Blog > Blog > 2010 > January

January 28, 2010 at 7:18 pm

There is no doubt that Grand Boulevard has been on the upswing in recent years. To the north, Grand Center continues to be  a focal point of activity for the arts and education. To the south, Grand South Grand has increasingly become a South City alternative to the Delmar Loop. Tower Grove Park and SLU have really added to the mix as well. However, one of the greatest failures along the street has been the area between Gravois and Chippewa.

To be more precise, the area south of Utah and north of Osage. Discounting North St. Louis (that is a whole other story), this section of the street is the farthest behind in tapping it’s potential. Populated by a variety of suburban-styled fast food establishments, the most rundown Schnuck’s in South City, a former grocery store turned office, cookie-cutter stripmalls, a recent yet uninspired retired-housing project, and a plethora of vacant and underused properties; it doesn’t take a urban renewal specialist to realize the area isn’t all it can be. Read more

January 27, 2010 at 5:26 pm

Confusing headline huh? I guess it should really read “Fremont Park in the South St. Louis neighborhood of Benton Park in the midst of upgrades.” Because that is what it is getting. Over the last few days crews have removed most of the sidewalks at the 2.31 acres park, which is located on the south side of Lynch Street between McNair and Salena.

I have been unable to determine the exact nature and extend of the improvements, but it seems that the sidewalks will all be replaced at a minimum. The current layout of the park consists of a softball field, a playground, and a couple of open spaces with benches. There isn’t much too it, but its nice to see Fremont getting  some attention, considering the fact that there are two larger parks in the neighborhood (Benton Park and Cherokee Park).

January 26, 2010 at 7:07 pm

Looks like the Shaw neighborhood will be getting another addition to it’s restaurant lineup. Mama Josephine’s located at 4000 Shaw Boulevard, will be offering homestyle meals starting March 2010. Not many details on the place yet, but the sign says they will have dine-in, carryout and delivery.

Located about a block east of Sasha’s on Shaw, the restaurant will be operating out of the commercial space of the former townhome development at Lawrence Street and Shaw.  Not only is this good news for the neighborhood, its also great for the street of Shaw itself. I have written about the development potential on the street before and it’s great to see places like Mama Josephine’s and Sasha’s tapping into that. Check out there website for more info: www.mamajosephines.com

January 23, 2010 at 8:27 pm

If you can’t tell, I’m in the middle of implementing from fairly significant graphical changes to the site this weekend. I have everything relatively functional at this point, but there will be a few quirks are hard to read text colors in some areas of the site until I finish work on it tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

January 21, 2010 at 1:33 pm

If you have ever purchased a market-rate or foreclosure property for a quick fix and flip, there is a good chance that you have run into problems with FHA financing. Until now, FHA would not insure any financing on a property that had already sold within the last 90 days.  And since so many buyers are using FHA to finance their homes these days, that is an issue. With a decent sized crew on a smaller property, this timetable required some owners to sit on vacant properties while they seasoned. But as of February 1, 2010 that will no longer be the case.

Due to the current glut of foreclosures on the market, FHA has released a waiver to their current seasoning guidelines for at least one calendar year. Restrictions will still apply to ensure that the program is not abused, but if you are doing legitimate work on a property these restrictions should not pose a problem.

For more on this rule change, check out the official waiver from HUD.

January 20, 2010 at 1:40 pm

It’s been far too long since I have relayed my thoughts on the state of the investment real estate market, so in the spirit of the season, here is a quick rundown of my current investment market impressions in South St. Louis, Missouri:

  • Single-Families – There is no doubt that the $8000 homebuyer credit had a positive impact on house sales in the fall. September and October were especially productive. With the deadline for the credit originally set for November 30th, buyers were in a frenzy to find and close on properties prior to that deadline. Of course, when the program was extended until April 30th, 2010, the sense of urgency wore off. Couple that with the typical slowdown during the winter holidays and the market for these properties has been particularity slow for the past month or so. The good news is that with the holidays now over and the new homebuyer credit deadline  approaching in a little over three months, the market should see a nice resurgence soon. After April 30th though, its anybodies guess what is going to happen. So if you are in the middle of am rehab or thinking of selling a house, I would hurry up.
  • Condos – Not much to say here other than to avoid them. There have been some pretty good deals out there as of late, but the big issue is that buyers can’t get condo financing right now. Unless you can make sense of renting a condo or seller-financing it, I would stay away from them until something changes financing-wise.
  • Multi-Families – Where last year seem to offer a steady mix of 2-family and 4-family foreclosures, the last few months have been very heavy on the duplexes. Since the fall, however, things have been very heavy on the duplexes. Some of the single bedroom properties don’t present the greatest deals, but there heavy been a  fair amount of 2+ bedroom properties that heavy been pretty solid. It seems that a great many of the 4-families out there have already been foreclosed and sold, so it is possible that this might be somewhat of a permanent trend.
  • Apartment Rentals – November and early December were great for renting mid-level apartments. We moved a lot of inventory during that time. The properties that seemed to be getting less activity were the cheap units ($450 for single) and expensive ones ($650 for single). There hasn’t been much of a resurgence following the holidays as seems to happen some years. Lots of window-shoppers out there requesting showings, but not many pulling the trigger. Average would probably be the best way to describe the current amount of rental activity.
  • Neighborhoods – When looking for investment properties, location and price are always big factors. But the one thing it is hard to control is where all the good inventory is coming from at any given time. Much of last year produced a glut of quality foreclosures and short sales in neighborhoods like Tower Grove South, Shaw and Tower Grove East. But since the fall, things seem to have shifted increasingly eastward, with the best deals coming up in Tower Grove East, Fox Park, McKinley Heights, and Benton Park. Areas further south such as Benton Park West, Gravois Park, Dutchtown and Bevo continue to have a solid flow of inventory coming through as well, obviously rentability and resale remain a concern.
  • Best Investment Bets – So what’s the moral to this story? Obviously you should be on the lookout for all types of property in any quality area, but if I had to point you in one direction it would be Tower Grove East. Despite the sluggish economy of the past few years, or maybe even because of it, this neighborhood is really changing fast. There has always been a nice housing base, but the vast amount of foreclosures on derelict and substandard properties recently in the neighborhood has created a huge influx of development in the vicinity. Pricing hasn’t really caught up yet so there remain some pretty good deals. Look out for properties of all types there. Also pay attention to the increasing number of singles and duplexes in Benton Park and McKinley Heights. Benton Park West and Gravois Park within one block north or south of Cherokee is also a place to watch.

January 12, 2010 at 6:50 pm

Things have been a little quite on the development front in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood of St. Louis this year. With Amy & Amrit Gill’s Restoration St. Louis starting no high-profile projects in 2009, changes have been slow compared the previous two years. Things might be changing to 2010.

The Post Dispatch ran a full article yesterday on the Gill’s rumored green project along Manchester. Details are similar to those previously reported, with 24 new apartments and about 10,000 of street-level commercial proposed for th vacant lots at 4190 and 4556 Manchester.

The biggest news, however, is that they intend for this project to be no only green, but totally “off the grid.” That’s right, no connection with Ameren UE at all, by using things like geothermal heat, solar panels and wind turbines. Of course, at $3.6 million per 18,000 sq ft building, this project wouldn’t be cheap. And with as much as $250,000 of the projects funds potentially coming from federal stimulus money and $400,000 from federal tax credits, those costs will partially subsidized as well.

One has to wonder if a totally “off the grid” project is really a smart option with the current financial market and limited battery technologies, but one thing is for sure At least the Gill’s can’t be accused of lacking ambition.

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