urbanSTL

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

innov8ion wrote:There has already been one delay; another delay would be quite unacceptable. Interest rates aren't getting any lower and coordination is required in altering leases, home sales, etc... Reasonable pressure needs to be applied and remedies requested if another schedule slip occurs. I don't encourage a laissez-faire attitude nor an overreaction; just pressure to hold the Meridian accountable to quality and schedule.

I stopped in a week ago and was told the 8th floor was scheduled for move ins in mid-September. There's no way in hell that will happen. Which is fine. But I'm thinking it will be more like October or November before I'm in.

But for me personally, it really doesn't matter. 2-3 months late means nothing. But for those who are concerned, I would encourage action.

2-3 Months late is normal for pre-construction purchases. You got a cheaper loft via pre-construction pricing. That discount on your loft is basically a payment for dealing with these normal construction delays. No developer can forsee every roadblock that will occur during construction. If it goes beond 3 months, then maybe you could start lookin into your options such as asking the developer to pay the fees to extend you rate lock(if you were too stupid to get a rate lock then that's your problem), lease extension/breaking fees, and maybe a little rent assistance. You're still getting the appreciation on the loft since your price is locked.



If you can't handle a little 2 month delay, then pay the premium for a move in ready loft.

Urban Elitist wrote:

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

innov8ion wrote:There has already been one delay; another delay would be quite unacceptable. Interest rates aren't getting any lower and coordination is required in altering leases, home sales, etc... Reasonable pressure needs to be applied and remedies requested if another schedule slip occurs. I don't encourage a laissez-faire attitude nor an overreaction; just pressure to hold the Meridian accountable to quality and schedule.

But for me personally, it really doesn't matter. 2-3 months late means nothing. But for those who are concerned, I would encourage action.

2-3 Months late is normal for pre-construction purchases. You got a cheaper loft via pre-construction pricing. That discount on your loft is basically a payment for dealing with these normal construction delays. No developer can forsee every roadblock that will occur during construction. If it goes beond 3 months, then maybe you could start lookin into your options such as asking the developer to pay the fees to extend you rate lock(if you were too stupid to get a rate lock then that's your problem), lease extension/breaking fees, and maybe a little rent assistance. You're still getting the appreciation on the loft since your price is locked.



If you can't handle a little 2 month delay, then pay the premium for a move in ready loft.

To me, it should make no difference whether it matters to this person or not (which I appreciate your opinion and am not trying to take that away from you) - it should be the principle of the matter first and foremost. In society and life, we are taught that we must be held accountable - period. I don't want to be an enabler in this situation thus continuing to allow the developers to feel or get the impression that the way they are conducting business is acceptable.



With that being said, and has been pointed out, I think most people have and/or should have reasonable expectations that there will be small delays in a development of this size/undertaking and not try to enforce strict accountability. But when are repeated delays and lack of information too much? Xref WestGate Lofts - 2323 Locust Street which spiraled to over a year behind schedule. I think we can all agree that a year delay matters to all parties involved. From my own experience, I was told to expect May and will likely be closing in August. That is on the fringe of exceeding the reasonable time frame - IMO.



My concern has always been the fact that I have felt left in the dark about the progress throughout the entire process and feel as though The Meridian is not making a conscious effort to put all of the information before so we can plan and make accommodations for these delays. I don't want to speculate on why or why not things aren't happening but I do know there is little action/word alignment taking place here and that doesn't sit well with me.



We all have different reasons for purchasing downtown but I do believe in it's revitalization and just want my reasonable expectations to be met. I don't think that is too much to ask. I am choosing to voice my opinion in this forum because the exchange of ideas and opinions opens our minds and makes us more aware of what is transpiring. I want to hear it all - the good, the bad, and the indifferent because it does help put things into perspective for me.

I did a general walkthrough on Friday June 30 before the Cards game. I was in town for a short time and will have one of my parents do an official walkthrough. In my opinion, there is NO WAY that closing for the 2nd floor will occur before the end of July. The places are absolutely filthy, exterior walls have not been cleaned, wall paint has oversprayed onto the floors and exterior brick wall, cabinets have been hung completely crooked, the wine rack at the end of the bar was extremely dinged up, floors have not been finished, not to mention the entry way and parking is not even completed. Does anyone else feel this way as well?



Also is anyone disappointed by the craftsmenship? As I mentioned, cabinets were hung crooked, cabinetry was extremely banged up. How can these people expect us to accept this and how can the construction people do that kind of shotty work knowing they are going to have to re do it. Just blows my mind. Also the baseboard are basically 1x3's or raw painted lumber.



What can we do in respect to another possible delayed closing and the shotty work? Originally we were told an early Spring closing if I can remember, something like Feb, then April, then June, now maybe late July.

I had a look during the loft tour and I thought the craftsmanship was OK. The only thing I noticed were the windows seemed to be of below average quality and the granite counters were quite thin (but I think granite is standard so I guess its hard to complain about that). You'd be surprised how much better the place will look after a good cleaning and all the finishing touches are complete.

I wouldn't worry about things being crooked and a little banged up or dirty at this point. It's seems really stupid, but that's how construction always proceeds. They put everything in, and then have to go back and clean everything again, touch up paint, etc. It's how it looks at closing that matters.

Craftsmanship looked pretty good to me last time I was in there. Except for the baseboards. The baseboards are a joke.

I heard that there were people scheduled to do inspections later this week. let's see what they say.

I was not able to make my walkthrough today so I sent a local St. Louis engineer in my place. Can I say they were very supprised. Needless to say the punch list reads thirty items. They even forgot my fireplace. 30 items. I'll close after it's done correct. I can't keep coming from Tampa to St. Louis to waste my time.

They FORGOT your fireplace? That's crazy. We're on the 9th floor, so we won't be in for a while, but it sounds like we need to get in the habit of going down there and checking things out.



Good luck with everything Chad! I hope the changes are made quickly.

Chad,



Thanks for the information. 30 items, eh? That's horrendous, but not surprising given the seemingly nonchalant, almost cavalier attitudes these developers have displayed since the beginning of this project.



Either way, it's great to hear the people are doing their walk-throughs and will be moving in soon. When all is said and done, we're all going to end up with fantastic places to live.

This is the group from California that is doing the Meridian right? Are they doing any other projects in St. Louis? They don't sound like they're getting things taken care of the way it needs to be.

trent wrote:This is the group from California that is doing the Meridian right? Are they doing any other projects in St. Louis? They don't sound like they're getting things taken care of the way it needs to be.

Chemical Building

Ah, that's right. 'The Alexa'...complete with a doorman, cuz StL is ready for that.

From the start, these developers have displayed an alarmingly nonchalant, almost cavalier attitude towards this project and their customers. Their lack of professionalism and accountability is very troubling.



Perhaps this is the way things are done in LA? Or perhaps this is the way things are done when a couple of wealthy LA residents see a way to make a quick buck by capatilizing on the re-birth of some city in "fly over country."



Well, I hope our friends from LA stay cognizant of the fact that we have laws here in Missouri as well - laws that allow us to protect our investments and hold them accountable for providing us the quality units we've contracted and paid for. I personally am currently involved in somewhat of a dispute with the developers that I will gladly share with all of you if it is not taken care of satisfactorily. I encourage the rest of you to post any significantly troubling information here and on the thread for the Alexa.



Do not close on your units until you're happy you're getting what you've paid for. Once you close, you've lost a lot of leverage -- and, unfortunately, it seems leverage will be relatively more necessary with this group.



Either way, we're all going to end up with some spectacular residences, and I look forward to meeting you all in the future.

1. Caulk around pipes and conduits

2. Touch up paint where wall meets ceiling

3. Install backsplash behind sink

4. Caulk countertops

5. Cover screw heads inside cabinets

6. Adjust cabinet doors

7. Caulk store front window

8. Sprinkler head dripping

9. Caulk tub

10. Caulk vanity top

11. Fix loose glass stop on doorAdjust sink stop

12. Remove sharp edge trim under washer/dryer.



There were lots more

I think a major part of the problem is that they are forcing these walk-throughs before the units are ready for them. I agree with Ginny that the usual course of construction is for things to look crappy until they come back and fix up everything at the end. I think the place should be completed with everything clean for a walk-through so that you can really see what needs to be done and can assume that what isn't done by that point had been overlooked. In our case, we are walking through units that are still technically under construction. Certainly someone was going to catch all the places that needed caulking and paint touch ups in Chad's unit. I had a lot of those types of problems in my unit too and it was because they just hadn't gotten around to coming back and double checking their own work. Certainly the plan isn't to leave me without shower fixtures. I think my unit is at least two weeks away from being in what I would consider to be a state appropriate for a walk-through. With that being said, it is going to be fabulous once it's done.

Because I live in Tampa, and was faced with a walk through this week, I decided to go with a local St. Louis engineer. He walked my unit for me and sent me a detailed list of items that need to be adressed prior to closing. I saved from having to buy an airline ticket, hotel room or rental car. His fee was very affordable.



I will share his e-mail address with everyone. adellblk@sbcglobal.net

If anyone is interested...I recently contacted Gold's Gym regarding fees for membership. In conversation, I inquired about the possibility of a special that Gold's could/would offer the future residents of The Meridian. As a result, the Gold's on 6th St has agreed to offer each resident one month's free membership! They are currently creating a flier to bring to the gym to in order to take advantage. More information should be available later on this week regarding the dissemination of the information and flier.



I do not want to post and/or have this posting to be viewed as a solicitation but wanted to share this information in case anyone was interested in obtaining a gym membership in the near future. This is strictly for the residents of The Meridian.

Thanks cbroy! My boyfriend and I have been thinking about getting a membership there. We're both Bally's members and it seems silly to drive to Clayton when we can walk to Gold's!

I heard that closings began last week. I think most of you here on the forum are on the upper floors, but has anyone here scheduled a closing yet?

A word of warning to those who think that the units will look good at the time of the closing!!! I did a final walkthrough and was horrified with how the unit looked and the construction quality. Absolutely nothing has changed from when i saw the unit last time about a month ago.... I am familiar with many downtown loft projects and have never seen anything like this. Not just the units, but the inside of the whole building as well, the hallways, the lobby. I believe that what the LA developers are doing there borders with negligence. The word is out that they recently realized that the project will not get some of the promised tax brakes from the city and, it seems to me, for the past month or two have tried to cut their losses by cutting corners in the construction.

I feel very strong about this building and about the project and, just like previous postings, encourage everyone not to close until they are absolutely happy with the quality. We need to be concerned not just with the quality of the individual units, but with the intereior of the building as well, which as i mentioned looks like nothing i've seen so far in dowtown.

Some say i am overreacting... But from what i see on this forum i am not the only one that feels that way.

I strongly encourage everyone to post their thoughts here. I believe that we need to hold the developers responsible for not delivering what we contracted for. Its in the best interest of every single resident to live in the building and the units that have construction quality at least similar to other downtown lofts. From what i've seen up until this point, its far from it.

urbinite wrote:A word of warning to those who think that the units will look good at the time of the closing!!! I did a final walkthrough and was horrified with how the unit looked and the construction quality. Absolutely nothing has changed from when i saw the unit last time about a month ago.... I am familiar with many downtown loft projects and have never seen anything like this. Not just the units, but the inside of the whole building as well, the hallways, the lobby. I believe that what the LA developers are doing there borders with negligence. The word is out that they recently realized that the project will not get some of the promised tax brakes from the city and, it seems to me, for the past month or two have tried to cut their losses by cutting corners in the construction.

Any specific examples?

Here's some pictures from Unit 204: http://picasaweb.google.com/innov8ion/Loft/

Nails in the brick wall, huge holes that are not patched up, old/cracked window moldings that are poorly painted over, but some crackes are not even filled in with paint... Areas of the ceiling that need to be painted again.. The list goes on....

Developers are saying that all this is part of the loft"style"... I've seen hundreds of lofts, and can tell a difference between what supposed to be a loft style, and poor paint job....

Am i being too picky?, or is it just my unit?

Has anyone else had similar experience?

innov8ion wrote:Here's some pictures from Unit 204: http://picasaweb.google.com/innov8ion/Loft/

Looking at those pictures, they really did "cheap out" on those baseboards!

I was looking through the pics of the finished/unfinished unit and noticed the glass door that slid on a track. Where could I go about getting information on a door like that? What is it called?