urbanSTL

irocktheparty2000 wrote:
I hear ya. Printer's went up shortly after the association took over but Moon Brother's, so far has not. Maybe Loftworks is estimating accordingly now. BTW, which development only has 6 units? Is this DT?

my condo building in the Moorlands (clayton)... We had redbrick doing the mgt at first b/c Rothchild rehabbed our building... basically paying them (1/6th) of our income just to collect our checks. We decided that we would manage it in house instead of raising our fees.



For example, it is my duty to collect and deposit the checks each month. I also change all the light bulbs in the common areas...

Someone else pays bills, balances the check book, etc.



Once everything is set up, there isn't much else to do...

bpe235 wrote:

irocktheparty2000 wrote:
I hear ya. Printer's went up shortly after the association took over but Moon Brother's, so far has not. Maybe Loftworks is estimating accordingly now. BTW, which development only has 6 units? Is this DT?

my condo building in the Moorlands (clayton)... We had redbrick doing the mgt at first b/c Rothchild rehabbed our building... basically paying them (1/6th) of our income just to collect our checks. We decided that we would manage it in house instead of raising our fees.



For example, it is my duty to collect and deposit the checks each month. I also change all the light bulbs in the common areas...

Someone else pays bills, balances the check book, etc.



Once everything is set up, there isn't much else to do...

Interesting as I brought up that concept while living at Moon. There is a great resource of people in that building from attorneys and doctors to landscapers to artists to painters and construction workers. I still think they could save a ton of money by managing the property from within but there are certain liabilities to that as well. Definitely more doable with a smaller building.

Thanks for the pics! The new space looks great, I'm sure the sales staff are enjoying their new digs. It will eventually make a neat retail space since those large glass fronts make it bright and airy.



I especially love the last pic showing the easterly vista down Olive. Even with the sprinkling of barricades and the road construction barrels, it is easy to imagine how this same view could be an urban postcard in a few years with hopefully more residents of OPO square filling the streets as pedestrians.

I was down yesterday and I completely agree. This area, within the next year or so is going to blow peoples minds. It is SO much more impressive than walking around ANY other urban area in St. Louis. I still cringe at the loss of Century, but it's still great to see this district come alive. It will be one of St. Louis' premier neighborhoods.

Anyone know the status of the rental units in the building? I cant find any info on those.

adamflath wrote:Anyone know the status of the rental units in the building? I cant find any info on those.

You'll have to call Loftworks for that info.

We were just told that the apartments would be ready in December -- we were in the new office last week to ask since our house sold faster than we thought and we were hoping to move into one of the apartments until our unit on the 10th floor was ready. Instead, we will be moving into another one of the Loftworks' apartments until then (though having your house sell fast IS a nice problem to have!).

Are there any plans for the ground floors of the Syndicate? In thinking about what-if retail for BPV and Merchant's Exchange, it occurred to me that the Syndicate might be the best building for an urban Target or similar store. The old Vandevoort's space really is superior to the Stix or Famous buildings because it has full glass on two floors -- there is a lot of potential for the store to 'interact' with people on the street.

Tysalpha wrote:Are there any plans for the ground floors of the Syndicate? In thinking about what-if retail for BPV and Merchant's Exchange, it occurred to me that the Syndicate might be the best building for an urban Target or similar store. The old Vandevoort's space really is superior to the Stix or Famous buildings because it has full glass on two floors -- there is a lot of potential for the store to 'interact' with people on the street.

I believe the second level will be for parking. As for ground level, City Grocer's still may be taking a good part of it but who knows until Schnuck's informs what their true intent is. I am sure there is some good interest in the space. Doubt it will stay vacant for long.

Was down there checking it out today too. I'm extremely impressed with the pace of the project so far, they are absolutely flying. The building is looking great! Nice work Xing.

^ Fantastic to see it looking like this. Contrast with all the years it had the 'artistic' barriers around it, which I guess were there for fear the cornice would start falling off and landing on the sidewalk.



As for the retail space -- it really begs for something more visual than a grocery store. A Virgin megastore would be perfect -- except for the fact that the entertainment business has almost entirely gone online.

Tysalpha wrote:Contrast with all the years it had the 'artistic' barriers around it, which I guess were there for fear the cornice would start falling off and landing on the sidewalk.

I remember those dark days all too well. And I recall when the owners of the Syndicate and The Arcade at the time were threatening to pull these beauties down for surface lots. Thank goodness we were able to hang onot these gems, which only makes the loss of The Century more bittersweet (okay, mini-rant over, moving on...).

As for the retail space -- it really begs for something more visual than a grocery store. A Virgin megastore would be perfect -- except for the fact that the entertainment business has almost entirely gone online.

Since The Syndicate and The Laurel were once home to two out of three of Saint Louis' major department stores, I hope we'll see a significant retailer in both buildings. Virgin would be wonderful if retail music outlets weren't near death, but I keep holding out hope that a mainstream clothing store like H&M or Old Navy or a bookstore like B&N or Borders will give these spaces a closer look.

Great pics, Xing.



A beautiful building.

^ There's an H&M in Boston that's only one floor - in fact all the H&M's I've seen in the US are rather small and, I think, have all been one floor . . . the West County store here is maybe, what? 8k sq ft? I'm guessing.

The H&M on 7th Avenue in New York is two floors -- but I still wasn't impressed with the selection of men's items.

The first H&M I saw was in Oslo four years ago - all other stores have been a disappointment since - that thing was the size of Macy's!