lawrence Group’s lender on the HUD insured loan. Other financial partners include Chevron and Great Southern Bank.



The project will go out to bid the first week of December to a set of contractors including BSI Constructors, Brinkmann Constructors, HBD Construction, Paric Corp. and S.M. Wilson & Company.



Park Pacific will convert the former Union Pacific Railroad headquarters into a mixed-use complex. The 500,000 square foot historic building will have 230 rental apartments with 31,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 47,000 square feet of office space.

This project was mentioned in a Post-Dispatch article, so it looks like things are still on course for construction to begin soon.

Still, I cannot help but wonder what the elevation facing Tucker Boulevard is going to look like. I realize the Cityside portion of the project was scrapped, but the article states that a parking garage will be constructed east of the current building. Does anyone know whether that garage will be built all the way to Tucker Boulevard, or will part of the lot be preserved for Cityside (or something on a similar scale) to be built at Tucker Boulevard at some point in the future?

With the glut of garages downtown, plus the conversion of St. Louis Centre into what will become a megagarage, I hate to think of another blank wall facing one of downtown's most important streets. The garage across from City Hall is bad enough- Tucker doesn't need another eyesore like that.

this should help it move forward

• The Lawrence Group’s more than $100 million Park Pacific overhaul of the vacant Missouri Pacific building at 210 N. 13th Street was recommended for a $9 million allocation. The project, led by Lawrence Group CEO Steve Smith, has been on hold for several years but got a boost at the end of 2009 when it was approved for a $56.5 million HUD-insured loan. The 450,000-square-foot art deco building was the former headquarters of Union Pacific Railroad until 2005.

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... ory2.html#

Moorlander wrote:OT: Can someone enlighten me as to circumstances behind why Union Pacific left St. Louis?

Their HQ is in Omaha, and I believe they moved all of the St. Louis workers there when their HQ tower in downtown Omaha was built, around 2000-2001 or so.

That was 1,000 jobs lost. IT jobs, IIRC.

Thanks, I thought their HQ was here.

Moorlander wrote:Thanks, I thought their HQ was here.

Yeah, the Missouri Pacific Railroad was based here, and it was acquired by Union Pacific, based in Omaha.

got it, Building Blocks thread says this likely to move forward this year. I am interested to see the renderings for the Tucker side of things.