HRI to Develop Artists Lofts at Bottle District

Tim Bryant of the Post-Dispatch had a great article on the Bottle Art Lofts, the newest project from Historic Restoration Inc.

HRI plans to convert the vacant McGuire Moving & Storage building at 1333 North Sixth Street to roughly 70 apartments geared to artists. The $22.2 million project will also include a 7,600 sf gallery and performance space.

HRI is partnering with Clayco Construction on the project. Pending approval on $1.35 million in federal low-income housing tax credits in February, the developer hopes to begin work on the project in July.

It’s great to see that HRI is continuing to develop projects in St. Louis; they were instrumental in helping to spur downtown’s revival, renovating the Lenox and Statler Hotels as the Renaissance Hotels, the Merchandise Mart and a Cupples Station warehouse.

It is also great to see this project moving forward. Hopefully, the Bottle District will be allowed to develop organically, as a neighborhood, with a variety of developers contributing different ideas for the area. The original approach, a self-contained entertainment district similar to what is planned for Ballpark Village, was doomed to fail from the start.

Gateway EDI Expands at One Financial Plaza

One company that has found downtown to be a great place to grow is Gateway EDI.

As reported in the Business Journal, Gateway EDI, which moved its headquarters to downtown from Crestwood in 2005, expanded its lease at One Financial Plaza, adding 22,724 sf to its 46,000 sf office.

Downtown Needs Zhu Zhu Pets Too

The must-have toys this holiday season are Zhu Zhu Pets, a line of adorable robotic hamsters. Zhu Zhu Pets are the brainchildren of Cepia LLC, a Clayton-based firm with 15 employees.

Cepia is led by Russell Hornsby, one of the founders of Trendmasters, a toy company that was based downtown at 1015 Washington Avenue, way before Washington Avenue was cool. Thanks to strong sales of its Rumble Robots and Powerpuff Girls toy lines (among others), the firm grew to 250 employees and was generating $150 million in sales. Unfortunately, Trendmasters went out of business in 2002 after a devastating holiday season that year.

Sounds like the minds behind Cepia have a great track record of developing popular toys. If the firm can keep growing, it’s going to need new office space. And of course, the best office space and overall working environment for creative professionals like those at Cepia is found downtown.

Downtown, and Washington Avenue in particular, has improved by leaps and bounds since Trendmasters closed in 2002. Perhaps Cepia’s leadership would be willing to give downtown a second chance? I can think of several spaces that would absolutely perfect for a firm like Cepia.

You Know His Law Firm

As mentioned in the Business Journal on Friday, Brown & Crouppen has signed a 10-year lease for 25,000 sf on the 16^th floor of Met Square. The firm will be moving its 85 employees from the Laclede Gas Building.

With Husch Blackwell on its way out, the departure of Brown & Crouppen will be another significant loss for the Laclede Gas Building, but will leave another good sized vacancy for an opportunistic tenant.

This is not Downtown

In recent weeks, several people have asked me about the new Walgreens downtown.

Seeing as how downtown, for some reason, still does not have a Walgreens, it always takes me a second or two to realize that they’re actually referring to the new Walgreen’s on Lafayette, across from the old City Hospital.

I’ve also heard TV news reports mention this Walgreen’s as serving downtown as well.

You can call it by the name the city has given it – Peabody, Darst, Webbe – or by the greater area it serves – Lafayette Square – but this area is not downtown. This store is not at all convenient to downtown residents, office workers or tourists/conventioneers, all of whom who would most likely be running errands on foot or bike, and not by car.

Hopefully Walgreens realizes this and opens a true downtown location – in the CBD – in the days ahead. It’s amazing to me that a company that has been relentless in opening new locations across the city has ignored a relatively untapped market for so long. It seems that just about every city of comparable size to St. Louis has at least one, and we once had two locations just a short distance from each other. In the final days of St. Louis Centre, Walgreens was the only business that appeared to still be busy.

A Walgreens would give downtown another much-needed amenity, fill a fairly large vacant retail space, and help add a little more life to the street. If CVS wants to add a full-size store downtown instead, they’re more than welcome to beat Walgreens to the punch.

Park Pacific Project Proceeding Promptly

After receiving approval on a $56 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Lawrence Group is nearly ready to begin the redevelopment of the former Union Pacific headquarters building at 13^th and Olive as the Park Pacific.

Considering the current state of the economy and the fact that the Lawrence Group lost the commitment of a major office tenant – accounting firm Larson Allen, which instead decided to lease space at One City Centre – this is fantastic news.

The $109 million project will feature 232 apartments, 45,000 square feet of office space, 35,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and parking for 580 cars. According to the Business Journal, the Lawrence Group has already received letters of intent from several tenants.

The financing for the Park Pacific is scheduled to close in January, with construction beginning in February and anticipated completion coming in summer 2011.

With this project and several others finally about to begin, downtown’s list of vacant, developable buildings is starting to dwindle – a very exciting thing.

Group 360 Chooses 1225 Washington

After considering options downtown and elsewhere in the city of St. Louis, marketing and advertising firm Group 360 has announced that it has chosen 1225 Washington for its new headquarters.

The firm will lease 60,000 sf on three floors of the seven-story building. 130 employees will move downtown from St. Louis County, joining the 50 Group 360 employees who currently work downtown in the Fashion Square Building.

1225 Washington, originally known as the Avenida Lofts, is currently receiving a $25 million renovation by the McGowan Brothers, and Group 360 expects to occupy its new space in about 10 months.

According to the Business Journal, Rosalita’s Cantina and Jive & Wail Piano Bar will occupy the ground floor, Group 360 will take floors 2-4, and floors 5-7 will be converted to apartments with 10 units on each floor.

Group 360 cited downtown’s “cool” factor as one of the reasons behind its decision to consolidate downtown.

Back in January, it was announced that architecture firm Kennedy & Associates was going to move its offices (and its 95 employees) from Met Square to two floors at 1225 Washington, but it appears that Group 360 is taking all of the available space instead. Is Kennedy & Associates staying put?