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.

Fall Loft Tour --Day 2

The loft tour has finally come and gone and I am just thinking about my overall impressions of the event.

1. What was exciting to me is that, compared to other housing tours, we ran into more people who were actually wanting to move into the neighborhood and wanted information. My estimate was around 70% of the groups of people I spoke to had at least one person who were looking for a place to live. That's great!

2. One of the dissapointments from this year's tour was that many of the people that came to our display were irked by what they felt were excessively high prices. Higher pricing can be good too, but we just hope that people were'nt taking that away from the tour that downtown is priced too high. As in any market, that may be the case in some instances, but not in all. Living downtown is not cheap, but it is
affordable for many.

3. People from local St. Louis still look at loft living as a potentially new thing and are afraid that the "fad" will become unpopular soon. To those skeptics I would say that my childhood hero's, Ernie and Bert, have enjoyed loft living at 123 Sesame St. for 30 years!

St. Louis Fall Loft Tour---Day 1

Day one of the loft tour was a blast! There were lots of people seriously consdering a move into the best neighborhood in St. Louis. Other people were interested in the investment capability of lofts. The weather was great. Being isolated in the Premier Realty Exclusive compound kept me from getting into all the loft buildings and "private residences" on the tour, but I give people tours into private residences every day. If you missed the loft tour, or want another, contact me or my wife Lisa. We spend more time working in lofts than anywhere else and would appreciate the opportunity to show you around.

After the tour and our clients, my wife and I had dinner at the Drunken Fish on Euclid and Maryland. I was thinking about how much better the loft district will be in comparison to the ever popular central west end area. With all the new residences and retail space, the loft district will soon be the busiest social scene in the metro area.

My new home

My wife and I finally decided to put in a reservation at the Dorsa Lofts at the party hosted by Pyramid Construction tonight. What a deal. These lofts have the fantastic upscale features that many of the other developers in town have and are being sold starting at $122/square foot. The building will be ready in 2007. The rear units should have a great view of the new "Bottle District" area and the front units are overlooking Washington Avenue. As always, for reservations, contact me at 314-518-9003 or at chris@4SaleStLouis.com

Loft Tour Open Lofts

We're excited to have two lofts on display for the loft tour in addition to our information booth right next door to the Washington Ave Post coffee, print, & crepe shop.

Our lofts on display will be at the 10th Street lofts, unit 503 and at the King Bee Building, unit 801. These are both fantastic spaces that are available for sale right now.

The loft at the 10th Street Lofts is a 2 bedroom 2 bath gem with a great urban feel and close proximity to city grocers, 10th Street Italian, the Stadium, the Dome, etc.

The King Bee Building unit has 6 large windows with an awesome view of downtown. It is nearly 1800 square feet!

Check out the units in better detail at our website

Dorsa Lofts Sales Info

The wait is finally over for the pricing and availability at the Dorsa Lofts on Washington Ave and 10th St. I am very excited to have finally received the information on the unveiling. Contact me at 314-518-9003 or by Email at chris@4SaleStLouis.com

Zamba......the Best Food In Town!

Don't let anyone lie to you about the best new breakfast/lunch in town. Starting last weekend, the Washington Ave Post began serving a crepe breakfast from 9am to 2pm. It was fantastic!!!

I had the "Zamba" and a few hours later had the chocolate banana crepe. I could eat the Zamba for all three meals every day (with at least a twice weekly allowance for sushi). I always thought crepes were limited to fruits and dessert type fillings. There was a whole selection of more wholesome foods. The Zamba had chicken and a great assortment of vegetables.

There was adequate seating and fast service. The adequate seating won't last long though, once word gets out.

Coming Soon: Fall St. Louis Loft Tour 2005

The last loft tour in May was so awesome that I don't want to get my expectations up too high. I've only heard of one building that will be "unveiled" at this event as opposed to 4 at the last one. I plan on doing more homework on this topic in the next few weeks.

There will probably be a buzz about the Ventana. They have just started working with a realtor to help sales. Probably a good move. It takes a lot of creative thinking to walk in to an unfinished space though and see your new home. Some buildings have a certain amount of character even in the unfinished stages, I'm not sure that the Arts & Crafts building has it with 9' concrete ceilings and limited exposed brick. The windows sizes are great though. I'm sure that the luxury build out will be a great addition to the downtown west neighborhood.

To the east, the Dorsa lofts, by Pyramid, will be opening that day. My feelings are public knowledge on that building. It just has a unique look and a great location. Also being a builder with substantial loft experience. I have several clients that are excited about that building too. We'll see what they have to offer in the way of pricing and amenities.