Falstaff Brewery will get makeover
By Tavia Evans
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/01/2005
The old Falstaff Brewery in North St. Louis will get a makeover for the second time in its 115-year old history.
Developer McCormack Baron Salazar is pumping $15 million into what's now known as St. Louis Place Brewery for updates to the apartments, lofts and row houses. The complex, at 2000 Madison Street, is owned by a limited partnership, St. Louis Brewery Apartments, which purchased the property in January for $4.3 million.
The renovations will update the former brewery's stockhouse, tap room and boiler room, now home to residents in 84 units. The complex also includes 10 historic row houses and 15 new construction apartments.
The units' features include sunken living rooms, large windows with views of the city and three-story loft apartments with 20-foot ceilings. Updated appliances, plumbing and heating and cooling systems will be installed in all units. Carpet and tiling throughout the buildings will be replaced along with new security entrances for the complex.
The updates are coming, in part, because of increased rental competition in the neighborhood. St. Louis Place Brewery is 91 percent occupied, lagging behind the neighboring Murphy Park Apartments, which has about 98 percent occupancy. Saaman Corp. owns 21 rehabbed townhouses at 20th and Benton streets, which operate at about 95 percent capacity.
New housing construction and rental properties in the surrounding area have been a catalyst for rehabbing the brewery apartments, said Jack Hambene, senior vice president at McCormack Baron Salazar.
"The market is there now and is much better than in the last 15 years," he said. "And it has needed a lot of reinvestment, so we've resyndicated it."
The brewery's original conversion 20 years ago was part of a larger effort by the developer to revitalize the neighborhood, once home to vacant lots and dilapidated buildings. The brewery was to be part of a phased project by the city to put new housing in the neighborhood.
But the developer found itself "going it alone" after the city's plans failed to materialize, said developer Richard Baron.
"We've just continued to go forward with our plans; we did the project some 20 years ago and we were committed to the area then and even now," Baron said. "We think it continues to be an important asset for the city and our residents."
A block away from the brewery is the Murphy Park Apartments, a $60 million housing development completed in 2003 by McCormack Baron Salazar. That property includes 413 units offering two to six bedrooms, meeting a need for larger families.
A mix of public and private funding is being used to renovate the brewery property, including about $11 million from the Missouri Housing and Development Commission. Los Angeles-based Alliant Capital bought the historic and low-income tax credits on the property, which generated nearly $7 million for the renovations.
Pete Ramsel, deputy director of production for the Missouri Housing and Development Commission, said the neighborhood has weathered harder times.
"I remember 10 years ago, people were afraid to live in the neighborhood, and apartments like O'Fallon Place were having all sorts of occupancy problems," he said. "But we've worked to turn that area around.
"The next logical step was to do something new at the brewery as the building starts to show its age, so we can make sure we don't leave anything behind."
Source
Links:
McCormack Baron
Falstaff & Other Brewery Photos
