urbanSTL

Magnatron wrote:It's refreshing to have a project rep on here.... would have been useful for BPV....

Or not...

The Laurel at MX wrote:I have been assured that everything is on track for a June construction start.

Any chance you could quash today's rumor that the project is done?

^Busy cashing his/her paycheck.

I hope not.

Conurbation wrote:This confirms that Pyramid is in trouble, but I would call this good news on the whole:

Pryamid out as developer of big downtown project

By Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/19/2008



One of downtown St. Louis' most prominent developers and property owners is no longer part of one of downtown's most ambitious redevelopment initiatives.



The $400 million Mercantile Exchange, which included a renovation of St. Louis Centre, will move forward without Pyramid Construction Inc. and the company's owner, John Steffen.



"We have taken over management of the partnership," said Amos Harris, president of Brady Capital, local partners of Connecticut-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners LLC.



Read More

I'm not sure I agree with this being good news. It's yet another negative story regarding downtown, and this time from one of downtown developers best in Pyramid. Hopefully it was just a financial thing and that is why Pyramid is no longer involved, but I'm concerned that there will be no in-town developer on this. Now it's in the hands of an out of town developer who's best interests are likely making money, regardless of the project's impact on downtown or St. Louis.



This is the most important project downtown. If it fails, it will be a HUGE loss.

Pyramid was a great developer for st. louis and i would hate to see them go into financial troubles, maybe they will rebound when the market does.

That's good to hear, MO. I want to hear the whole project is continuing, but at this point in time hearing the Laurel is still a go is a step in the right direction.



Pyramid had their hands in many projects and with the economic downturn, I suspect they really were feeling the squeeze. Hopefully by backing out of the MX project they'll be able to regroup and focus on some of their other projects. I'd love to hear that Jefferson Arms is a go now, but that's probably wishful thinking in this market.

^ You mean Pyramid as opposed to Pinnacle?

MOFORGOV wrote:Great story Channel 4 did last night regarding Pinnacle and what I assume was Skyhouse. They had a 20 second blurb on how a downtown project at 14th and Wash was dead and that two others the MX and St. Louis Centre were in trouble. Even quoted Mayor Slay.



After I saw this I wanted to punch Conners, why does the media bash downtown's development without the facts? Get the story straight and before you announce it on the 10 o clock news.

I saw it too - it was absolutely horrible. It was so vague.

If someone can find this segment on their website could you please post it. I would like to see it but I cannot seem to find it.

We were at the Laurel checking out the status of our reservation and found out the project (Laurel and MX) is still a go. They stated that June construction is still on target from what they know. Apparently, Spinnaker was the major backer in the plan all along and will continue to develop. They were concerned with how the story was reporting and want everyone to know they are still open for business.

I couldn't make it to the downtown living tour last weekend. Could someone status me on the Laurel.

Thanks.

Any recent reservations after the loft tour a few weeks ago?

We're holding steady here at The Laurel. We lost some reservations over the past few months (including terminated Macy's and Pyramid employees), but have picked up just as many new ones (including former Arcade buyers). The overall number of people who attended the spring '08 downtown housing tour was down, but the quality of the attendees was good. I think over the next several months we will continue to get reservations from those who first visited on the tour.



I have been receiving consistently positive news from the Laurel development team about the finalization of the construction financing, but still don't have a firm construction start date. It sounds like it will be sometime this summer, which keeps us on track for 2010 occupancy.



Thanks to everyone who stopped in, called, or e-mailed with kind words during the past month! I hope those who haven't visited will stop in sometime soon!

Cool- I think this is still our biggest project to change a lot of peoples perception of downtown. I walked washington today from 15th to lumiere link and the sky bridge just cuts off the eastern portion of DT. I can't wait to see progress!