January St. Louis Loft Sales

January was another busy month in the world of downtown lofts. Of course, sometimes the business doesn't translate into closings right away. There was an intense busy spurt where it seemed as if there wasn't a supply of lofts on the market. Of our listings, one sold and two went under contract in January.

The Terra Cotta lofts seem to have the best sales this month. Four sales with an average days on Market of 48.5 days. That average was brought up by one listing that seemed a bit high on price and one that I had a hard time showing that had a respectable 59 days on market. The other two listings sold in 4 days and 21 days. NOT BAD!!!

Here's the St. Louis loft sales on the MLS for January:

507 N 13th Street #207 $120,000
1501 Locust #301 $165,000
1501 Locust #601 $170,500
1511 Locust #210 $190,425
1612 Lucas #305 $211,000
1501 Locust #1006 $254,900
1501 Locust #905 $264,900
View all the details here!

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!

Buyer's or Seller's Market

Tonight a client asked if right now was a buyer's or seller's market downtown.

I was thrown off by the question. The resale market has been extremely busy of late.
Despite that, its hard to really say that a market with so much room for expansion and so many options is truly a seller's market. While the resale and many of the developments sales are bustling, some projects sales aren't so active.

To sum up, and of course, in my own opinion; if you're waiting until spring to sell your loft.....don't! There are buyer's in the market looking for a place to call home now. Is everything on the market jumping off within 30 days? Not hardly. Lofts still can take more time to sell due to the specific expectation of the buyer. Most buyer's continue to view lofts more critically than other types of housing in St. Louis.

Compared to other parts of town though, the loft market is alive and well during this traditionally slow time of year.

Ask Not.....

Downtown St. Louis obviously has the absolute best "Welcome to St. Louis" sign in the country in the Gateway Arch. When crossing the Poplar Street Bridge into St. Louis people passing through know they've just entered St. Louis the City. What about the neighborhoods?

I have a speech saved from the late Greg Freeman about some of his observations about the city. One of them was that as a city, we do a poor job of marketing our city and its neighborhoods within the metro area.
(Read the whole speech here) In the past 10 years that has changed quite a bit, but there is more that can be done.

The highway exit off 40 at 20th Street seems to be a great location for this, but wouldn't it be great as an entrance to the downtown and downtown west neighborhoods to show some community spirit about the area and welcome everyone to the neighborhood? There are still a lot of people who, despite the loft district getting lots of publicity for the architecture and the lofts themselves, don't really realize that there is a growing population calling this area home.

In this case, it appears unattractive to add this suggestion as another financial request on the city. Maybe that's the best route. That's what taxes are for, right? What about a grass roots effort?

Input is welcomed. Don't be afraid.

Attention Investors!!!

This huge loft space is for sale and is a great opportunity for investors in the hot downtown loft market. This loft is priced at $123.95 per square foot now and the price may be negotiable. Flooring is a distressed 100 year old maple hardwood throughout except in bath and utility room. This loft could be kept as is and rented or refinished to a more upscale luxury loft. Plenty of room in price for updates. Eighth floor unit with eastern view of downtown skyline. Great opportunity for investor or person looking to have potential for totally unique space.

Contact Chris at 314-518-9003 for a private viewing or email today!

St. Louis Loft Sales are Heating Up!

Traditionally the real estate market is supposed to start hibernating as the holidays approach. That doesn't seem to be happening this year. Many weekends I've seen other realtors tromping around town with clients looking at lofts more than usual. In the past two weeks, over 10 lofts have had offer's accepted and are in contract to sell. In the past month since I last posted the sales in the area, much of the supply of lofts has diminished by a healthy resale market.

These are the sales that took place in November. I didn't count, but it seems like more typing than I did for the months of September and October combined.

2020 Washington #703 $151,900
1511 Locust #310 $155,000
1511 Locust #102 $172,658
1511 Locust #403 $174,890
2020 Washington #414 $195,000
1511 Locust #602 $195,220
1601 Washington #211 $199,276
2020 Washington #104 $209,800
703 N Thirteenth #301 $235,000
1511 Locust #504 $240,000
1511 Locust #807 $281,000
1517 Washington #302 $359,000
703 N Thirteenth #208 $379,990
400 S Fourteenth #1020 $414,000

More details can be found in the loft listings pulled from the MLS.

The End of Traffic Madness Downtown?

During my day to day travels, I occasionally find myself asking questions about why certain traffic signals, lanes, etc. are set up the way they are. "Doesn't anyone know about this?!#$!?!" I was excited to go to the open house yesterday at the Downtown St. Louis Partnership office to look into the most recent analysis of the downtown central business district traffic flow and recommendations by Crawford Bunte, and Brammeier, Traffic and Transportation Engineers.

I was happy to see lots of people in the loft development industry present. I was happy to see the level of detail that a professional engineer will look at when assessing the traffic in a given area. Though very detailed, it appeared that they really thought about how things could be improved in our downtown by fixing some vehicle and pedestrian issues that are downright obnoxious.

Things I was most excited to hear and hope are implemented.
1. Having a more coordinated system in place to control traffic signals downtown.
2. Placing a wide median on Tucker to assist in managing the traffic flow, allowing more pedestrian friendly roads, and potentially beautifying that important downtown artery.
3. Considering having eighth and eleventh streets changed from 1 way to 2 way.

Ultimately, the traffic in St. Louis is substantially better than in many other cities. We have no real room to complain, but that seems to be why fixing some of the obvious problems has never really addressed before. We really don't have it that bad.

The problem comes in more that navigating through downtown can be confusing and that for people looking into St. Louis as a convention location or for offices may not stick around town long enough to figure out the areas to avoid and how to get around with ease.

My only hope now is that the City of St. Louis does everything possible to implement the findings of this great study.

Downtown Traffic Study Open House

The Notorious Ebay Loft for Sale

When I first heard about the loft for sale on Ebay with no reserve, I viewed the likelyhood of a deal with amused skepticism.

This same loft was just listed on the MLS on Wednesday for what still appears to be a favorably priced $349,000. I spoke to a few people who thought that the price of $300,100
would be too much, so they hesitated on bidding. In this case, though I haven't actually been in the loft, the market indicates a price more like the current list price. $300,100 would have been selling the loft much lower than its value.

One positive thing is that if you are working with a buyer's agent / realtor, they now can help you with the contract, negotiations, inspections, and all the other work that comes with buying a home. While charitable contributions are fantastic, they shouldn't be made in place of having professional assistance in a major real estate transaction.

Historical Loft Living

I was in Cummel's the other day and we were asking the owner about the changes in the loft district in the past 20 years, or since Cummel's opened. I used to come down to Washington & Delmar to go clubbing as early as the late 80's, but didn't know much about living there at that time. Now what seemed more unconventional at the time is pretty mainstream and that was what we talked about.

The first "loft" I remember visiting looked more like a garage in the middle floors of the City Museum right about the time it opened. The artist that rented there used to bring his motorcycle up the service elevator to park right in the middle of the kithen. It's really wild to hear about the history of loft living beginning in the SOHO area of New York and then take a look at what is available throughout the country today. Its a testament to the changing values of society. Check out the whole story in this historical sketch! [Loft history story taken off the linked website -- Recommended Reading:  Loft Living:  Culture and Capital in Urban Change by Sharon Zukin

And a fond congratulations to Cummels on 20 years of successful business downtown!

Golds Big Move

It looks like the Downtown neighborhood has won out over Downtown-West neighborhood for the new location for Gold's Gym. I spoke to people from Gold's since they first were informed of their need to move and talk was pretty much narrowed down between the Goodman Building at 13th and Washington or St. Louis Centre at 7th and Washington. They are moving as I write and should be fully opened at the Centre on December 1.

I have mixed feelings about it, but I'm kind of glad. The area at 13th and Washington while a good location, seems to be anchored right now by several great new businesses. The Goodman building (2 story) would be a great location for a variety of places (bookstore or grocery store maybe?). Not that having Gold's there would have been bad, but to me, it seems like it will do more good having a stable new tennant for the Centre (plus it will be closer to my place at the Dorsa lofts).

The bottom line though, is thankfully, they stayed in the urban core. They could have moved to Affton or St. Louis Hills.

St. Louis' Hottest Loft Market

As evidenced by the smashing success of the Ely Walker lofts, the hottest market for lofts in St. Louis is the $175,000 and below market. Sometimes I think that developers are pushing that envelope, other times it seems that they miss the mark all together. I digress.....I'm actually excited about another new property available through Premier Realty Exclusive that fits nicely into the entry level loft market. It's in the 2020 Loft building by Pyramid and the property taxes can be paid using the change in my desk drawer. Hardwoods, great windows, high ceilings, a great paint job, cool custom lighting and a great open floorplan.

Best View in Town!

Last week we listed a loft in the Terra Cotta Lofts. I had been in the building so many times, that I was suprised how the view from unit 905 struck me. Sometimes views can be over rated. Sometimes the space can speak for itself. In this case the space is and the view is captivating! The first agent that went through it told us it won't last long. Here's the MLS listing of the unit.

Unit 905 has plenty of space (1495 square feet), is a 2 bedroom 2 full bath and has granite counters and laminate wood flooring. Tax abated (only $330/year!) This is one of the few loft buildings where some of the units have a decent view of the arch. Regardless, this type of loft makes me grateful for working downtown.

If I were to sell on ebay

Last week I got an email that someone was selling their loft on ebay (thanks Dave). How freaky is that?

Lots of people have asked me about it, so here it goes.

Hopefully the deal works out for all involved.

I've always had the feeling in real estate that many of my buyer clients sort of feel that the significant involvement from a realtor starts when they begin looking and ends when they find the home they want to purchase. This could be extended to include the negotiations on price. Fair enough.

If that was all that was involved on my end, my life would be so much easier.

In the past year, I've had transactions where we were in negotiations to resolve matters up to and even AFTER everyone walks away from the closing table. The truth of the matter is that real estate transactions can be very complicated and generally, there are two absolutely opposite interests involved. Keeping those interests working together to consumate the sale is what the realtor must do.

I guess the bottom line is, assuming a genuine buyer is found on ebay that intends on closing the deal, there is still a fair amount that needs to take place to ensure that the deal doesn't die or worse yet, result in a lawsuit. If I listed my home on ebay without a reserve, I would make sure that someone was ready to outbid the highest bidder just in case the high bid was drastically below my lowest acceptable price. Not that its happening here, but hypothetically. Anyway, this transaction has really caught my attention, as well as so many others, that I plan to keep an eye on the tax records etc. to see if the loft is really sold or not. Inquiring minds want to know.

My Annual Traditional Real Estate Posting

I talked with a friend tonight who hasn't lived in StL for a few years and was unaware of the changes to the loft district in St. Louis. It was a fun conversation because I could imagine if we switched roles, I would be doubtful of the difference a few years can make also.

I wanted to post a link to the freddie mac website with the past several weeks of mortgage rate averages. While
interest rates are still historically low, they continue to climb.

I wanted to do my duty as a realtor and explain something important about interest rates that often gets overlooked by the first time home buyer: as that interest rate goes up--What you can afford goes down.

Visit our preferred lender page for lenders that will take care of you and know how to finance St Louis lofts & condominiums!

More Accolades on Washington Ave.

Congratulations to the Washington AVE Post for the best business award from Mayor Slay at todays Annual Business luncheon at the Renaissance. I concur with the mayor, as I frequently need the services--whether business or one of the fantastic drinks.

Ely Walker: part 2 and ramblings of the Old Post Office

I almost lost sleep last night wondering exactly how many of the Ely Walker Lofts had been sold. The total: 91 LOFTS SOLD!!!! Wow!

I heard that they had hoped to sell around 20. What a deal. Three more lofts were sold today without a complete knowledge of what the pricing will be changed to after today. According to Orchard Development staff, just because the sales were so stellar, they won't be too aggressive with the price increases. We'll see.

Other than that, there was another article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch today about downtown development regarding the Old Post office with information about some of the new tennants.

What bothered me was that there was a Pasta House Company Pronto store opening up. Could that possibly be due to the phenomenal success of 10th Street Italian? Probably so.
I know the Pasta House is a local company and all, but it bothers me to see a big chain move to an area AFTER an independent restaurant proves the market worthy. It seems like it should be the other way around.

A Great Night Downtown

Kudos to the folks at Orchard Development for the fantastic party to release the Ely Walker Lofts to the public. People started showing up at 10am for the party that began at 4pm. There was a fair amount of advertising and PR about these lofts, including the business section of the Post Dispatch.

Can too much success be a bad thing? Of the 173 units available, at 8pm, 66 had already been pre-sold with another handful of people still waiting to reserve. One of the party people that we ran into was getting ready to reserve his second unit of the evening. Usually developers want to sell enough to secure the construction financing and get the project approved by Fannie Mae. In this case they may have overshot that mark substantially.

What's Up with the MOPAC Building?

On a recent visit to the Marquette building, I asked about a tentative time frame for one of our city's most fascinating dormant buildings.

I was told (emphasis on tentative) that the building will take about a year from its pre-construction availability to be completed. The building will have many larger spaces available for people not wanting to sell off furniture. It will be more traditional condos rather than lofts, and that the units will be pre-sold most likely in the spring of next year.

St. Louis Lofts Sold!

2020 Washington #203 $165,300
507 N 13th Street #707 $117,000
2020 Washington #302 $155,000
507 N 13th Street #603 $164,500
2020 Washington #509 $178,500
1501 Locust Street #306 $220,000
2020 Washington #102 $241,900
1501 Locust St. #1004 $290,000
400 S 14th Street #903 $313,716
400 S 14th Street #1109 $337,000
1511 Locust Street #803 $356,206

Pre-construction lofts are not included on here because until they close, you can't really count them. Plus developer's are constantly adding and removing listings from the market, so you can't really rely on the listing data. For what its worth though, all the details are here. Contact me if you wan't any more information. Obviously the MLS information provided here doesn't include some of the sales. I will dig for the information free of charge.

A Place Like No Other

Its amazing to watch a ribbon cutting event unfold in the city. I arrived at Copia at 3:50pm, the event was scheduled to happen at 4. No one was around outside, it didn't seem like anything was happening inside. Undoubtedly because I had arrived, channel 5 news pulls up and starts setting up, and then around 4, police, the mayor, and a bunch of well dressed social dignitaries all start filing through the doors and shaking hands. The speech from Mayor Slay, and Downtown Partnerships Jim Cloar were inspiring. The appetizers and deserts that were handed out were fantastic, the waiter's were charming and helpful. Every once in a while I have to listen to the nay sayer's and skeptics about the promise of downtown. The opening of this fantastic restaurant and wine bar did us all some good.

Copia is conveniently located across the street from the Lucas lofts and next door to the Meridian.

My sneek peek

Some loft purists have attacked the work of Orchard Development as being too traditional. With the lack of exposed brick, laminate flooring, etc. My impression was never that this construction was bad or anything, but that there were a lot of units that had a similar feel. Too similar at times.

My fears were relieved when I got a chance to look at the incomplete model unit at the Ely Walker building. For more information, fill out this form and specify "ELY."

As Traci Sees It

I have been recently accused of not keeping this community blog up to date. There was a 18 day hiatus in postings after the downtown loft tour in September.

To avoid any more shame, I am asking for the support of anyone interested in downtown St. Louis lofts, etc. to drop me a line about additional events and things that I may not have posted.

The purpose of this site is to keep people informed and to talk about the renewal downtown. Feel free to share your knowledge, so that others may be helped.

A.D.D. and Me

It really hasn't been long since I could walk down Washington Avenue without getting too distracted. I had a plan the other day and was on the move when I decided to stop by the new architectural design store that opened in the Windows lofts/Windows on Washington building. I'd heard of it and was curious.

Since I'm in the process of remodeling a bathroom, I was very interested in the sinks. They are still in the process of getting the showroom complete, so most of the inventory is spread out on the floor, but there was a lot of great stuff in there. The owner is in China now for a buying trip. More stuff coming soon.

I was directed to the website so I could get a better idea of what was available. Regardless, I am excited to have another great place to spend money and time in downtown west

Arcade and Syndicate Trust Coming soon

From brief discussions with Loftworks and Pyramid, the next two buildings to be redeveloped by these two companies will be the Syndicate Trust (Loftworks) and the Arcade Building (Pyramid).

This may not be a huge secret to some, since there's a huge banner on the Arcade building talking about its opening in 2005.


I heard that the Syndicate Trust building will be traditional high end condo's starting at around $200/square foot. That's just preliminary.

The Arcade building units were described as similar to the Edision Condos in form and style. No information on pricing is out or even hinted. A sales office is going to open in January.

While these projects aren't going to really be lofts by definition They are undoubtedly going to compete for the growing segment of the market: the empty nester. I think this is fantastic. Forcing the "loft" concept on people wanting traditional space is futile.

Go Cards!!!!

One thing that excites me more than anything is the number of sports fans that are wanting a primary or secondary residence downtown to be close to the action during baseball season. I've always known that St. Louis should be a destination city. Aside from real estate being a more stable investment over the past 5 years, people are wanting to have a home downtown because its a mecca for Cardinal fans from all over.

Growing up, I always felt that there weren't many things more exciting than being downtown during a Cardinals home playoff series. Now it seems like St. Louis is truly prospering because of this. And with all the new downtown baseball fanatic residents.......we've just barely scratched the surface.

Loft Pricing: 401

What does cost per square foot mean in the loft buying world?

I talk about this non-stop.

There is a strange change in the loft market lately. Traditionally, buying a loft before construction began (pre-construction) was a way to get a substanially lower price on your loft than if you bought a loft at the "market rate" as a resale.

Now it seems that some of the developer's have rejected the idea of selling lower priced lofts pre-construction and are selling them for the market rate even though they aren't complete. It's too early to really speak on this subject, because maybe by next year, pricing will have continued to climb and what appears to be higher prices now will seem like major discounts upon completion. I guess we will have to see if the market supports this.

One of my clients reserved in the Moon Brothers Carriage lofts for around $140/square foot and another loft in the Dorsa lofts for about the same. I'm starting to see pre-construction pricing starting at $169-200/square foot and wondering if there will be any room for appreciation by the time the properties are done.

These are the mysteries of life that one must struggle with daily. As a specialists in lofts, we just have our own way of seeing the pricing of lofts. Talking to developers though, they always seem so sure about 'the plan' and 'the price.' I really do hope they're right. Of course, when one tries to resell or even flip one of these lofts, the market will have the final say. And where will the developer be then?

We commend the developer's that have stuck to the traditional approach. People who commit early to a project should get a better deal.

One of My FAVORITES!!!!

I am one of those people that still walks down Washington Avenue looking up. As much time as I'm there, you'd think I would get over my love for the buildings and the urban landscape. One of my favorite buildings, the Ely Walker building, is going to be unveiled soon to the public with a preview party coming up.

Orchard Development, known for the Terra Cotta and Annex lofts will be completing the project sometime in 2007. Contact us now for pre-construction pricing. Contact me also for more specific details.

Dorsa Pricing and availability

Since the folks at Pyramid have been so considerate to have all the units "listed" on the MLS we should include a link to the listings. One of the things that has in my opinion always played into the hands of the developers is the mystery about loft sales. This may appear to serve the developer's in the short run, but loft buyer's usually want all the information available. Listing properties on the MLS is responsible and does more to reduce confusion about the lofts available.

In the case of several developments in the area (Windows, Ventana) the lofts have been on the market for months before they have any listings on the MLS. In other cases (Moon Brothers), there is only one 'teaser' listing. While this is legal and ethical, it adds confusion and makes it more difficult for the average realtor who isn't "plugged in" to the loft developers to truly assist their clients.

While we keep up with what's being sold and pricing, I commend Pyramid for being so open about their projects. Click here for what is available and what has been reserved at the Dorsa.