ST. LOUIS | Skyhouse | 22 fl | On Hold

[JivecitySTL]

Another New Downtown Residential Tower Rises Toward The Sky

22-story condo planned for Washington Ave.

St. Louis Business Journal - February 23, 2007
by Lisa R. Brown

Metropolitan Development Enterprises is planning to build a $67 million, 22-story condo tower in the heart of the Washington Avenue loft district. The tower is the largest new-construction residential building proposed for downtown.

Chicago-based Metropolitan was expected to present plans to build the mixed-use building at 1400 Washington, on the site of Erlich's Dry Cleaners, at a Tax Increment Finance Commission meeting Feb. 22. Metropolitan has requested $12 million of TIF for the project.


Ivie Clay, St. Louis Development Corp.'s director of communications and marketing, said a public hearing on the project will be held April 11.

Metropolitan purchased the building from Max Erlich in August 2006 for $1 million. It will demolish the building and construct a new one on the site and on an adjacent vacant lot it purchased from Dragon Development Co., led by Brad Waldrop of St. Charles, for $524,000.

The development, to be named the Skyhouse, will have 166 condos, with prices starting in the mid-$200,000s. One-, two- and three-bedroom units will be available, ranging in size from 850 to 2,230 square feet. The top three floors will feature 12 penthouse units.

Metropolitan's Director of Marketing Nellie Donovan said the developer wants to reach an untapped market downtown with traditional-style condos in a newly built structure. "We looked at what was missing, and we want to go after that niche," Donovan said. "That space is underutilized, and with this project we can enhance the neighborhood. We want to be part of the Washington Avenue corridor."

A lender and general contractor have not yet been selected. Metropolitan's in-house architectural firm, Metro.Arch, is the project's architect. The building's design will meet LEED standards, according to Metropolitan.

The building will have 13,000 square feet of retail space, and several hundred parking spots will be built into the structure. A rooftop recreational area will include a pool, fitness center and dog run. Each of the condo units will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies.

Metropolitan is teaming with local development group RileyWaldrop LLC in a joint venture on the Skyhouse project. Riley Waldrop consists of developer Ben Riley; his father, Philip Riley; and Brad Waldrop.

Riley Waldrop has been active in the loft-conversion market downtown in recent years, developing the 14-unit Barton Street Lofts at 2401 S. 12th St., and six of the Knickerbocker units at Washington Avenue and 13th Street, which it later resold. The investment group bought the Dragon Trading building at 1709 Locust St. for $1.25 million in 2005 and sold it four months later to New York real estate developers Cyrus and Darius Sakhai for $1.8 million.

Skyhouse is Metropolitan's first project in St. Louis; the company has several residential projects completed or under way in the Chicago area. Its founder and president is Paul Hardej. In addition to an in-house architectural team, Metropolitan has an in-house construction firm, Enterprise Construction, and property management team, Newland Realty.

[brewcityfan]

Wow, it looks very modern. It would blend in well with its surroundings. Let's hope it gets built!

[Lmichigan]

Not sure about the whole "blend in well with its surroundings" part, but this is a very clean design that will provide a great contrast to the surrounding area.

[MilwaukeeMark]

Originally Posted by brewcityfan

Wow, it looks very modern. It would blend in well with its surroundings. Let's hope it gets built!

pish.

Blending shmending. Build it! Looks awesome.

[benscrape]

Now thats a nice building. Its different but thats what makes awesome. Very clean looking. It will make a great addition to St. Louis.

[CG5]

The eastern view isn't so bad...it's a hot mess from the west, though.

[JivecitySTL]

I love it.

[LouisvilleGuy05]

great looking building!

[Ian604]

Nice.

[edsg25]

Question for Jive and Company (in other words, StL experts):

With high rise condos now going up in DT StL and the chance that this area could develop into every bit of a high rise residential area (or more) than areas to the west (CWE, Clayton, etc.), do you forsee a time when St. Louis might use a Chicago type model on Lake Michigan for high rise residential construction in the form of high rises going up on the Mississippi Riverfront both north and south of downtown?

It would seem to be, as StL continues to rebuild, old industrial lands in prime location (and, yes, despite turning its back on the river for so long, the riverfront is potenially prime land) should be developed as high rise corridors, affording the vistas provided by being on water and close to downtown.

If I were to take this one step further, I also think StL should realize that being in this different era today, it would make far more sense to take the Union Station/festival shopping concept with a manmade lake and find some way to incorporate it on a new structure along the riverfront to even further spur development.

Thoughts???????????????

[JivecitySTL]

^Good question. For some reason, St. Louis has largely neglected its riverfront. But that's changing now. Look what's under construction on Laclede's Landing, overlooking the river:

www.portstlouis.com

http://www.pinnaclestlouis.com/

and more down the line with the Bottle District project.

I doubt it will ever be developed to the extent of Chicago's waterfront, but it's encouraging to see some new projects taking shape. For now I think St. Louis is more comfortable rising east to west rather than north to south.

[Absolut355]

I absolutely love this building!! Build it yesterday.

[Paule]

Originally Posted by JivecitySTL

Another New Downtown Residential Tower Rises Toward The Sky

22-story condo planned for Washington Ave.

St. Louis Business Journal - February 23, 2007
by Lisa R. Brown

Metropolitan Development Enterprises is planning to build a $67 million, 22-story condo tower in the heart of the Washington Avenue loft district. The tower is the largest new-construction residential building proposed for downtown.

Chicago-based Metropolitan was expected to present plans to build the mixed-use building at 1400 Washington, on the site of Erlich's Dry Cleaners, at a Tax Increment Finance Commission meeting Feb. 22. Metropolitan has requested $12 million of TIF for the project.


Ivie Clay, St. Louis Development Corp.'s director of communications and marketing, said a public hearing on the project will be held April 11.

Metropolitan purchased the building from Max Erlich in August 2006 for $1 million. It will demolish the building and construct a new one on the site and on an adjacent vacant lot it purchased from Dragon Development Co., led by Brad Waldrop of St. Charles, for $524,000.

The development, to be named the Skyhouse, will have 166 condos, with prices starting in the mid-$200,000s. One-, two- and three-bedroom units will be available, ranging in size from 850 to 2,230 square feet. The top three floors will feature 12 penthouse units.

Metropolitan's Director of Marketing Nellie Donovan said the developer wants to reach an untapped market downtown with traditional-style condos in a newly built structure. "We looked at what was missing, and we want to go after that niche," Donovan said. "That space is underutilized, and with this project we can enhance the neighborhood. We want to be part of the Washington Avenue corridor."

A lender and general contractor have not yet been selected. Metropolitan's in-house architectural firm, Metro.Arch, is the project's architect. The building's design will meet LEED standards, according to Metropolitan.

The building will have 13,000 square feet of retail space, and several hundred parking spots will be built into the structure. A rooftop recreational area will include a pool, fitness center and dog run. Each of the condo units will feature floor-to-ceiling windows and balconies.

Metropolitan is teaming with local development group RileyWaldrop LLC in a joint venture on the Skyhouse project. Riley Waldrop consists of developer Ben Riley; his father, Philip Riley; and Brad Waldrop.

Riley Waldrop has been active in the loft-conversion market downtown in recent years, developing the 14-unit Barton Street Lofts at 2401 S. 12th St., and six of the Knickerbocker units at Washington Avenue and 13th Street, which it later resold. The investment group bought the Dragon Trading building at 1709 Locust St. for $1.25 million in 2005 and sold it four months later to New York real estate developers Cyrus and Darius Sakhai for $1.8 million.

Skyhouse is Metropolitan's first project in St. Louis; the company has several residential projects completed or under way in the Chicago area. Its founder and president is Paul Hardej. In addition to an in-house architectural team, Metropolitan has an in-house construction firm, Enterprise Construction, and property management team, Newland Realty.

So what's going on with these awesome projects?

[i_am_hydrogen]

I heard it through the grapevine that this project is dead.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Yeah. The project has been shelved.

I think that was mentioned on another St. Louis forum I attend.

[Paule]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Yeah. The project has been shelved.

I think that was mentioned on another St. Louis forum I attend.

That's too bad because I really liked that design. Hopefully someone will spin something off of this one?

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Well, this project is officially dead. Tear down two not-spectacular-but-certainly-reusable buildings for no reason. Good job.

[desertpunk]

Skyhouse site has new owner

February 01, 2012

The site of what was to have been the Skyhouse condo tower in downtown St. Louis changed hands today at a foreclosure sale.

A firm called Star Park LLC placed the winning--and only--bid of $550,000 for the property at 14th Street and Washington Avenue. Star Park is a new venture of Larry Waldrop--an investor, property owner and father of Brad Waldrop, who was among the developers behind the failed Skyhouse project.

Skyhouse was to have been a 22-story condo tower. It was proposed in early 2007, just before the for-sale housing market began to teeter and collapse. The Skyhouse partners said they had presold about 30 of 166 planned condos. But by the summer of 2007, the number of deposits dropped from several a month to zero, one of the deveopers, Ben Riley, said in 2010.

The Skyhouse site is now patchy grass and a small parking lot. That likely won't change for awhile. Larry Waldrop's lawyer, Roger Herman, said Star Park will seek partners to develop the site but that at least a year will pass before a new development plan emerges.

.

Assuming that timeframe is correct, a new development plan may be forthcoming soon. So this one's getting archived until there's a new (or a revival of the old) plan.