Congratulations Crepe's in the City

Sunday was a record day for Jose & Mary's "Crepes in the City" at Washington Ave Post at 1320 Washington. They made a record of 105 crepes. A late comer, I had crepes 101 and 102 (I was hungry, what can I say?). I can't seem to forget about the Zamba, and I tried the newest item off the menu.

There is a fantastic menu of crepes that suit just about any taste. Check out the menuand stop by for some great food!

The Bottle District sudden turnaround

In talking about downtown St. Louis real estate, one of the big question marks people have is "The Bottle District." As far as major developments go, it seems that everything is on course based upon the article in this past weeks business journal. Hopefully more information will be ready for the Business Journals February 17th issue that features downtown developments.

I'm not really that crazy about the new name, The Gateway Village. "The Bottle District" sounded unique. Ok... there is unofficially the "loft district," but the new "Gateway Village" name seems to redundant in St. Louis. There's already plenty of things named Gateway in the downtown area (Gateway Arch, Gateway Mall, Gateway One Building, etc.) And the new Ballpark 'Village' will be just blocks away.


It is great to see that the plans for building residential towers are continuing. I was asked yesterday to what extent would the bottle district impact the loft district. Seeing some of the clubs and nightlife being moved away from the loft neighborhoods, it seems that the bottle district or gateway village may help add some entertainment destinations. It also seems like people fear that this great city will become too diverse or have too many facets. I'm not worried about that today.

More Space for Urban Dwellers Downtown

Just over a week ago, I was standing next to the Paul Brown Loft Apartments looking east at the beautiful Chemical Building at the Northeast corner of 8th and Olive. Not sure of its current use, I was wondering if it would ever be redeveloped and turned into a more classy office space or condo development.

The wait wasn't very long.

According to this weeks St. Louis Business Journal article on the front page, Crossland Capital Partners and Heismann properties, the developer's of the Meridian Lofts, have purchased the Chemical Building and plan a mixed use building. Existing tennants in offices will be moved to the first few floors, rental apartments will occupy most of the building and the top floors will be for sale as condos according to the article.

Looking at the ornate and unique architechture of this building, it should be exciting. The developers say that they will be building more traditional apartments and condos as opposed to loft style apartments and condos.
Looking at the rear of the building, there are several corners, so a great possibility exists to have a superb view in any number of locations, particularly in the top level condos.

The vision of the new downtown is becoming more and more clear as the weeks pass. More will follow on the progress of this development. Initial projections of completion are for April 2007. Lets hope for the best!

2020 Loft For Sale

Fantastic 1 bedroom loft for sale in the Lofts at 2020! It is a great sixth floor unit with a northern view facing the Adler Lofts and Majestic Stove Lofts. .
Lofts like this weren't on the market but for 30 minutes during the summer. The market has been very good since then, but it is picking up quickly.

This loft features hardwood floors, ceramic tile in bath, open floorplan over 1023 square feet. Upgraded lighting and custom cabinetry. Washer, dryer, and stainless steel refrigerator are included in the modest purchase price. It is MOVE IN READY and TAX ABATED.
Taxes are less than $8 per month.

The Lofts at 2020 (otherwise known as the Sporting News Lofts) are located on Washington Avenue right in front of Schlafly's Tap Room and the Pepper Lounge.

To visit this loft, contact us via email or at
314-517-5050

Cultural backbone of Washington Avenue

I was just surfing around the internet when I found this link to the Art Loft Theater. Unfortunately, I had never been to any of the performances and thought that it had closed a while ago.

I'm excited about the new lineup of shows coming out starting February 23rd with Bat Boy, the Musical followed by Jesus Christ Superstar in June.

Click here for Metrotix online for tickets to Batboy.

Click Here for Metrotix online for tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar.

Another Year for Loft Data

Happy New Year!!!

Conveniently, I did some searches the other day to get an idea of what the loft market has been like in the past few years. There have been several out of town clients that have been asking me lots of questions about the market lately.

Its always nice to be able to just point to the market information instead of talking about it. So here are the past 5 years of loft sales (taken from the local Multiple Listing Service).


Year--#Sold----$/Sq Ft----Ave.Days on Market----Ave.Price
2005-----121----------$156-----------------209-----------------$256,678
2004------84----------$141-----------------233-----------------$187,976
2003------53----------$135-----------------170-----------------$214,890
2002------25----------$121-----------------248-----------------$186,674
2001------19----------$104-----------------194-----------------$233,908

Keep in mind that these averages in some cases reflect the buildings that were released and priced on the MLS for those years. Some developers only use the MLS to list one unit, sort of as a 'teaser' listing to attract people to the building for a complete tour. About 50% of our loft sales have taken place outside of the MLS.

Regardless of the case, the averages indicate a nice steady period of growth and appreciation and not the insane type of markup that is more indicative of a "boom and bust" cycle.

Again, Happy New Year!