ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown

[Arch City]

More information about the newly-proposed tower in the Central West End.

May 2, 2014, 2:49pm CDT
$57 million apartment tower proposed for Central West End
Greta Weiderman
Reporter-
St. Louis Business Journal



Covington Realty Partners has proposed building a $57 million, 14-story residential luxury apartment building in the Central West End.

The proposed site at 4490-94 Lindell Blvd., is currently the headquarters for the nonprofit Optimist International, which is looking for a smaller facility.

The new building would include 200 apartments, each about 800 square feet, and a below-grade parking garage with 300 spaces.

Project costs include $3.4 million for acquisition, $4 million for development costs and $50 million in construction costs, according to the company’s request for demolition.

Covington is proposing starting construction in January and completing it in 22 months.

Read More

[mousquet]

Those latest posts are rather exciting. St Louis has been confusing like a sprawl of low-density neighborhoods. I would obviously support anything increasing density in the most strategic areas, and the rumor of a streetcar is utterly exciting from this perspective. There's going to be some urban momentum all over the US as the economy over there is turning fine again and the local younger generation seems to be craving for some urban lifestyle. So STL needs to take their share. Now is a good time to be ambitious, huh. Allez Saint-Louis!

[Alex Ihnen]

Here's a cleaner version of that street-level view from the nextSTL.com story:

[Arch City]

As interactive and technological exhibit designs by Gallagher & Associates continue, the $14-million National Blues Museum, in Downtown St. Louis on Washington Avenue, is set to begin construction in July.

Gallagher & Associates designed The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles as well as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Expansion in Cleveland.

Video: National Blues Museum To Start Construction in July.

Listen To: (Click)

[Arch City]

Inner-ring suburb, Richmond Heights, home to the St. Louis Galleria, is poised to land 800 upscale apartment - including a 12-story apartment tower.

Manhasset Village, a massive 800-unit development has been approved and will be developed over multiple phases by Chicago-based Draper and Kramer.

The land near I-64 is already cleared with construction expected to start in 2015.

"Phases 1 and 2 are be completed by 2016, and would total 321 units. Phase 3 consists of 240 units to be completed in 2019. Phase 1 is estimated to cost $50 million."

"Phase 4 is planned to be an approximately 240-unit, 12-story building, estimated to be completed in 2022."

See video here.

Read more here and here

[Arch City]

Check out new images of the Sun Theater's $13-million renovation. The Sun Theater is in St. Louis' growing Grand Center Arts and Entertainment District. The theater, which will serve as the performance venue for Grand Center Arts Academy, a charter school and high school dedicated to the performing arts.

The venue adds 700 seats to the Midtown arts and entertainment district.

Although more work has to be done on the marquee, check out the awesome before and after photos here.

The renovated theater now has a "historic meets contemporary" aesthetic.

All photos are by Mike Kelley.





Before, Lobby


After, Lobby

[Arch City]

CWE committee backs apartment tower
4 hours ago • By Tim Bryant



A developer's price of replacing a midcentury modern office building with an apartment tower might include the absence of taxpayer incentives for the Central West End project.

That's the trade off recommended today by the Central West End Development Committee, which is part of Park Central Development, the area's development corporation.

Covington Realty Partners, of Clayton, is proposing a $50 million, 14-story luxury apartment building at 4490 Lindell Boulevard. That's the site of the Optimist International headquarters, comprised of two structures, one built in 1961 with an addition completed in 1979.

Officials have said the Optimists are looking to relocate their 30 headquarters employees to a smaller building in the neighborhood.

Regardless, the Optimists building has it fans.

As a result, the development committee voted today not to support tax abatement or other public incentives for Covington's project, which, of course, includes demolition of the Optimists building.

According to Covington's plan, the new tower of brick, stone and stucco would have 220 apartments. Resident parking is planned on the first two levels or below grade. Plans for an outdoor deck include a pool.

Read More

[Arch City]

More condos in a historic building coming to downtown St. Louis.

Condo conversion coming to Marquette downtown
4 hours ago • By Tim Bryant

A rebound in the downtown St. Louis condo market is prompting the Lawrence Group to convert the remaining rentals in its Marquette Building, at 314 North Broadway.

Steve Smith, Lawrence Group's president, said today that 36 Marquette apartments are going on the market as condos.

Sales begin Saturday. One unit has a $99,000 price as a way to get potential buyers in the door. Most of the condos—which are on floors five through nine--are priced from $150,000 to $225,000.

Smith says all of the Marquette's 79 existing condos are occupied.

And 10 more units are coming to the building. They will be built on the two floors the Marquette YMCA vacated two years ago. Some of that space will be redone as workout space for building residents.

Source

[Arch City]

The grand-opening for Gallery 515 Luxury Apartments Millennium Center in downtown St. Louis occurred in March. Leasing is now underway for 102 one- and two-bedroom apartments on the top 11 floors of the 20-story building. Office tenants will be consolidated on floors two through nine.

The building has become home to a new start-up co-working space called, Claim.

"The Millennium Center, originally the Executive Office Building, is downtown’s first structure featuring a lightweight, glass curtain-wall facade. The Modern Movement-style tower, designed by the Chicago firm of A. Epstein & Sons and completed in 1962, was the first big building erected in downtown St. Louis since the Depression."

[Arch City]

Phase II of Sinai Village is under construction in East St. Louis, Illinois.

The whole development will see 200 single-family homes and apartments - in a multi-phased development.

The video below shows, after the dignitary speeches, a completed Phase I.

• Video Link

[Arch City]

• Video Link
Animation video posted by NextSTL.com

The first phase of Union Station's $60-million renovation will open to the public on today (05/10/14, National Train Day) featuring what is being billed as the first of its kind high-definition projection mapping experience in the United States.

The Grand Hall Experience at Union Station will feature 30 3-D entertainment vignettes projected on the Grand Hall's 65-foot tall ceilings and across the entire space.

Visitors can take in the remarkable animation in vivid color with music and narration of historical portions provided by several talented people closely connected to St. Louis, including, John Goodman, Jon Hamm, Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Dan Dierdorf, John Kelly and Chris Kerber.

The Grand Hall Experience at Union Station also features a dining component. Visitors will be able to dine in the Grand Hall. Signature menu items include Slow Roasted Pork Belly, Oysters Rockefeller, Mussels and Grilled Flatbreads made with local artisan cheese, cured meats and fresh produce.

Read:
St. Louis' Union Station Debuts Grand Hall Multimedia Show
Union Station’s Grand Hall Light Show to Debut on National Train Day
Union Station's Newly Renovated Grand Hall Opens Saturday

• Video Link

• Video Link

• Video Link

[Alex Ihnen]

On nextSTL: Jazz St. Louis Announces Grand Center Expansion, Launches $10M Campaign

[Arch City]

^I think this is an AWESOME project! Another great project for the emerging Grand Center Arts & Entertainment district. Plus, St. Louis is making a statement with this jazz center as well as reclaiming some of its jazz roots.

Jazz at the Bistro closing, reopening as $10 million jazz center
3 hours ago • By Kevin C. Johnson





Jazz at the Bistro closes its doors later this month but will reopen in October as an all new state-of-the art venue and center for jazz.

The newly-christened Ferring Jazz Bistro will kick off with an October show from jazz legend Wynton Marsalis.

The Harold and Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz will be home to both the Ferring Jazz Bistro and the Centene Jazz Education Center. A jazz lounge and the headquarters of Jazz St. Louis are also part of the center.

The space expands next door into the former Greenberg Van Doren Gallery Building.

Mayor Francis Slay said “St. Louis has enjoyed jazz for over a century. The expansion will improve upon that legacy for many years.”

Slay called it big news for Grand Center, for St. Louis and for the jazz world.

The $10 million capital campaign includes leadership gifts from David & Thelma Steward, John & Alison Ferring, Centene Corporation, Ken & Nancy Kranzberg, Emerson, and the Jazz St. Louis board of directors, totaling in excess of $5.8 million.

The remaining $4 million will be raised during the public phase of the capital campaign.

The Ferring Jazz Bistro will be totally redesigned, and its capacity will jump from 150 to 220. The new capacity will be particularly helpful on weekends, when bookings typically sell out.

Construction has already begun in the new space next door.

The new concert venue portion of the jazz center will see the stage move to where the staircase is currently. The intimacy of the venue will be accentuated in a way in a way that more people will be closer to the stage with the new configuration.

The balcony will be opened up and suited for additional seating.

The space will be totally accessible for the first time.

A jazz lounge with a seating capacity for 75 features a video wall with live performances allowing people who may be unsure how they feel about jazz to “dip their feet into the pool, get a sample of what we do here,” says Bradford.

Performances will be both recorded and streamed for viewing worldwide.

Read More

[Arch City]

Montgomery proposes 33-story Clayton apartment building
5 hours ago • By Tim Bryant
St. Louis Post-Dispatch


2 South Central proposed building

Montgomery Development is proposing a 33-story apartment building at Forsyth and Central avenues in downtown Clayton.

The project, at 2 South Central, includes plans for 345 apartments, ground-floor stores and a parking garage for 478 vehicles. Also included is a rooftop pool.

Firm costs and a construction schedule are yet to be determined, Joel Montgomery Jr., a company executive, said Thursday. If public review proceeds quickly and financing is arranged, construction could begin next spring, he said.

“There’s a lot that has to be reviewed,” said Montgomery, adding that cost “is one of the big questions that has to be answered.”

Montgomery’s project is scheduled to get its first public hearing Monday at a meeting of Clayton’s Architectural Review Board.

The 33-story tower is the second major apartment project in downtown Clayton to come to light since early April.

Planned for a site at Bonhomme and Meramec avenues is the Crossing, a 26-story building of 250 luxury apartments. Jerry Crylen — a developer behind the $75 million project — said last month that construction should begin this fall with the hope of occupying the building in 2016.

Montgomery said Thursday he believes the Clayton apartment market is growing and able to absorb his 2 South Central project and the Crossing. He cited the success of the recently renovated Clayton on the Park, a 206-unit building, as proof that Clayton is ready for more high-rise living.

The Montgomery plan calls for 97 studio apartments, 168 one-bedroom units, 72 two-bedroom units and eight penthouses. Apartment sizes are small — from a 382-square-foot studio to an approximately 1,400-square-foot penthouse — in keeping with apartment dwellers’ latest preference for less living space, Montgomery said.

Read More

[Arch City]

Pre-construction work underway at the site for West Pine Lofts in the Central West End/Central Corridor area - near St. Louis University.

The development will include 260-units (45 one bedroom and 161 two bedroom units) and 230 parking spaces.

Read and see more renderings here.


Making Way for the West Pine Apartments by pasa47, on Flickr


Site Work for West Pine Apartments by pasa47, on Flickr


westpinelofts by St. Louis Fugee, on Flickr

[Arch City]

Another residential project under construction in Midtown (Central Corridor).

The Standard-St. Louis, at 3853 Forest Park Avenue, is the latest project in the growing area between SLU and the Central West End.

Unlike other recent apartment projects in the area, the Standard will market itself exclusively to students by renting its 164 units by the bedroom.

The 465 sleeping rooms will be distributed — dormitory-like — among multiple-bedroom apartments. Each bedroom will have its own bathroom.

Also on the nearly two-acre site will be a parking garage for about 400 vehicles. Sansone said the apartment portion of the project will conceal the garage from the street.

Source

[Arch City]

A tower crane is up on the site of City Walk on Euclid, the Central West End apartment project that includes a Whole Foods Market.

The building will have seven floors and Whole Foods will occupy 28,500 square feet on the first floor plus 10,000 square feet of space below street level.

That level will have direct access to the underground portion of City Walk's parking garage and an elevator will connect the store's two floors.

The project, at Euclid and West Pine will have 177 apartments and the cost is expected to be $70 million.

A number of construction cranes have risen throughout the Central Corridor in recent weeks.

The cranes include St. Louis College of Pharmacy new research and classroom building, the Washington University School of Medicine Scott McKinley Research Building, City Walk on Euclid and the Standard-St. Louis.



Photos courtesy of Nicki Dwyer



A hole in the ground for Whole Foods and 177 apartment units.

[Arch City]

A long-planned development + a second phase of apartments are confirmed to be coming to Grand Center. A B.B. King's is planned for building - adding another music venue to arts and entertainment district.

Personal Note: Ironically, I used to work in this building. This is a good sturdy building - or at least it was. On time, there were a series of a low-level tremors which happened in the metro area while I was working in the building and we didn't feel a thing.

$23M Renovation Planned for Missouri Theater Building
May 23, 2014 1:14 PM

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - First the National Blues Museum, then a multi-million dollar expansion to Jazz at the Bistro.

Now, could another bit of the blues be coming to Grand Center?

“There will be both entertainment and other media companies,” developer Steve Smith.

Smith is renovating the Missouri Theater Building at 634 N. Grand in Grand Center, and hinted that the ‘entertainment’ aspect would be a nod to St. Louis’ musical heritage.

Various reports have those floors being filled with HEC-TV and a B. B. King Blues Restaurant and Bar, though Smith says he can’t confirm any of the tenants’ names.

The $23 million renovation will include 108 market-rate apartments. A second phase will replace a parking lot with 120 apartments and a parking garage.

“I really believe that downtown, midtown, Grand Center, CORTEX, Central West End are all starting to grow together,” he says.

Read More

[Arch City]

Chesterfield business to relocate to Cortex district in St. Louis
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
May 25, 2014 1:00 pm • By Tim Bryant


Breaking Bread at Cortex. From left to right: Dennis Lower (Cortex), Otis Williams (SLDC), Mark Prendergast (AB Mauri North America), Alderman Joe Roddy and Josh Parker (Wexford).


AB Mauri, a global yeast producer and bakery ingredients maker, will move its North American office from Chesterfield to the Cortex research district.

Nearly 60 employees will relocate late this year to the Central West End. The company’s lease at 1350 Timberlake Manor Parkway expires at the end of 2014.

Mark Prendergast, president of AB Mauri North America, said Friday that getting a bigger and better facility in a historic building was key in the decision to relocate.

The company will put modern offices and a high-tech bakery in 23,000 square feet of space on the first floor of @4240, a former telephone factory remade as science labs and offices at 4240 Duncan Avenue.

The three-story building within Cortex is on the National Register of Historic Places. “It’s a nice blend of old and new,” Prendergast said.

AB Mauri is the latest announced tenant at Cortex, a project of five educational, research and health care institutions to redevelop an old industrial area as a research park, residences and stores. Source

"AB Mauri’s decision to locate their headquarters in @4240 continues the concentration of innovative companies and resources coming together at Cortex,” said Josh Parker, director of development for Wexford.

“It’s ideal to have a global company of the stature of AB Mauri cement their presence in St. Louis, drawn in partly by the sense of place we are creating within Cortex and @4240. We can’t wait to see what additional collaborations come out of their industry-leading regional technical center.”

“This move allows us the opportunity to increase both the scale and functionality of our AB Mauri regional technical center and baking laboratory, so we can continue to research and develop better yeast and baking ingredient solutions. This will help elevate our customers’ baked goods in the marketplace,” added Prendergast.

“With the signing of this long-term lease, we are looking forward to meeting our new neighbors and calling St. Louis our home for many years.” Source

[Arch City]

Washington University's $75-million Scott McKinley Research Building has reached its sixth floor. The six story building will augment WUSTL's School of Medicine.