2019 was another busy year for construction, rehabs and development; our full list of twenty-one projects from 2018 can be found here. As I refine the 2019 favorites list, it felt like a good time to take a look at last year’s list and see what has transpired.
By my count, there are seven projects that are now close to or fully completed: Crescent Building, Steelcote Building, Shepard School, Mendenhall Building on Locust, DeBaliviere Bank Building, Habitat for Humanity, and St. Ferdinand Homes II.
Here are a few photos to share the progress.
The 1930 brick beauty I called the Crescent Building was formerly a St. Louis Post-Dispatch printing facility, then various manufacturing and warehousing operations and finally, the new home of BioSTL, a scientific incubator. Wow, look at all those windows! What an improvement along Duncan Avenue, a red brick beauty adding some St. Louis soul to the modern buildings rising all over the Cortex District.
The former Crescent Building, now home of BioSTL
The full rehab of the Steelcote building and out building is now complete Now the Steelcote Lofts are leasing and the former Columbia Oil Building just south of Steelcote is under renovation. And just to the west is land cleared for a project called Mill Creek Flats. More on that in the future. For plenty of “before” pictures, click HERE.
Former Columbia Oil building to the left.
What I called the Busey Bank building on DeBaliviere is now completed with residents moving into the “Dorze Apartments:
Want to get a view of the inside? Chris over at CityScene STL visited and shared some photos.
St. Ferdinand II homes in the Greater Ville are helping fill in the massive gaps. And while these setbacks are completely unnecessary and don’t fit in, the end results is a positive. The simple sight of new sidewalks and street trees is welcoming as thing not prioritized in the past 20 or so years I’ve been in St. Louis.
Mendenhall Building in Downtown West on Locust is looking fantastic with mixed uses and tenants adding to this kind of dead part of town.
With the Jefferson Connector project hopefully taking shape west of here, the future looks bright to bridge Downtown to Midtown.
The potential of an MLS stadium not surrounded by a sea of surface parking and the 22nd Street interchange improvements, this could be a hot part of town to call home for residents and businesses alike.
Another four appear to be in-progress with some work or groundbreaking evident from the sidewalk: Chippewa Park, Ranier One Apartments, Kranzenburg Arts Foundation Homes, and West Pine and Sarah Modern Townhomes.
The Artizen project on Sarah at West Pine has started clearing the site of the wooden fencing and surface parking lot that plagued the street for years. Excavation is underway.
What I called Ranier One apartment building is another high-density, urban-scaled mod apartment building on Pershing Avenue west of Union. Across the street from the Tribeca Apartments, this one will be called the Chelsea. The density is evident, the neighborhood feels bustling with activity and people. The former vacant lots are being cleared with excavation and foundation pouring underway:
The Chippewa Park project continues to make tremendous progress.
Nine appear to still be in the speculative or planning stages including: Forest Park-DeBaliviere Metro Station Mixed Use, Locust Collaboration District Center, Arco Avenue Apartments, Grandview Arcade Building, Koman Building, Clifton Heights Park Master Plan, Morgan Ford and Wyoming new meets old, Vacant Lots to Townhomes, and Ronald McDonald House.
I’ll call one dead or on the shelf for now: Delmar and Euclid Development(s).
We are making progress in new construction and significant historic rehabs. There is a lot to be hopeful for, kind citizens of St. Louis. I’ll get cracking on the list of 2019 favorites.
