I'm guessing this is the old Ford plant at the southwest corner?



From Martin Van Der Werf:

Developer Rick Yackey has a 225,000-square-foot warehouse at Forest Park Parkway and Sarah Street under contract. He plans to fill most of it with loft condominiums with room for a restaurant and stores on the first floor.

The Ford Motor Company Building at 4100 Forest Park Boulevard was being considered as a new center for technology and research and to be named "DESCO Wet Labs" according to the "Current Development Activity" list on the official Web Site of the City of St. Louis.



It looks like the building was nominated to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places back in March 2002 and was determined eligible for listing, although not formally listed because of an owner objection. It looks like that means it is still given the same protection as a listed property, but not eligible for federal tax benefits until the objections are withdrawn and the property is actually listed. I am sure Rick Yackey can get that done if he is going to be the new building owner.



The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also reported that because there is currently a contract for sale on the Forest Park Avenue property, National Paper & Printing Supplies will be moving from the Ford Motor Company Building to 1701 Macklind Avenue on the Hill. They hope to be moved out by the end of summer. I don't know if there are any other large tenants in the building or not, but it does look like things are moving fairly quickly for this being in its very early stages.

Accoring to Mayorslay.com, there will be public hearings today to advance approval of 3 projects, which include 4100 Forest Park...

Mayorslay.com wrote:4100 Forest Park is a plan to convert the long-vacant ACME Building at Sarah and the Forest Park Parkway to new condominiums and retail space. The renovated building will mark a major entrance to the CORTEX development and will provide homes, shopping opportunities and office space for the life science workers that BJC Medical Center, the Center for Emerging Technologies and CORTEX are attracting. This is the second major plan considered for the building. An earlier plan to develop the building as spec lab space was abandoned by developers.

Excellent!

The St. Louis Business Journal has reported that the Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved $1.38 million in Brownfield Redevelopment Program remediation tax credits to help launch this project.



source:

http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... ily66.html

4100 Forest Park - West End Lofts



120 new lofts, ground floor office/retail.



www.westendlofts.com[/url]

A few pics (there's a lot to be done, but the first floor retail - maybe a showroom? - is getting some attention. I love that this building futher bridges the CWE/SLU and backs up to CORTEX):

FYI:



They must be close to starting the project marketing; VIP opening is on 18 January!!

Jambo wrote:FYI:



They must be close to starting the project marketing; VIP opening is on 18 January!!

That's probably when they plan to open the website up more with information like layouts, prices etc.

More momentum, more redevelopment, more residences and buio/life science technology jobs means greater possibility of building a Sarah Street Metro station. Let supply of housing and jobs create the demand for the station.

^Development will also need to arrive before a station is built, since Metro can't afford to build a station on its own. Thus, TDD would likely fund a new station, but you obviously need significant development first or committed to the area for such a tax district to raise enough funding for a station and other transportation improvements (sidewalks, signals, etc.).

^ I think this is already a special TIF district - does that provide funding for sidewalks, lighting, etc.? I agree there needs to be a lot more demand here, say the lofts open, Solae is built and I would think another two large employers may do the trick. Seems like a metro stop on the CORTEX campus would be a great selling point. I can imagine living in Clayton, U-City, downtown . . . and just getting on the train - 5 mins to work!

^ Entrepenuers were able to build such things because they were either given the land for free or were able to take advantage of corrupt (beyond today's corruption) government to get a sweet deal.

A blurb from the the Post:



Model T plant is now West End Lofts (Rebecca Roussell)



A long-shuttered Ford Motor Co. plant in St. Louis is undergoing a $40 million transformation into loft residences.



The 245,000-square-foot building at 4100 Forest Park Avenue will be known as West End Lofts, with 120 one- and two-bedroom units priced at $160,000 to $350,000.



Erected in 1914, the building was the first Ford assembly plant west of the Mississippi. The project is partially funded by $8 million in state historic tax credits.



West End Lofts "is contemporary living in a traditional, historic setting," said Brian Bruce, president of Bruce Development Co., the co-developer.



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/busine ... enDocument

I love this building and think residential will be a great mix to the surrounding neighborhood. It's very close to Terrene, the Scottish Arms, Six North and not so far from Lindell Marketplace (which is getting better). The shops at the old Salad Bowl site will help and the big coup would be the rumored Trader Joe's/Target location along FPP at Spring. The new Solae headquarters may help and any new additional tenants would increase demand for housing.



I do wonder about the location. It sounds as though the developers will market this as being in the CWE. It is convenient for BJC/WashU/CORTEX people, but advertising as the CWE is misleading (of course I don't know what else I would call it). They don't exactly have a novel marketing strategy, "In addition, West End Lofts will be marketed to empty-nesters and young single professionals."

I honestly think this building would have worked better as something besides lofts. I don't think the location is very attractive.

it would have made a great wet lab space - but according to the article they couldn't get enough interest for that.



I think it will make great lofts though. ....

Went to the Grand Opening last night and was very impressed with teh whole event. They have a pretty good mix of units, starting from one bedrooms, around 600 sq ft.

They will also have a "guest suite" on the fifth floor. Can be rented out to out of town guests and friends. Fitness center and rooftop pool as well.

ChrisInDownTown wrote:Went to the Grand Opening last night and was very impressed with teh whole event. They have a pretty good mix of units, starting from one bedrooms, around 600 sq ft.

They will also have a "guest suite" on the fifth floor. Can be rented out to out of town guests and friends. Fitness center and rooftop pool as well.

I wanted to go but missed it. The project does look nice! What do prices look like?

Starting in the 130s I think. I forgot the list at home, but will post some #s over the weekend or on Monday.

West End Lofts $-"VIP" pricing



1 bedroom $140K-248K++



2 bedroom $ 245K-317K74++



2 bedroom + den 330K-353K++



the higher you go, add $4k-8k per floor.



I am not crazy about covered parking.