urbanSTL

STL63101 wrote:I heard from two separate realtors downtown that Pyramid pulled all their listings off MLS.

AvantStL wrote:Arcade and Leather Trades listings were "withdrawn" yesterday. They have active listings at Dorsa, Bankers, Laurel, and lots of single family homes throughout the city.

Moorlander wrote:They used to have an office on Arsenal as well as DT on Olive. Currently the offices are at 906 Olive, not sure if Pyramid still has the Arsenal office.

Urban Review St. Louis wrote:from kmox:

St. Louis (KMOX) -- The developer of major St. Louis projects...St. Louis Centre and the former Dillard's building, in the Mercantile exchange project...is getting out of the development business. Pyramid Construction's John Steffen made the announcement through Steffen's attorney Attorney Steven Goldstein... Problems in the real estate lending market are the main reason. Goldstein says Pyramid is currently working with other developers, investors, lenders and the city to make a transition for its development projects...but will continue to operate it's property management division...which oversees a thousand apartment units in the city and surrounding area.

MattnSTL wrote:Matt O'Leary's last day was today, according to my source.

Moorlander wrote:I wonder what Craig Heller thinks about his situation...

irocktheparty2000 wrote:I also wonder how it will effect the loft tour next weekend.

MattnSTL wrote:Title of the thread has also been changed to appropriately reflect the situation.

63104mom wrote:

MattnSTL wrote:Matt O'Leary's last day was today, according to my source.

I hope he lands on his feet (I'm sure he will). He used to drive my drunk self home from the bars in law school.

Which developers will own the remainder of Pyramid's real estate holdings began to take shape this week. Environmental Operations Inc.'s Hastie, whose company was contracted by Pyramid to provide environmental remediation services on several downtown projects, said he loaned Steffen an undisclosed amount in 2007, and Steffen put up his shares in One City Centre tower as collateral.



Hastie, a managing member of SCR Investments LLC, is now waiting for Bank of America, which holds Pyramid's mortgage on One City Centre, and all other lenders on the building to sign off on the transfer to SCR. The building, in the heart of St. Louis' central business district, lost several major tenants in the past few years, including Anheuser-Busch and Cannon Design, which did not renew their leases, leaving the building about 65 percent vacant.



Hastie, who recently hired one of Pyramid's top officers, Senior Vice President Matt O'Leary, also said he is in discussions with Centrue Bank to assume control of Pyramid's recently renovated Curlee Building on Washington Avenue.

63104mom wrote:

MattnSTL wrote:Matt O'Leary's last day was today, according to my source.

I hope he lands on his feet (I'm sure he will). He used to drive my drunk self home from the bars in law school.

Pyramid's collapse casts long shadow



Andy Trivers' architectural firm spent months on design plans to transform the vacant half million-square-foot Jefferson Arms building downtown into a hotel and condos. Trivers Associates had inked a $2.1 million contract with John Steffen's Pyramid Cos., the developer and owner of the Jefferson Arms, and had four employees working on the project. Those plans ground to a halt last month as Steffen shut down his development company. And Trivers hasn't been paid for its work.



It's a similar story for other general contractors and architects who were counting on work for several large-scale redevelopment projects that Pyramid has since abandoned. For example, Paric Corp. was expecting to begin work this year on a contract exceeding $500,000 to tear down the skybridge over Washington Avenue linking the former St. Louis Centre mall to the former Dillard's building at 601 Washington Ave. Paric also was tapped to serve as general contractor on Pyramid's $93 million Jefferson Arms rehab. "Neither (Paric President) Joe McKee nor anyone else at Paric has heard anything about the projects," said Paric's spokesman Ron O'Connor. "Obviously, nothing is getting done right now."



Pyramid's portfolio totaled more than 2 million square feet of real estate for planned projects exceeding $600 million in development. Those properties included the 540,000-square-foot vacant St. Louis Centre mall at Sixth and Washington, the adjacent 25-story One City Centre office building, the 500,000-square-foot former Dillard's Building, renamed The Laurel, and the Arcade Building on Olive and the Jefferson Arms on Tucker, which each have a half-million square feet of space. Other buildings include the Mercantile Library Building, Curlee Building, Dorsa Building and Leather Trades Lofts Building.

Urban Review St. Louis wrote:

Jambo wrote:More dreary details (2 May 2008 St. Louis Business Journal):



Try this indirect link http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ and then click on John Steffen's Pyramid Co.'s collapse casts long shadow hypertext to find complete story (sorry for complicated linkage).

Here is a direct link: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory1.html

Friday, May 9, 2008

Lenders charged Pyramid up to 20%

St. Louis Business Journal - by Lisa R. Brown





John Steffen's Pyramid Cos. and its partners were paying interest rates as high as 20 percent under lending commitments for his downtown projects, according to state documents.



Pyramid's loan terms are included in the city of St. Louis' bid in 2006 for $26 million to pay for streetscape improvements through the Missouri Downtown Economic Stimulus Act (MoDESA). The documents were obtained by the Business Journal from the Department of Economic Development through a Missouri Sunshine Law request.



The loan commitments were required by MoDESA to justify the state subsidy to pay for streetscape improvements in front of Pyramid's redevelopment projects.



Pyramid had more than a half dozen buildings and nearly 3 million square feet of real estate in its pipeline downtown before the development company ceased operations last month without completing the projects. Pyramid is now working to transfer its projects to other developers.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:According to my source, who is very, very close to the downtown real estate market: None of this came as any surprise to people in the downtown development community. It was well known for the past 18 months to 2 years that Pyramid was in way over their heads.