What to do with Roberts Tower

This morning I was contacted, unexpectedly, by a Post-Dispatch reporter about the Roberts Tower. 

At the Syndicate, we have a gorgeous view of Roberts Tower from our display unit. I've had clients over the years inquire about the tower, along with condo buyers at open houses, with no response from the Roberts Brothers sales office.

It makes perfect sense to me. If I sunk as much into the Roberts Tower as the Roberts and their banker did, I'd be hesitant to put it on the market now.

One thing really threw me though. The Building Blocks author asked me a stumper. He asked me what they should do with the building if they don't use if for condos.

Not that I hadn't thought of it before. A few meetings I've attended there really made me think of how nice it would be as part of the Mayfair Hotel, but that's as far as it went.

It seemed like a good idea for a poll. We know there's a demand for them to finish the building as condos.  Otherwise no one would be asking about it. Undoubtedly not enough demand to justify the cost of the building.Would today's buyer's be likely to sustain that type of builidng?

Hopefully things will settle out favorably with Roberts Towers when all of the other struggles are dealt with. Just like hundreds of thousands of homeowner's out there, a loan modification would help the Roberts brothers immensely.

Cassilly Memorial

I went to Downtown St Louis back in the spring of 1996 to see an art show at this "weird museum" downtown.    It was my first experience in seeing the City Museum and my first chance to see a downtown loft.  We've been back to the City Museum with kids, to list the lofts, to rent them and with buyer's, but I never had the opportunity of meeting the late founder Bob Cassilly, or know much about him.   Working in the same neighborhood and benefiting so much from his contributions to the area, it was nice to see such a long article in this months (January) St Louis magazine about the life of Bob Cassilly.  The online article isn't the complete 4 page article that's in the magazine.

Normally, when someone contributes so much to an area, there are ceremonies and notoriety that comes along with it.  The absence of that almost makes it seem like Bob was taken for granted.  That could be the case, but from the article and everything else, it seemed that type of recognition was avoided while Bob was alive.

1.  At this point, my first wish is that City Museum stays what it is and somehow the vision for Cementland is completed.  It may take years, but in seeing what contributions have been made downtown and elsewhere in St Louis, its just what the doctor ordered for the north riverfront area.

2.  My second wish is that we honor the persistent requests of rock legend, Carlos Santana, and build a statue of Miles Davis.  I would say wish #2 should be to build a statue to honor Bob Cassilly, but Carlos Santana has been asking for St Louis to recognize Miles Davis for 2 decades.

3.  Build a statue of Bob Cassilly.  This request goes to the Partnership for Downtown St Louis and to the Downtown St Louis Residents Association.  Someone needs to pick up the ball.    Why this seems urgent to me is that if it doesn't happen Downtown, it will somewhere else.  From reading the magazine article, Bob seemed to have roots all over town:  Kirkwood, Lafayette Square, Webster Groves, Dogtown.  His work was all over town, and across the country.  

  

We can do better than this!

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OPEN HOUSES TODAY!! 1-3pm

Stop by our open houses today at 1204 Washington (Jack Thompson), and the Syndicate (915 Olive)

Prices Just dropped at Grace Lofts!

Amazing Grace!

The Grace Lofts were built in what was known as the Lesan-Gould Building, a historic building significant due to its patented use of reinforced concrete. Located in the anchor blocks of Downtown West, its surrounded by shops, restaurants cafe's and galleries.

It was originally planned as condominiums, but upon completion, plans were changed and the building was held and rented instead. Now, conversion is underway.

Compared to many of the other buildings, the lofts tend to be more open and spacious. With only four units per floor, its a boutique building.

The building is Priced to Sell! Special financing is available and there is a SPRING SPECIAL for contracts approved by June 30th of $10,000 off the loft or $10,000 in developer upgrades.

The Grace Lofts are being held open this coming Sunday, May 22nd from 1-3pm!

New FALL PRICING as of 9/1/11!  Other specials apply!  Check out the fall frenzy special at 4SaleStLouis.com/grace_lofts.html

The Other Shoe Dropped

When Pyramid Construction, the St Louis Loft Developer, went under back in April 2008, word on the street was that there was some inappropriate shuffling of funds between all the projects that were in the works. Today the Post Dispatch reported that John Steffen, the President of Pyramid Construction was going to be indicted of bank fraud for cashing out on tax credits that were supposed to be held as collateral for a loan. Given the extent of the Steffen empire downtown, I'd expected a more elaborate scheme to be uncovered. Looking at Casenet, there have been several suits filed by banks, maybe this is just the beginning, or maybe after all the dust has settled, this is the only case that can be made. I'm hoping for the latter.

While the overall business of John Steffen was evidently not sustainable once the market slowed down, he really had a vision for this town. He was a leader. People believed in him. He described his vision for a 'Paris on the Mississippi' with panache, and like Quarterback turned Dancer Kurt Warner, he had the perfect story of starting his career as a carpenter and building a huge business from scratch. When I had my first experience with Pyramid, they had a construction company, an architectural firm and was about to purchase a real estate brokerage.

When Pyramid purchased a Blue Ribbon Realtor brokerage and re-branded it under the Pyramid umbrella, it didn't really make sense to me. That was when I started to question the direction of the company. It was a Central West End broker with limited downtown experience. Most importantly, buying a brokerage is really buying human capital; there's really no way to ensure that the agents perform or even stay with the company after its sold. [Warren Buffett, if you're reading this, Premier Realty Exclusive is one notable exception]. As a relatively new businessman, I figured they knew what they were doing.

During the fallout from Pyramids demise, many who were directly involved with John Steffen felt that he would land on his feet. I wasn't so sure, but based on the loyalty he engendered and the extent of his political connections it was plausible. That's my hope today. In dealing with Pyramid, I wasn't a huge fan, but John Steffen is a guy that we need in the world making a difference. If it is true and the collateral was sold by Steffen, I view it as an act of desperation trying to keep a flailing company alive. Steffens lost his home, all his assets...loosing his freedom would punctuate an already dreary descent from his position of prominence in the St Louis Downtown renaissance.