Blog > Blog > Archive by category 'St. Louis Development'

March 2, 2010 at 7:17 pm

Even in the best of economic times, real estate developments fall through all the time. In a recession, this trend can become an epidemic. One seeming victim to this trend is the proposed Pelican Place project at 2232 and 2256 South Grand in the Compton Heights neighborhood.

The Planning & Urban Design Agency of the City of St. Louis published development details back in August of 2006. The former YMCA building at the site was to be torn down and replaced by a mixed-use development. The historic Pelican building at the corner of Shenandoah and Grand was to be restored to historic alignment, which would have seen the removal of the the ghastly 1-story addition to the north. The plans looked pretty great.

In 2007, demo began on the Pelican building and leasing signs for the finished project went up. Things looked like they were on the fast track. Unfortunately, over the following two years, nothing seemed to happen. Other than the grass at the site becoming overgrown.

In May 2009, the St. Louis Post Dispatch was reporting that the project was still moving forward with Snap Fitness as the anchoring tenant in the 37,000 Sq Ft project. Nearly one year later, the site remains untouched. The poor economy, as well as the sluggish sales at the nearby Compton Gate Condos seem to be the likely holdups.

Thankfully, the surrounding area has continued to improve in terms of residential development. Once things start top loosen up economically, this project seems to stand a good chance of actually coming together. In some form or another. South Grand between Arsenal and I-44 has become a pretty nice stretch, but a project like this could really push things over the edge. Hopefully something gels sooner rather than later. Here is a look at the current site.

February 9, 2010 at 1:57 pm

Tucked away, in the heart of the historic Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri is a vacant lot. An, unfortunately, common site in this city of ours. But if group of developers has there way, by the end of the year there might something a little different at 4136 Flad: a high efficiently, green home.

This project would be developed by a partnership between The Fit House developers and St. Margaret Housing Corporation in Shaw. The thing that really makes this project stand out, is it’s contemporary design and creative use of natural elements. In this age of technology we live in, people see to dismiss natural ways to control temperature and lighting in homes. This design doesn’t do that. It is laid out in such a way that it will use natural sunlight and thermals to increase the flow of air throughout the house. Not a groundbreaking concept, but a lost art. They also incorporated a green roof into the design to control temperatures.

They will also be incorporating other elements such as solar panels, a hydronic water handler, and lots of insulation to keep energy consumption to a minimum. The design looks pretty exciting too. Very open and modern. And very different from most of the other properties in Shaw. Of course, these differences could be a hurdle in and of themselves. Read more

February 8, 2010 at 1:57 pm

After years of dormancy, this project just popped up out of nowhere. In an message to students and faculty of Saint Louis University, the university’s President Lawrence Biondi revealed that a bridge over the railways between Chouteau Avenue and Interstate-64 on July 1, 2010.

Details are very sparse at this point, but it sounds like the bridge will be closed for a year in order to demolish the old bridge, and build the new bridge and Metrolink station. The last renderings for this bridge came out in 2006 so there is no telling what it will look like. But with the construction date to start so soon, you can expect we will be seeing much about this very soon. Read more

February 5, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Although they have been leasing units since November, I just now got a chance to take a look at the recently completed Courtyard Lofts at Polar Wave project. Located at 2222 Gravois Ave in the St. Louis, neighborhood of Benton Park, the 14-townhome project is located in the same building as Shock City Studios and Bittersweet Bakery among other businesses.

When driving by the complex along Gravois, you might miss the residential component to the project entirely. That’s because the vehicle access to the courtyard is in the rear, via Sidney Street. There is a gate-entry along Gravois, but any tenant coming to the complex in a car would come around back. From that angle, they can access the underground garage for the project, which provides 2 parking spots per tenant as well as a bike rack.

Most of the units are 2 bed, 2 bath, but there are a few that are 1 bed due to handicap access and site restrictions. Finish levels seen to be of a very nice quality with concrete floors on the first level and carpeting upstairs. The picture gallery below does more just than I can put to words. Overall, I would say the the project is very impressive. I really didn’t notice anything that I didn’t like during my visit. It looks like the commercial and residential additions provided by the Polar Wave project are going to be a great long-term addition to the fabric of Benton Park.

Prices run from $850 for a 1 bed, 1 bath unit to $1495 for the oversized 2 bed, 2 bath. The units are currently be leased by Julia Mittelstadt of Prudential Alliance Realtors. For more on the units currently available, please click here: available townhomes.

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 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.

Link

December 16, 2009 at 4:23 pm

With the success of the 3-lane configuration test on South Grand, the powers that be decided to leave the bollards and concrete dividers creating the effect in place. The idea was that it would help people get used to the new layout, which is looming. The only problem is that those chunks of concrete are ugly. Read more

December 4, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Gut rehabs of LRA (Land Reutilization Authority) have been few and far between in the past eighteen months, with construction financing has been virtually nonexistent in this economic climate. So you can count me surprised when I got a call from a friend saying that this 4,932 sq ft monster in Marine Villa was going to be turned into a single family home. Read more

December 3, 2009 at 2:42 pm

The Post Dispatch is reporting that Cardinals President Bill Dewitt III has informed them not to expect any changes in the 2010 lineup at the future Ballpark Village project location. Read more

December 2, 2009 at 8:21 pm

After being under construction for years (literally), the commercial storefront at 3182 Morganford appears to be nearly ready for business. So what’s going to open up in this long vacant space at Morganford and Connecticut? A restaurant called Plaza Cafe & Grill. Read more

November 25, 2009 at 6:09 pm

The Magnolia Place condo development, under construction for more than a year at 4101 Magnolia in the Shaw neighborhood, is finally coming online. Read more

September 25, 2009 at 11:35 am

This time last year, the commercial space at 2730 McNair appeared to be set to house a restaurant called Koronaz. Neighborhood support for the project, however, was not forthcoming and it fell apart. While that was a setback, the good news is that the wait for something to open in the space appears to be over. Read more

September 22, 2009 at 3:49 pm

It seems like the “powers that be” in Jefferson City are at least playing lip-service  in the effort to help revitalize St. Louis City. With their help the long discussed, sometimes pipe-dream of a project, known as the Chouteau Greenway (or Chouteau Lake District), might just be back on the table. Read more

September 18, 2009 at 11:10 am

While the controversial subdivision development in the eastern half of the Botanical Heights neighborhood (formerly McRee Town) has received more fanfare, the commercial corridor along Tower Grove has been quietly gaining momentum. Read more

September 11, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Judging by the amount of frustrated comments I received on the previous story I ran on the Carondelet Rec Center, I imagine this news isn’t going to please a lot of people. While nobody will question that this recreation facility is very nice, the fees and management arrangements for running the facility are proving contentious. Read more

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