Great news. We've been here before, though. Financing in this economic environment would seem to be darned near impossible on this monster without some miracle helping hand. Gotta be some civic involvement. If somehow Railway, 909 and Millennium all see action plans in 2024 how amazing would that be? WSJ article light some fires? I'd be more inclined to believe buyers scoop up Railway and Millennium with actual construction happening down the road.
^It should be torn down with a new build. Can nestle parking garage underneath/first few floors of the new build to serve the new build and railway exchange - fine with that. The one standing will almost certainly have to come down so that should encourage a new vision. Should not just be a block of parking garage like before.
I’m thinking a developer might do a project similar in scale to the foundry tower but obviously would love to see something more vertical. There is a corner building on that block worth saving.
^It should be torn down with a new build. Can nestle parking garage underneath/first few floors of the new build to serve the new build and railway exchange - fine with that. The one standing will almost certainly have to come down so that should encourage a new vision. Should not just be a block of parking garage like before.
I’m thinking a developer might do a project similar in scale to the foundry tower but obviously would love to see something more vertical. There is a corner building on that block worth saving.
I'm thinking another charming pocket park like 923 Locust. I kid.
All this to say, I've had my fingers crossed for this building since I came back to STL in 2014. The cherry on top would be some sort of walgreens/cvs/target in the ground floor. But, I'd certainly be happy with just getting this baby redeveloped into apartments.
In totality it's too big AT&t railway exchange....
combine those two with the chemical building millennium and others.
Here's what I think about If all of that was completed ; or even a big chunk of the empties downtown are up and running ; and granted it would take time to be occupied ;what about our police fire 911 services will they grow as those structures become occupied ?
(I don't actually think he'd take on a project this size, but anything is possible. It's more likely the Butler Brothers group or some other unknown, but I'm just throwing things out there to see what sticks at this point.)
Developer says he has rights to buy note on downtown St. Louis' Railway Exchange Building
St. Louis developer Steve Stogel said he's signed a letter of intent giving him the rights to buy the note on the vacant Railway Exchange Building downtown under certain conditions.
The deal could pave the way for Stogel to acquire and redevelop the long-vacant building, though he still has to resolve nearly $4 million in liens on the property.
Stogel said the agreement with the owner's lender, Gamma Real Estate, is "very conditional," requiring him to obtain financing within four months. The agreement is with Stogel's 615 Redevelopment Co. LLC. Railway Exchange, a massive, 1.24 million-square-foot structure at 615 Olive St., has been vacant since 2014, and has deteriorated since then as the owner, Hudson Holdings, and city of St. Louis have struggled to secure it from trespassers.
The building was the focal point of a story in The Wall Street Journal last week that examined the long-struggling downtown office and retail market in St. Louis.
Gamma, which was Hudson Holding's lender, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Another developer who's expressed interested in the property, Amos Harris, said he has been unsuccessful in a bid to acquire the property through a deal with lienholders, a preferred route since contractors have first-lien position on the title, leaving the Gamma note second, he said.
Now that Stogel has reached an agreement with Gamma, Harris said he would not try to compete with him for the building. Harris and Stogel had previously been tapped by Hudson Holdings to be part of the project's local development team.
"We should be working together," Harris said Friday. "Things (downtown) are too bad for there to be recriminations and competition."
Harris said, though, that he hoped the property would not be turned into low-income housing, and that he had sought to include an entertainment use in a redevelopment.
Stogel said he and Harris disagreed about "what should happen to the building."
Developer says he has rights to buy note on downtown St. Louis' Railway Exchange Building
St. Louis developer Steve Stogel said he's signed a letter of intent giving him the rights to buy the note on the vacant Railway Exchange Building downtown under certain conditions.
The deal could pave the way for Stogel to acquire and redevelop the long-vacant building, though he still has to resolve nearly $4 million in liens on the property.
Stogel said the agreement with the owner's lender, Gamma Real Estate, is "very conditional," requiring him to obtain financing within four months. The agreement is with Stogel's 615 Redevelopment Co. LLC. Railway Exchange, a massive, 1.24 million-square-foot structure at 615 Olive St., has been vacant since 2014, and has deteriorated since then as the owner, Hudson Holdings, and city of St. Louis have struggled to secure it from trespassers.
The building was the focal point of a story in The Wall Street Journal last week that examined the long-struggling downtown office and retail market in St. Louis.
Gamma, which was Hudson Holding's lender, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Another developer who's expressed interested in the property, Amos Harris, said he has been unsuccessful in a bid to acquire the property through a deal with lienholders, a preferred route since contractors have first-lien position on the title, leaving the Gamma note second, he said.
Now that Stogel has reached an agreement with Gamma, Harris said he would not try to compete with him for the building. Harris and Stogel had previously been tapped by Hudson Holdings to be part of the project's local development team.
"We should be working together," Harris said Friday. "Things (downtown) are too bad for there to be recriminations and competition."
Harris said, though, that he hoped the property would not be turned into low-income housing, and that he had sought to include an entertainment use in a redevelopment.
Stogel said he and Harris disagreed about "what should happen to the building."
Financing deadline of 16 weeks would seem to be impossible with all the baggage attached. Low income housing was alluded to in the article. Sheer number of units could possibly make that work but is the market there?
Developer says he has rights to buy note on downtown St. Louis' Railway Exchange Building
St. Louis developer Steve Stogel said he's signed a letter of intent giving him the rights to buy the note on the vacant Railway Exchange Building downtown under certain conditions.
The deal could pave the way for Stogel to acquire and redevelop the long-vacant building, though he still has to resolve nearly $4 million in liens on the property.
Stogel said the agreement with the owner's lender, Gamma Real Estate, is "very conditional," requiring him to obtain financing within four months. The agreement is with Stogel's 615 Redevelopment Co. LLC. Railway Exchange, a massive, 1.24 million-square-foot structure at 615 Olive St., has been vacant since 2014, and has deteriorated since then as the owner, Hudson Holdings, and city of St. Louis have struggled to secure it from trespassers.
The building was the focal point of a story in The Wall Street Journal last week that examined the long-struggling downtown office and retail market in St. Louis.
Gamma, which was Hudson Holding's lender, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Another developer who's expressed interested in the property, Amos Harris, said he has been unsuccessful in a bid to acquire the property through a deal with lienholders, a preferred route since contractors have first-lien position on the title, leaving the Gamma note second, he said.
Now that Stogel has reached an agreement with Gamma, Harris said he would not try to compete with him for the building. Harris and Stogel had previously been tapped by Hudson Holdings to be part of the project's local development team.
"We should be working together," Harris said Friday. "Things (downtown) are too bad for there to be recriminations and competition."
Harris said, though, that he hoped the property would not be turned into low-income housing, and that he had sought to include an entertainment use in a redevelopment.
Stogel said he and Harris disagreed about "what should happen to the building."
Financing deadline of 16 weeks would seem to be impossible with all the baggage attached. Low income housing was alluded to in the article. Sheer number of units could possibly make that work but is the market there?
I can't imagine that low income housing is economical on this big of a project, seems like the Butler Bros project would be more of the roadmap
I suspect that Stogel has a head start on knowing what to do with the building and how to make a pro forma theoretically work since he had been working with Hudson Holdings previously. Otherwise, 4 months is not exactly a long time period to get that in order.
With regard to low income housing, that is probably a reference to possibly trying to get Low Income Housing Tax Credits for a portion of the project, in the same way that say the Arcade-Wright Building was renovated now almost a decade ago. They would condo off a portion of the building for that, which would just be a portion of what is likely to be a complex capital stack whether or not they pursue extremely competitive LIHTC subsidy.
The "bored suburban kid" headline reminds me of a weird interaction I had with bartender (probably now in her mid-30s) in Telluride in February. We were just making small talk and she asked where I was from. She went on to comment that she spent 6 months in St. Louis in 2009, staying with her cousin in Ballwin. She went on about how boring Ballwin was leading to a discussion of the hard drugs and partying they would do to cure the boredom. She then went on to describe how they took one of the parties to an abandoned warehouse in the city and burned it down when they left. The interaction was surreal and they way she presented it was that was not out of the norm for the group she was associated with during her stay here.
The "bored suburban kid" headline reminds me of a weird interaction I had with bartender (probably now in her mid-30s) in Telluride in February. We were just making small talk and she asked where I was from. She went on to comment that she spent 6 months in St. Louis in 2009, staying with her cousin in Ballwin. She went on about how boring Ballwin was leading to a discussion of the hard drugs and partying they would do to cure the boredom. She then went on to describe how they took one of the parties to an abandoned warehouse in the city and burned it down when they left. The interaction was surreal and they way she presented it was that was not out of the norm for the group she was associated with during her stay here.
The "bored suburban kid" headline reminds me of a weird interaction I had with bartender (probably now in her mid-30s) in Telluride in February. We were just making small talk and she asked where I was from. She went on to comment that she spent 6 months in St. Louis in 2009, staying with her cousin in Ballwin. She went on about how boring Ballwin was leading to a discussion of the hard drugs and partying they would do to cure the boredom. She then went on to describe how they took one of the parties to an abandoned warehouse in the city and burned it down when they left. The interaction was surreal and they way she presented it was that was not out of the norm for the group she was associated with during her stay here.
Ha....I'd wish them luck with that...hell hath no fury, if they did try for it. This building would assuredly have the preservation community up in arms. If people thought the Olive Street/SLU protest was a spectacle...this would be that times 2 or 3 in terms of pushback.
Ha....I'd wish them luck with that...hell hath no fury, if they did try for it. This building would assuredly have the preservation community up in arms. If people thought the Olive Street/SLU protest was a spectacle...this would be that times 2 or 3 in terms of pushback.
I can’t believe there wasn’t a committee to stop the construction of that garage in the first place. It completely swallows two historic buildings. Man was that a horrible design…
St. Louis mayor calls for 'bold' plan to fix Railway Exchange, Millennium Hotel
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Friday called on local development and business officials to create a "bold" plan in the next four months to revitalize downtown and fix two giant, vacant eyesores.
Jones, at a press conference Friday morning, asked business chamber Greater St. Louis Inc. to work with the city's development agency to address deteriorating conditions at the Railway Exchange building and the Millennium Hotel, both of which have sat empty for years. The work, officials said, will accelerate efforts to make downtown "safe, vibrant and beautiful."
“I'm proud to be here today with civic and business leaders who understand the bright future we are building in Downtown St. Louis,” Jones said in a statement.
airforceguy1 wrote:St. Louis mayor calls for 'bold' plan to fix Railway Exchange, Millennium Hotel
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Friday called on local development and business officials to create a "bold" plan in the next four months to revitalize downtown and fix two giant, vacant eyesores.
Jones, at a press conference Friday morning, asked business chamber Greater St. Louis Inc. to work with the city's development agency to address deteriorating conditions at the Railway Exchange building and the Millennium Hotel, both of which have sat empty for years. The work, officials said, will accelerate efforts to make downtown "safe, vibrant and beautiful."
“I'm proud to be here today with civic and business leaders who understand the bright future we are building in Downtown St. Louis,” Jones said in a statement.
A very strange press conference. With GSTL's Jason Hall standing there, the mayor asks gstl to come up with a plan to address these buildings. Would the Mayor and Hall stand there if there was not *already* a plan? Why would they stick their necks out? After the "doom loop" article news cycle has passed? They're going to be asked about this by the deadline they've created, and it has to be real. If there is already a plan, why not just say it? If not, just leak some information that they are working on it together and are eager to find a solution?
airforceguy1 wrote:St. Louis mayor calls for 'bold' plan to fix Railway Exchange, Millennium Hotel
Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Friday called on local development and business officials to create a "bold" plan in the next four months to revitalize downtown and fix two giant, vacant eyesores.
Jones, at a press conference Friday morning, asked business chamber Greater St. Louis Inc. to work with the city's development agency to address deteriorating conditions at the Railway Exchange building and the Millennium Hotel, both of which have sat empty for years. The work, officials said, will accelerate efforts to make downtown "safe, vibrant and beautiful."
“I'm proud to be here today with civic and business leaders who understand the bright future we are building in Downtown St. Louis,” Jones said in a statement.
A very strange press conference. With GSTL's Jason Hall standing there, the mayor asks gstl to come up with a plan to address these buildings. Would the Mayor and Hall stand there if there was not *already* a plan? Why would they stick their necks out? After the "doom loop" article news cycle has passed? They're going to be asked about this by the deadline they've created, and it has to be real. If there is already a plan, why not just say it? If not, just leak some information that they are working on it together and are eager to find a solution?
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I’m with you. A couple weeks ago there was a newsbreak that it had been purchased and there was a plan in motion. Was that just false?
This isn't anything mischievous. I believe that GSL and partners have been working on this for awhile and are probably approaching a finalized vision. The Mayor, seeing a win on the horizon, wanted an opportunity to reaffirm her administrations role. I assume that GSL gladly accepted an opportunity for public political support and sharing good news.
