urbanSTL

I am all for more consturction, unfortunately I was suppose to have a space in that lot (Louderman), but loft works is no longer renting to residents, bummer . I don't think that this means anything is happening anytime soon, I believe they are saving them for the office space tenants. Luckily for me, and unfortuantely for the urban landscape, there are a plethora of ugly open surface lots around. I hope that this area in general starts to see some development as the syndicate comes online.

New to the board. Hello. I live in the Marquette Building and love downtown. Does anyone know if they are still going to put a Schunck's on the first floor of the parking lot attacked to the Syndicate Building? Thanks.

irocktheparty2000 wrote:

bronte16 wrote:Just a quick FYI: Since we live across the street from the Syndicate (in another Loftworks development) while we wait for our 10th floor unit to be completed, we have already been parking in the 9th Street garage. I've noticed for about a week now that it looks like a door is bring drilled through the Syndicate wall side of the garage on the fifth floor (on the going down side, facing Olive!). I've guessing that this will be a walk through between the two buildings.



I've also noticed similar work going on in the loading bay of the garage (on the Locust side). Maybe they are putting in doors there too for the retail space?? My husband happened to notice the other day that a garage door has been installed on that side of the building as well (which you can see once the construction crew leaves in the late afternoon!).



Anyway, just a few observations while we patiently wait!

You are correct that there will be a walk-through into the 9th street garage. It will be secure and only residents will be able to enter with a pass code. This will make for a very nice feature when guests stay over or if and when Schnuck's ever goes in. Imagine on a cold, rainy day being able to walk (without having to go outside) to get your groceries. Think I will have to get me one of those granny carts.

Since we are future Syndicate residents the wife and I are VERY excited about the Schnucks announcement!! Looks like we'll be doing the granny cart thing too.





Side note.

One of my first thoughts after reading about Schnucks was what might happen to City Grocers. Well, Craig Heller was quoted on stltoday.com after the Schnucks announcement, basically he said that City Grocer will change and evolve into something else. So now I am confident that City Grocers will adapt and change into something that will benefit the residents of downtown STL.

I was by the Syndicate last night and was really blown away by the amount of retail space that is going to be available. Any future residents know the timeline on when that'll be available? Or any possible tenants?

Craig was waiting to see what Schnucks was going to do before he started lining up his retailers for the ground floor. Once Schnucks made the commitment he was on the phone and has several good prospects for retailers and is in process of getting the commitments. I understand should happen soon and he expects to to have everyone open by years end.

I'm excited about the prospect of all that retail on the first floor coming online soon...as well as the Schnucks, of course. Will be interesting to see what happens to City Grocers of course. I have my issues with it as a store as is (too expensive, not high end enough for what it tries to be, etc), but I personally hope it moves to downtown West and perhaps leaves a wine bar or bookstore it's place.



My boyfriend just moved into one of the "artists" lofts at the Syndicate...he moved back here from NY and I did all the looking for him, as I know the DT developments quite well. I have to say that, as far as apartments downtown go, the ones at the Syndicate are amazing. There's really nothing to match it in terms of size, amenities (it has some that no others can match too...like the work rooms and galleries (great for DIY projects), price, and location. His 7th floor, 1 bedroom unit is over 1000 sf, has a gorgeous view, amazing light, good floorplan, and he got it for an absolute steal with the specials they are running. He also could pick concrete or wood floors. It seems they are something of a well kept secret though, as when I looked at Ludwig, 315, and Bell, the cityworks gal really played down the apartments at the Syndicate, saying there wasn't much that wasn't income restricted. They have both market rate and income assisted (aka artist) units though, so I found that odd.Perhaps it was because the Artist Lofts aren't handled by Cityworks? A couple complaints unique to the apartments (since their finishes aren't up to the level of the condos) are the oddness of the modern kitchen cabinets (and lack of pantry, though there's a nice space for an IKEA one), the rather forced 'loft' style that left some rather akward spaces here and there, and the obnoxious sound that the building's door makes when you go in and out....it really should be muffled a bit.



It's great to see the building filling up though...people are always coming and going. Also, the lobby has come a ways since the last pics I saw on here...they're adding furniture and art all the time and it's feeling much cozier. Word is that the 9th floor roof deck will be open by May (hooray) and the party room looks ready for business now that the big screen tv is installed. Still waiting to see what happens with the screening room on the 5th floor though...





Will try and snag some pictures in the near future.

For those of you who are already moved in, have you had any problems with noise issues?

The unit I've spent time in only has another unit on one side (the other abuts the so called 'garage mahal,' and though the neighbors have a dog, I have not once heard a peep from next door. There is some street noise (though quite muffled when the windows are all closed), but I'm sure this decreases as you go up, and, as I said before, the beep on the entry keypad is WAY too loud, and can be heard from the at least the 7th floor. it's annoyingly loud, though muffled when the windows are closed.

Actually, my husband and I live on the 10th floor, and we can hear the downstairs buzzer if our windows are open (it's not loud, loud but you can still hear it).



Noise was a big consideration for us before moving in. While we were waiting to move in (and after we unexpectantly sold our house quickly), we moved into the lofts at 315 10th street -- another Loftworks place just across the street from the Syndicate. Our neighbors had two small dogs that we could hear all the time. I would open a kitchen cabinet, in fact, and they would start barking. So we were getting a little nervous about the Syndicate since we are talking about the same company. BUT -- so far, there haven't been any concerns at the Syndicate. One of our neighbors isn't home much (I think he travels a lot) and the unit on the other side of us hasn't sold yet but the Syndicate is using it for a model until (#1011). Sometime, I can hear someone walking around in high heels in there (and I can also sometimes hear high heels going down the hallway). But none of this horrible -- just momentary.



Of course, during the day the biggest "noise" source is the construction on the 11th floor. Not a big deal and to be expected.



I think for us the only disappointment has been in the completion of the punch list -- several key issues have not been addressed though we keep emailing and calling.

Is this building tax abated?

merch_man wrote:Is this building tax abated?

No.

How many times did the city of saint louis water division need to turn off and on, the water mains for the entire block(s) around the syndicate building, as well as the water main valves for each individual neighboring building?



If city water damaged anything while doing this, since they are the only people allowed to touch the valves, then who would be responsible? The individual property owners, or city water?



I'm curious because city grocers and the frisco have damaged water valves, but a plumber told me they had to pay for a replacement valve themselves, although they were barely 5 years old! I think someone at city water is turning the valves the wrong way (they're counter-clockwise to close in the city, unlike the rest of the planet).

They've shut off all water to the Meridian for hours at a time at least a few times within the last year and for about 18 hours one specific time. Is this normal? I never had this happen so frequently in any other location I've lived in.



I had to work from home one day because I worked out at night but the water still wasn't on in the morning to take a shower. It is quite aggravating to not be able to take a shower and take care of other hygiene issues.

I have lived down here for 5 years and have never been without water

FYI.....Sounded like ground floor reatail should be anounced soon for the syndicate building.

From the loft tour, one of the reps mentioned 5000 sf of the ground floor retail will be used for a gym. It is also great that all 64 rental units are occupied with a waiting list.

A gym? Will it only be for Syndicate residences which are part of its amenities?



It would be kind of weird having ANOTHER gym right below you. Plus 5,000sqft would not be enough for a full size gym. Look at Fitness Factory, 18,000 sqft and JUST big enough for it to be a really nice gym.

zink wrote:A gym? Will it only be for Syndicate residences which are part of its amenities?



It would be kind of weird having ANOTHER gym right below you. Plus 5,000sqft would not be enough for a full size gym. Look at Fitness Factory, 18,000 sqft and JUST big enough for it to be a really nice gym.

Yea, sounds to me like something got miscommunicated. But who knows.

I have actually thought the same thing about having a gym in that location. You can never tell when information is correct, I was just passing on what I was told.

I heard that the gym proposed for the Syndicate would be a small "boxing gym" focusing on cardio. 5,000 sq. ft. seems like enough space for a specialty gym. Even if if was going to be a large, full-service gym, I don't think it would be weird to also have a "resident's only" gym upstairs. Many people with a community "fitness center" have a membership to a "real" gym and just use their building's gym after-hours or when pressed for time.

Actually, I am totally one of those people that AvantSTL mentions! I love the fact that we have the fitness center here in the building but I still use the Marquette YMCA. As a runner, I do all my long indoor runs at the Y -- more treadmills with a little more open space -- but I do use the fitness center here at the Syndicate about twice a week for when I get home late or the weekends (the times the Y is not open).



And just a quick comment -- the 05 unit "debuted" during the loft tour (the portion of the building where the outside buckhoist is located so those units are bring done last) -- what a unit! I live in the 10 model but am now quite in love with 05. I understand that the unit that was open -- 1005 -- sold on Saturday. I think it was UMA that provided many of the furnishings and the place looked awesome! I continue to be impressed with how cool our building is! (and how nice everyone here seems to be!)

My wife and I are relocating this July from Memphis. We attended the downtown living tour last weekend and I'm pleased to say we reserved a unit in the Syndicate. There were at least three others who reserved condos in the Syndicate that weekend including the model that sold. I was really impressed with the models, the building, and the staff from Sherman Associates and Loftworks.



I had done my research prior to our visit and the Syndicate was my #1 choice. This forum was really helpful obtaining information on all the downtown residential developments. I think this will be a great building to call home.

cpwhite wrote:My wife and I are relocating this July from Memphis. We attended the downtown living tour last weekend and I'm pleased to say we reserved a unit in the Syndicate. There were at least three others who reserved condos in the Syndicate that weekend including the model that sold. I was really impressed with the models, the building, and the staff from Sherman Associates and Loftworks.



I had done my research prior to our visit and the Syndicate was my #1 choice. This forum was really helpful obtaining information on all the downtown residential developments. I think this will be a great building to call home.

Welcome to the building and welcome to the thread. I personally think you made a wise choice here. For the money I don't think you can beat the value of everything you get and forget about the location. It's perfect. This is my third purchase with Loftworks and obviously have been very happy with their work, service and staff. I hope you enjoy your space here as much as we have since we moved in. We really love it here. We finally feel like we can stop moving around as this feels very much like home.