I haven't heard a lot about this project, but it looks nice. There was a small mention of it in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article that covered the $1 million plaza for Lafayette Square. Vail Place Townhomes is a small project in size... five townhomes, three condos, retail and what looks like restaurant space. Here are a couple renderings of the new mixed use building.











More about Vail Place Townhomes can be found online:



http://www.urbanstlouis.com/vailplace.html

<A HREF="http://www.vailplacetownhomes.com/">htt ... mes.com</A>



St. Louis Post-Dispatch article:

<A HREF="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/neighb ... 813397">$1 million plaza is first of Lafayette Square TIF improvements</A>

looks like a nice development. According to the website, its the same people that did the wireworks lofts, so it should be nice. I really like the renderings and the floor plans too.

Those look real nice, are they being built around the plaza?

Good to see something going in here, but how will this be sited? does it face the new plaza with garages off the alley and wrap around Lafayette? if so, what will be on Mississippi?



or, will it face Lafayette with the restaurant wrapping around Mississippi? if that's the case a real opportunity is being missed with the new plaza.



the site plan and elevation are not well labeled, so this may be moot. i would just hate to see an opportunity missed to make this spectacular. Lafayette and Mississippi is a critical corner and needs to be treated as such, and now with the new plaza on the third side i hope they haven't boxed themselves in to where one of these three highly visible edges will be neglected.



the developer is good. besides WireWorks they did the Soulard lofts. also, the builder did the infill townhouses in Soulard behind 1860's hardshell cafe, which are very very nice.

This is going to be a cool project! I like how the townhomes will be facing the new plaza. Right now, the plaza doesn't seem to relate to its context, but the new buildings should really add to it.



Lafayette Square is red hot right now!

I agree. I just got back from there myself. They have the "promo board" on site now advertising the new construction. The board is split in half and positioned at an angle so you can see how the project will wrap around the corner. As you said, the townhouses will be facing Vail Place and the new plaza area with retail facing Park Avenue and the existing shops across the street as seen in the photo below... great looking project!

So now in Lafayette Square we'll soon have:



- Vail Place

- Orchard Realty's townhouses at Mississippi and Chouteau

- Gilded Age's development at Mississippi and Lafayette

- New townhouses at Carroll and Dolman

- The new mixed-use development under construction on Park

- City Hospital - The Georgian

- Renovated church on Missouri

- Three new rowhouses on Park, directly across from Lafayette Park

- Eden Lofts on Chouteau



Am I missing anything?

This is the neighborhood to watch in '05-'06.

Here is a PDF from the city's preservation board for Vail Place Townhomes.

http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/pla ... 01vail.pdf

I was at 33 on Saturday and was checking out this site. The new retail and residential on the south side of Park will be a nice addition to the neighborhood.



I'm not sold on the plaza/fountain though. It's been empty just about every time I visit Lafayette Square and just kind of seems like a dead zone to me. I would have preferred to see more infill like Vail place on that site. While Sqwires would be blocked by a new building, overall, I think it would be better for the Park Avenue business strip.

All these new housing opportunities in Frenchtown may lead to some real churning in the market. Along with new residents, some of my neighbors are giving up their historic homesteads and buying the new upscale stuff. Have to admit, I'm tempted also. It may be great to stay put in the nabe but have a brand new home with more amenities. I suppose it could also free up some homes for people who would like to enter the neighborhoods but can't find anything for sale. Of course it won't come cheap either. I've got three homes around me all for sale in the mid $400s.

I drove past this site today, and noticed that they are clearing out the trees. Does that mean construction is starting?

Framer wrote:I drove past this site today, and noticed that they are clearing out the trees. Does that mean construction is starting?

I don't beleive so, but it looks like things are still moving forward. The developer is still looking to obtain preliminary approval for the project design so they can develop construction documents for a building permit. It looks like there are still some wrinkles being ironed out after the developer introduced plans last April to construct individual roof access structures and decks on the three-story corner building.



The St. Louis Preservation Board had reviewed a preliminary request to construct roof decks and recently received sightline studies. The problem doesn't look to be the roof decks, but the stair enclosures. Evidently, the Lafayette Square Historic District Ordinance states: "No roof decks on top of the uppermost story of a structure shall be visible."



Therefore, it looks like preliminary approval for the project design will only be granted if the stair enclosures are redesigned so they are not visible from the street.



Here is a PDF document with more details:

http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/pla ... 01Vail.pdf

Thanks for the update. I really like this project, because it ads some retail/commercial space to the Lafayette Square commercial strip and will help anchor the Eastern edge of the district.



Its interesting to follow the progress of a new development. I always thought it would be kinda fun to be an urban developer, but when I see all of the little hassles that come up, and the hoops they have to jump through, I start to wonder. I'm glad to see that the city has progressed to the point that neighborhood preservation boards have the confidence to demand a quality product that fits into its surroundings, and not just accept ANY new development.



By the way, I went to a tag sale at an old, storefront church in the 2000 block of Park Saturday, and they said that the building was being converted to a residence.

I think that with all of this going on, and considering the Georgian, that the infill might continue all the way to Tucker, and have Soulard and L. Square meet, which would be great. There's a large vacant lot at the corner of Tucker and Lafayette that would be great to develop, especially with it's proximity to the Georgian. Does anyone know anything about that area?

SoulardD wrote:There's a large vacant lot at the corner of Tucker and Lafayette that would be great to develop, especially with it's proximity to the Georgian. Does anyone know anything about that area?

I know which lot you are talking about, and this was all supposed to be infill housing under the Bohemian Hill development. I haven't heard anything about this for quite some time. Maybe with all of this redevelopment, the plans for Bohemian Hill can be resurrected or updated to show the real potential for that area.

They have cleared the Vail site, and a bunch of those orange surveyor's flags are in the ground. Looks like construction will start soon.



I bet somebody's got their eyes on that big warehouse-type building at Park and Truman. Its just sitting there waiting...

This project is going to do wonders for the fountain area. Hopefully, it will be more condusive for people to stroll around and enjoy the area. Hopefully, some cool shops will come with the development of Vail Place.



I noticed the building at Park and Truman as well... I wonder what the price tag is.

Is it for sale? Talk about the perfect loft building.



It's too bad that any hopes for extending the Park Ave. business district basically end at that building due to King Louis Square.

I am not sure if the building is for sale. I will try to find out what the status is.



King Louis Square could be cool. I wish one of the restaurants or cafe's could utilize the square with outdoor seating. Or, the neighborhood could chip in and buy some stone chess tables/chairs. Any other ideas?