urbanSTL

I found out the Bankers Lofts will be going with Charter Cable. Apparently in this particular grid it was more cost effective and viable. Everyone will have to have at least basic service for access to the security system, but each person can select their own desired level of service above that.

I have charter cable in my loft and the service is very disappointing. Trying to upgrade charter to high-speed, HDTV and DVR has not been a very successful experience. While many people don?t care about the high-tech, you would think that some of these new loft developments would attempt to satisfy those of us who would like it.

In fairness I should say that even here in Creve Coeur I had to wait on a 2 month wait list for DVR and HD boxes, it's an overall Charter supplier problem. But it's still much better than getting a dish because then you can bulk buy phone, tv, and Highspeed. Since sat has no rea phone or highspeed access. So basically what I'm trying to day is that it isn't up to the loft developerd to line up boxes for you.

Of course I don't expect a loft development to "line up boxes" for me. I guess I'm just a frustrated consumer expecting much better options in a high-tech world.

8k for a compact tandem, 12k for a standard tandem.



waiting list for us. sigh.

ContractorKitchens wrote:Curious to get an opinion here:



If you reserved a loft before construction and your square footage was 2043sqft, and when the walls go up it is reduced to 2013sqft, do you think the price should drop? Or is this just common, and 30sqft isn't something to be fussing over? That translates to approx $4500 or so.

Well, I ran into a guy the other day that had a reserve at Banker's and pulled out after he found out that the square footage is from outside the walls. To him he was being deceived and paying for square footage that he cannot use. He also wondered how much that adds up to for the developer when you take the whole building into consideration. He asked to get real square footage of living space and was told it would take a number of hours for the architect to figure that out and felt like Pyramid really did not want to do that. So needless to say he was not happy and walked away. I kind of feel the same. Granted you own what is inside those walls, but you cannot do anything with them to enhance your living space. So I think I side with him. I want to pay for what I am getting and what I can use. Not sure what other developers do but have been told that Loftworks does their square footage of actual living space from inside the walls.

I think you could take issue with Pyramid if the way they measure square footage deviates from the industry norm.

I think the problem is that there really isn't and "industry norm." I sold a condo in South City last year and my agent did't put the square footage on the MLS entry because there's so much controversy over how that number is calculated.



That's just my 2 cents....

there is an industry standard, its the BOMA.



At least that is used in commercial leasing.

Yep, that's true, what you want to ask developers for is the ANSI/BOMA usable space sq. ftage. If they say they don't have it then their architects are very lazy and call them on it.

Pyramid measures from the middle of the inside walls, to the outside edge of the wall of the building. So you actually own the brick and morter on the outside walls. Not that you can do anything with that solid space, but hey, it's yours.

Why did your square footage change if they haven't changed how they were measuring it?

I also was upset with the way Pyramid calculated square footage, but my brother manages commercial buildings and sided with Pyramid because he said their method of calculating square footage was the industry standard. I did feel somewhat misled, but didn't back out over it once I heard back from my brother. At the end of the day, I don't have any reason not to trust Pyramid. I think they've been as good to work with as possible and I hope that feeling continues through the closing.

December 9th update with pictures.

http://www.bankerslofts.com/progress-05-12-09.html



Oct update w/ pics:

http://www.bankerslofts.com/progress-05-10-24.html



Sept updates w/ pics:

http://www.bankerslofts.com/progress-05-09-26.html

Can someone explain to me this reserved concept for purchasing? I have not heard of this before. Thanks!

It's simple, you put down a small,1-2k, refundable "retaining fee" to hold the loft for 60-90 days. After that time period you must sign a purchasing agreement, or get back your money and the loft returns to the market.

Lucas Lofts is using the same material for framing. I guess it might be more cost efficient and might hold up better over the long run.



As far the reservation goes...you put money down at the time of reservation. Then 60-90 days later you enter into contract and sometimes have to put even more money down. Then you wait. Then you move in to one of the coolest downtown living areas in the US and watch downtown STL flourish once again before your very eyes and the value of your new home appreciate significantly.

MistaC01 wrote:Also, is it standard now that they frame up walls with aluminum 2x4's like in those pics, and if so how would you hammer things into the wall?

They are not aluminum. They are steel studs. And those used in wall construction are typically 3-5/8" and 6" not "2x4" (1-1/2"x3-1/2"). They are ubiquitous in commercial construction and becoming much more common in residential construction as well. Most typically picture frames and the like are hung directly from the drywall anyway so that is the same. If you are hanging a heavy mirror or something you just use the appropriate anchor that you would get at the hardware store.



Steel studs have many advantages. They are much lighter, stronger and straighter than wood and come prepunched with holes for things like wiring and plumbing. They also much more easily create curved walls as they make flexible top and bottom tracks. They also have huge advantages in fire-rated assemblies.



Depending on the price of steel the material cost is typically more than wood studs but due to the reasons above their use makes tons of economic sense.

MistaC01 wrote:Also, is it standard now that they frame up walls with aluminum 2x4's like in those pics, and if so how would you hammer things into the wall?

They're not aluminum, they're steel studs.

Most steel studs are for partitions, but they are also made to take structural loads, increasing the cost more. They are more expensive, but the things sited above such as the pre-punched holes and ease of building lower the labor costs, helping to offset the higher material cost. termites don't like them either. They are far superior in my book.

As someone who has to hang heavy artwork sometimes, I gotta say I much prefer wood studs. Its too easy to strip your screws in those metal ones. Not to mention you can't nail into them.