Urban St. Louis entreprenuers

Alex Ihnen · PostNov 05, 2007#12007-11-05T21:42+00:00

So this idea started over on the Joe Edwards Flamingbowl page, but IMO it's deserving of its own thread (at least it doesn't really belong on the other).

So, what next? (We can take business dealings to PM

)

Maybe the question is how some of us who would like to be more involved in development actually get there. Is it possible to "team" with someone like Eco-Urban homes and provide a home site? Is a small rehab a good first project? Managing rental property?

juiceinkirkwood · PostNov 05, 2007#22007-11-05T22:06+00:00

I think managing rental property would be okay, and a good way to control the riff raff population. In my apartment building in Fairview they kicked out 8 tenants (in an 18-tenant complex) within there first few months of management.

south compton · PostNov 05, 2007#32007-11-05T22:26+00:00

Grover wrote:

Is it possible to "team" with someone like Eco-Urban homes and provide a home site?

To clarify, is your proposition to identify in-fill opportunities, purchase the property, contract with Eco-Urban (or another company) to build the house, and then sell it?

Alex Ihnen · PostNov 05, 2007#42007-11-05T22:29+00:00

^ ? Maybe locate a lot, purchase it to provide for infill and then share in the sale of the property? I really don't know enough to ask the right questions at the moment . . . Basically trying to find a way to be a small partner/pool resources to do a small project.

moorlander · PostNov 05, 2007#52007-11-05T22:42+00:00

Great thread Grover... Hope we can get some good feedback..

south compton · PostNov 05, 2007#62007-11-05T22:46+00:00

Grover wrote:^ ? Maybe locate a lot, purchase it to provide for infill and then share in the sale of the property? I really don't know enough to ask the right questions at the moment . . . Basically trying to find a way to be a small partner/pool resources to do a small project.

I've thought about it too. Considering the market right now, I think the best bets would be to find a duplex or a four-family to fix up and rent out. Problem is that there are a lot of people who do this professionally, not just on the side, that snatch up the best opportunities.

cmd+h · PostNov 05, 2007#72007-11-05T22:58+00:00

...and many who then jack up the price and flip them.

As a "young professional" I've contemplated starting a business downtown. The time is right. Unfortunately, my money is not. Always complications.

juiceinkirkwood · PostNov 05, 2007#82007-11-05T23:01+00:00

Is downtown under served in SOHO network setup and PC/network troubleshooting and repair?

if so, someone else start a business and I'll work there

MattnSTL · PostNov 05, 2007#92007-11-05T23:16+00:00

I've long thought of starting Urban St. Louis Development LLC. and using some of the brains from here. I guess I'm not the only one.

dmmonty1 · PostNov 05, 2007#102007-11-05T23:39+00:00

Great to see the entreprenurial spirit is alive and well here. It has always seemed to me that St. Louis has potentially terrific retail streets that would thrive if a large number of businesses went in all at once, making the particular area more of a destination and generating buzz/media attention. It seems that rapidly taking over a whole street would also mean initially lower rents or the potential for business owners to even own commercial buildings outright. Manchester is an obvious example, but there are many others I can think of throughout the city. Anyone interested in getting an entreprenurial group together to brainstorm on this kind of scenario?

stellar · PostNov 05, 2007#112007-11-05T23:39+00:00

I've thought a lot about this in the last couple of years. Crowdsourcing could be a way to go. Setting it up legally and not ending up as a pyramid scheme could be costly, but not out of reach. It would take more than the people on here with the money they have, but people on here could be cheerleaders and trendsetters and bring aboard those who don't waste their time on this forum because they are making real money somewhere.

You wouldn't have to raise all of the money to do a project. You just need to raise the money to back the loan. I'm fairly certain that if you could raise $250,000 ($5,000 from 50 people?) you could pull together a half million dollar project. Now $500,000 won't get you far, but if you could prove it works you could do something much larger for a second project. Renovating a commercial strip or residential street starts with 1 building.

Read about crowdsourcing here:

http://www.cooltownstudios.com/mt/archives/001137.html

constant change · PostNov 06, 2007#122007-11-06T02:09+00:00

Sell shares for startup costs.

stellar · PostNov 06, 2007#132007-11-06T05:03+00:00

constant change wrote:Sell shares for startup costs.

But who is the governing party? Who draws up the contracts? Guarantees good faith with the funds? Issues shares? I don't know anyone on here well enough to hand over cash. You might have to bring in an oversight committee that handles contracts for an administration fee. It could get complicated, but I don't think it's impossible. Working out the kinks on a small project with a core group would be a smart way to go.

newstl2020 · PostNov 06, 2007#142007-11-06T05:59+00:00

^The idea of selling shares is your gaurantee in and of itself. In order to sell shares of a start-up company such as the one "proposed," the company would have to register as a Corporation, or much more likely an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Both of these scenarios would require a hell of a lot of back-work on the part of the group running this proposed company, and would all but insure the money would be put to use for said projects, and not a sly forum member with a gambling addiction (per the "watchful eye" of the S.E.C.). Of course, there was Enron...

Apologies to those who knew this and whose time I subsequently wasted.

PostNov 06, 2007#152007-11-06T06:12+00:00

Oh yeah, and I'll toss in this just for good measure. The corner of Delmar and Skinker where there currently sits a Church's chicken and a parking lot about 5 times as big as it needs to be. Could be THE most underutilized land in the metro area. Anything on this lot would kill, especially a moderately tall (10-20 story) condo/apartment building. Wash-U students for the apartments; condos to younger people wanting to live on "One of the 10 best streets in America." Combo this development with something new on the corner directly across Skinker from this lot, and you have a LOT of potential to make a killing on a great project. Maybe partnering with a much larger company just to ensure this is a great project, and then taking the business savvy gained during this project, as well as the cred of allready producing something viable, and this could be an ideal opportunity despite the fact that this partnership might generate little to no money for whoever is contemplating this "urban entreprenuership." I'd go after it, but I'm currently sitting through at least 2 more years of school, so I'll focus on that for now.

watcher · PostNov 06, 2007#162007-11-06T13:22+00:00

Maybe the 'Habitat for Humanity' could be used as a model.

Obtain sponsorship for a project and utilize volunteers for the work. Roll over profits to new projects.

jlblues · PostNov 06, 2007#172007-11-06T15:02+00:00

newstl2020 wrote:...Maybe partnering with a much larger company just to ensure this is a great project, and then taking the business savvy gained during this project, as well as the cred of allready producing something viable, and this could be an ideal opportunity despite the fact that this partnership might generate little to no money for whoever is contemplating this "urban entreprenuership."

Why would the large company want to do that? Why wouldn't they just do it themselves?

south compton · PostNov 06, 2007#182007-11-06T15:31+00:00

newstl2020 wrote:Oh yeah, and I'll toss in this just for good measure. The corner of Delmar and Skinker where there currently sits a Church's chicken and a parking lot about 5 times as big as it needs to be. Could be THE most underutilized land in the metro area. Anything on this lot would kill, especially a moderately tall (10-20 story) condo/apartment building. Wash-U students for the apartments; condos to younger people wanting to live on "One of the 10 best streets in America." Combo this development with something new on the corner directly across Skinker from this lot, and you have a LOT of potential to make a killing on a great project. Maybe partnering with a much larger company just to ensure this is a great project, and then taking the business savvy gained during this project, as well as the cred of allready producing something viable, and this could be an ideal opportunity despite the fact that this partnership might generate little to no money for whoever is contemplating this "urban entreprenuership." I'd go after it, but I'm currently sitting through at least 2 more years of school, so I'll focus on that for now.

I've thought about this site/waste of space before. My guess is that Church's Chicken must want a gazillion $$, otherwise Joe Edwards would have done something there already.

the central scrutinizer · PostNov 06, 2007#192007-11-06T15:44+00:00

newstl2020 wrote:^The idea of selling shares is your gaurantee in and of itself. In order to sell shares of a start-up company such as the one "proposed," the company would have to register as a Corporation, or much more likely an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Both of these scenarios would require a hell of a lot of back-work on the part of the group running this proposed company, and would all but insure the money would be put to use for said projects, and not a sly forum member with a gambling addiction (per the "watchful eye" of the S.E.C.). Of course, there was Enron...

Ummm....no.

A couple points:

1) One can sell "shares" of a company without being incorporated.

2) A person can form a corporation for $58 and about 1 hour of work.

3) Unless the shares of the corporation are publicly traded, the SEC has no oversight.

integration · PostNov 06, 2007#202007-11-06T16:58+00:00

Our Company has done something similar to what has been suggested in this topic along Locust and Olive in Midtown/Grand Center area. There certainly are ways to have a large group of investors involved in a project. If you decide to move forward, I am willing to have a discussion regarding our experiences.

stellar · PostNov 06, 2007#212007-11-06T20:18+00:00

Integration wrote:Our Company has done something similar to what has been suggested in this topic along Locust and Olive in Midtown/Grand Center area. There certainly are ways to have a large group of investors involved in a project. If you decide to move forward, I am willing to have a discussion regarding our experiences.

I'm game for further discussion off line. I'm approaching the idea with a healthy dose of optimistic skepticism.

jlblues · PostNov 06, 2007#222007-11-06T23:38+00:00

So, first you would have to decide what kind of project you wanted to tackle as a group - commercial, residential (for sale or rental?), mixed-use, rehab, infill, etc.. Then, you would have to decide on an area, or a short list of similar areas.

If you could get a rough consensus on those two things between five people on this forum with access to some capital, I would say you might have something - after I picked my jaw up off the floor.

newstl2020 · PostNov 07, 2007#232007-11-07T06:38+00:00

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
newstl2020 wrote:^The idea of selling shares is your gaurantee in and of itself. In order to sell shares of a start-up company such as the one "proposed," the company would have to register as a Corporation, or much more likely an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Both of these scenarios would require a hell of a lot of back-work on the part of the group running this proposed company, and would all but insure the money would be put to use for said projects, and not a sly forum member with a gambling addiction (per the "watchful eye" of the S.E.C.). Of course, there was Enron...

Ummm....no.

A couple points:

1) One can sell "shares" of a company without being incorporated.

2) A person can form a corporation for $58 and about 1 hour of work.

3) Unless the shares of the corporation are publicly traded, the SEC has no oversight.

Nice, I forgot to be specific there. Obviously you could sell shares of anything to anyone, but I answered my response off the idea of publicly traded. I took constant change's post to mean publicly selling shares of the company. My fault. And yes, you could be incorporated cheaply (More like 148 than 58

). I discounted this factor in light of a presumed general good will of those on this board. I will not make the mistake again!

the central scrutinizer · PostNov 07, 2007#242007-11-07T15:27+00:00

newstl2020 wrote:
The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
newstl2020 wrote:^The idea of selling shares is your gaurantee in and of itself. In order to sell shares of a start-up company such as the one "proposed," the company would have to register as a Corporation, or much more likely an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). Both of these scenarios would require a hell of a lot of back-work on the part of the group running this proposed company, and would all but insure the money would be put to use for said projects, and not a sly forum member with a gambling addiction (per the "watchful eye" of the S.E.C.). Of course, there was Enron...

Ummm....no.

A couple points:

1) One can sell "shares" of a company without being incorporated.

2) A person can form a corporation for $58 and about 1 hour of work.

3) Unless the shares of the corporation are publicly traded, the SEC has no oversight.

Nice, I forgot to be specific there. Obviously you could sell shares of anything to anyone, but I answered my response off the idea of publicly traded. I took constant change's post to mean publicly selling shares of the company. My fault. And yes, you could be incorporated cheaply (More like 148 than 58 ). I discounted this factor in light of a presumed general good will of those on this board. I will not make the mistake again!

$58, according to the MO Sec of State website. Which is the amount I paid.

Yeah, you don't want to go public. I'm not sure who you expect would buy shares in a development company with no experience and no money, run by a bunch of high school and college students. Certainly not me.

newstl2020 · PostNov 07, 2007#252007-11-07T16:48+00:00

HA I never said it was a feasable idea, I just said that was what I took his post to mean.