urbanSTL

Gee. I guess you caught me... good for you. And you have no idea how big the party is. Do you live in a Pyramid project? If you don't then you have no idea what you are talking about or you are a Pyramid shill.



And I am very happy with my home. But only after continually pushing and pushing to get them make it right. There's still one major outstanding issue that needs resolution and it's over 2 years later. I hope they don't go out of business because if they are, I'm stuck.



If they weren't so over extended and hurried to get onto the next thing they wouldn't have missed/messed up with so much stuff on my place and they wouldn't be in the position that they are.

...

BL211 wrote:Gee. I guess you caught me... good for you. And you have no idea how big the party is. Do you live in a Pyramid project? If you don't then you have no idea what you are talking about or you are a Pyramid shill.



And I am very happy with my home. But only after continually pushing and pushing to get them make it right. There's still one major outstanding issue that needs resolution and it's over 2 years later. I hope they don't go out of business because if they are, I'm stuck.



If they weren't so over extended and hurried to get onto the next thing they wouldn't have missed/messed up with so much stuff on my place and they wouldn't be in the position that they are.

I don't live in a Pyramid building. Orchard Development Group (another downtown developer) built my place and I can tell you that in ANY large development there are buyers who are completely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, and disgruntled with the product they received. If a developer makes every buyer completely satisfied they would probably not get past their first project as some buyers are just unreasonable. Thanks for coming clean about the fact that you have a bone to pick with Pyramid. Your problems must be really bad if you are "very happy" with your home

Feel free to take parts of my post out of context.

zink wrote:^

Seems like Pyramid is no longer part of the Mercantile Exchange... not ceasing operations.



I could see them cutting down on some projects and focusing their effort, but hopefully this has all been blown out of proportion.

Anyone know if John Steffen is still in the country?

I still haven't seen or heard any information sufficient to convince me that the title of this thread is true.

Neither have I, except that Pyramid is out of the Laurel and STL Centre.

Seeing the post that the Hyatt Place moving forward makes me wonder even more if Pyramid really is ceasing operations or if it is just no longer a part of MX.

I live at the Dorsa (Pyramid Owned) And it seems everything is all fine and dandy as I can tell. Sells Office was open, I walked out of my door and ran into a sells rep showing a couple one of the units across from us, and walking down the hall saw another couple picking out their final touches...



So it is definitely not affecting the Dorsa. Which only makes sense. Why "CEASE OPERATIONS" when you have probably at least $3-$5 million in cash inflow from upcoming closings...

Right. The question is, Pyramid is ceasing operations on what projects? The MX, yes. The Dorsa, of course not because they're not expending money and instead taking it in. But what about the countless other projects? The scope will depend on the severity of their financial picture. Hopefully they will be able to restructure as necessary and live on as a respected developer in the region.



They just did not seem to manage risk well. I suppose they hadn't even fathomed a potential downturn when they started racking up their portfolio of development projects. It really doesn't seem a whole lot different than individuals speculating on properties in a boom. Developers can get caught in the same euphoria as well.

The one thing they never should have done is emptied out the Jefferson Arms. That was a constant flow of money.

MattnSTL wrote:The one thing they never should have done is emptied out the Jefferson Arms. That was a constant flow of money.

Unless the cost of managing and maintaining the building and keeping it up to code (more likely, bringing it up to code) exceeded that cash flow.



Given that it was mostly seniors, I am sure rent there was pretty low, and I'd imagine that there was a lot of deferred maintenance when they bought the building. Then you have the sticky problem of having to raise rents on seniors living on a fixed budget.

I think it is fairly obvious what happened. Pyramid didn't go on their buying spree with cash. They raised capital thinking that they would be able to get enough of these projects turned around quickly and then either be able to sell them off or get a steady stream of rent from them to be able to service their debt. That didn't happen.



And since the value of many of Pyramid's properties has probably declined over the last year, and the only cash flow most of them are experiencing is negative, I suspect that many of Pyramid's creditors were getting rather anxious. More than one of them may have initiated foreclosure proceedings and, since the loan principal exceeds the value of the property, are preparing to go after Pyramid's other assets. When other lenders get wind of this it becomes a race to get in line fastest and not get left with worthless scraps on a rotting carcass.



When you have a staff of over a hundred, the right thing to do is to stop the bleeding, take care of your employees first, get what you can out of your successful projects, and then try to take care of as many of your investors as possible. There is no way in this scenario to hold onto even the most successful projects, because their creditors won't let that happen, and they will be forced to liquidate everything.



Interestingly, I seem to recall a few of the more circumspect local developers publicly express their reservations a year or two ago when John Steffen went on his buying spree. And privately, at least one was much more admonitory and all but predicted this mess.



Assuming there were no actions of a questionable legal nature, I'm sure Steffen and O'Leary and others will rebound and be developing projects downtown in some fashion in a year or two, but it won't be under the Pyramid banner.

"We literally have more people offering to finance us than we have projects to finance," Steffen said. "I need more projects because I have banks wanting to do business with me."

That is a pretty revealing statement.

Urban Review St. Louis wrote:

jlblues wrote:

"We literally have more people offering to finance us than we have projects to finance," Steffen said. "I need more projects because I have banks wanting to do business with me."

That is a pretty revealing statement.

I guess he should have been more concerned about having tenants and/or buyers.

Wow. Does this guy sell used cars or lofts? Not a person I would work for, buy from, or provide capital to.



Tenants of this man's unfinished buildings would do well to review their contracts and better understand how they'll fare in this whole s**t storm. Living in an unfinished condo/loft development is on par with living in an unfinished subdivision - s**ks a**.



*see my diatribe on financial due diligence, or lack thereof, on the part of the condo/loft/redevelopment companies in the SkyHouse thread.

*have no clue how to link to another thread.

ttricamo wrote:*have no clue how to link to another thread.

Copy address. Paste address between .

From the Mayors Blog, have not seen this posted here yet

Pyramid, whose fast-growing portfolio of properties includes great historic buildings, had finally run out of financing on some of its projects did not surprise many real estate professionals. Other developers are stepping forward already to continue the projects without Pyramid.

He says "some", leading me to believe that they will at least finish its projects in work and maybe continue more limited operations in the future. Also, as Gone Coporate states above, it appears that others are steping in with the money on some of the projects.



Interesting blog, there is mention of skyhouse, the downtown outlook, and even a stab at our favorite local newspaper



http://www.mayorslay.com/desk/display.asp?deskID=959

I heard from two separate realtors downtown that Pyramid pulled all their listings off MLS.