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Projects up in the air

Projects up in the air

729
Senior MemberSenior Member
729

PostMar 01, 2008#1

Excerpts from today's edition of the Business Journal.



...The Arcade, Skyhouse, A new Westin across from the Galleria have all been in the works for more than a year and none, to date, have financing in place to move forward with construction. Tighter lending standards are stalling some projects in St. Louis and raising questions about whether others will get built.



...For John Steffen, whose projects include the transformation of the former St. Louis Center into the $400 million MX redevelopment, that means having to go back to his financial partners to hammer out new deals to satisfy lenders. Steffen said an important piece of financing for the MX redevelopment - $25 million (MoDESA) isn't expected to be completed until mid year.



...Meanwhile Pyramid is in the midst of pre-sales at The Laurel (20 of 110 units sold) and is focusing on the retail planned for The Concord. Further down on Pyramid's list of priorities is the Arcade and The Jefferson Arms.



...A few blocks west is The Skyhouse. Chief Executive Paul Hardej said sales have slowed in recent months, and the developer has pulled back on its marketing budget for the project. 30 of 166 units have sold which does not meet the 40% lender's requirement needing 66 units sold. Despite the slowdown, he's still hoping to move forward with the project.



...Some projects are getting the green light. Joe Edwards 124-room boutique hotel on the East Loop closed its financing last November and Gilded Age's second phase of the Georgian is also moving forward. And the Park Pacific plans to close on its loan in March.



...Barb Geisman, deputy mayor of the city said, that while things are slower than they were last year, there's still a lot of progress being made, just at a slower pace.

2,929
Life MemberLife Member
2,929

PostMar 01, 2008#2

That construction has stalled on all of these projects makes absolute perfect sense.



For years, the economy has been capitalizing on incredibly lax lending standards, including and especially individual mortgage holders who’ve overextended themselves. This has been further exacerbated with the secondary markets’ selling of investment products based upon collateralized mortgage obligations, basically banks selling the interests in mortgages wholesale for investment. When these collapsed, it took down hedge funds as well, to the tune of $400 billion.



This resultant full-blown collapse in the US credit markets, and now the Euro credit markets, has greatly impacted the availability of either liquid or collateralized capital that can be used to fund major expansion projects like these. We’ve had a great history of rehabilitation projects, backed by state-supported and federally-supported tax credit programs for ancillary support of financing. While these programs remain strong and aren’t expected to disappear, their role as ancillary funding sources remains. Banks are still the primary source for capital in these development projects. As banks are in the doldrums of the credit market crash (and yes, it is a full-blown crash), it’s hard to place that $50M bridge capital to a fully-occupied building.



The establishment of a base population within these buildings is what will separate these projects from being a sound investment from a purely speculative enterprise. Only with a firm foundation in actual sales and revenues will a beleaguered lending institution be able to support such an allocation.



Problems relating to delayed construction are absolutely not Saint Louis-centric. It is endemic.



These companies want to finish their projects, which remain profitable ventures for them as well as local development to our benefit. While they may have cuts in marketing budgeting expenditures, the continued sales of interests in their projects and acceptances of commitments remain. I believe we can expect all these projects to continue, although these impediments to proper funding sources mean they will have delays to final completion. During this time, we must remember to look macro as well as local.





By the way: this is my first post on this forum. I’m a finance guy with a background in local politics, and I think I can add some new perspective on these fronts in the pursuit of StL continued development and growth.

4,489
Super ModeratorSuper Moderator
4,489

PostMar 01, 2008#3

Please feel free to post the preceding information the respective threads listed below.



The Arcade



Skyhouse



Thanks.