Cupples Station update

[Brickcity]

Below is an article on the ongoing Cupples Station redevelopment saga from the St. Louis Business Journal.

HRI, Conrad closing in on Cupples Station projects

Margaret Jackson

HRI Properties will close by the end of the year on its deal to renovate a building in the historic Cupples Station warehouse complex into apartments.

HRI plans to convert the building at the southwest corner of 11th and Spruce streets downtown into 131 apartments. All but four of the units in the $42 million project will be "work-force housing," said Ron Silverman, HRI senior vice president.

"Work-force housing presumes the tenants have to have a good job and steady credit, but may be income restricted," Silverman said. Tenants may include city employees, teachers or restaurant workers. Rents in the building will range from $567 to $830 a month. Clayco Construction Co. is the general contractor and Forum Studios is the architect for the project.

HRI closed on its purchase of the building and adjoining parking lot Dec. 1. The financial closing is set for Dec. 23.

GMAC is providing $30 million in financing for the project instead of Related Capital Cos. of New York, which finances most of HRI's projects, including the Merchandise Mart on Washington Avenue downtown.

"Related decided that their exposure in downtown St. Louis was great enough, and the city wanted us to minimize the amount of public assistance they put in the deal, so we went to other investors to try to maximize the tax credit pricing on the deal," said Tom Leonhard, HRI's president and chief operating officer.

Other financing tools include a $600,000 affordable housing loan from the city's Affordable Housing Commission and 10 years of tax abatement. U.S. Bank is providing $9.8 million in Brownfield and state historic tax credits for the project.

Meanwhile, Conrad Properties is proceeding with its plans to purchase the building on the southwest corner of Spruce and 10th Streets, which it plans to redevelop as up to 50 condominiums that it will market to first-time buyers, said Wendy Timm, the company's chief operating officer and chief financial officer. The deal is expected to close by the middle of next year. The project is expected to cost at least $10 million, Timm said. She did not have details of the financing or how much the units will sell for because Conrad is still in the due diligence process.

Conrad and HRI are buying the buildings from Bank of America. Other developers talking with Bank of America about doing projects at Cupples include Amrit and Amy Gill and Richard Baron of McCormack Baron Salazar.

"Our hope is that once the HRI transaction closes, the rest of these conversations with people and deals we're working on will fall into place," said Mary Campbell, a senior vice president at Bank of America.

Bank of America had planned to donate Building 7 at the complex to Downtown Now so the nonprofit group could tear it down without jeopardizing historic tax credits for other projects. However, those plans are on hold until the city approves a development plan for the complex, said Tom Reeves, executive director of Downtown Now

[tiny elvis]

Below is an article on the ongoing Cupples Station redevelopment saga from the St. Louis Business Journal.

HRI, Conrad closing in on Cupples Station projects

Margaret Jackson

HRI Properties will close by the end of the year on its deal to renovate a building in the historic Cupples Station warehouse complex into apartments.

HRI plans to convert the building at the southwest corner of 11th and Spruce streets downtown into 131 apartments. All but four of the units in the $42 million project will be "work-force housing," said Ron Silverman, HRI senior vice president.

"Work-force housing presumes the tenants have to have a good job and steady credit, but may be income restricted," Silverman said. Tenants may include city employees, teachers or restaurant workers. Rents in the building will range from $567 to $830 a month. Clayco Construction Co. is the general contractor and Forum Studios is the architect for the project.

HRI closed on its purchase of the building and adjoining parking lot Dec. 1. The financial closing is set for Dec. 23.

GMAC is providing $30 million in financing for the project instead of Related Capital Cos. of New York, which finances most of HRI's projects, including the Merchandise Mart on Washington Avenue downtown.

"Related decided that their exposure in downtown St. Louis was great enough, and the city wanted us to minimize the amount of public assistance they put in the deal, so we went to other investors to try to maximize the tax credit pricing on the deal," said Tom Leonhard, HRI's president and chief operating officer.

Other financing tools include a $600,000 affordable housing loan from the city's Affordable Housing Commission and 10 years of tax abatement. U.S. Bank is providing $9.8 million in Brownfield and state historic tax credits for the project.

Meanwhile, Conrad Properties is proceeding with its plans to purchase the building on the southwest corner of Spruce and 10th Streets, which it plans to redevelop as up to 50 condominiums that it will market to first-time buyers, said Wendy Timm, the company's chief operating officer and chief financial officer. The deal is expected to close by the middle of next year. The project is expected to cost at least $10 million, Timm said. She did not have details of the financing or how much the units will sell for because Conrad is still in the due diligence process.

Conrad and HRI are buying the buildings from Bank of America. Other developers talking with Bank of America about doing projects at Cupples include Amrit and Amy Gill and Richard Baron of McCormack Baron Salazar.

"Our hope is that once the HRI transaction closes, the rest of these conversations with people and deals we're working on will fall into place," said Mary Campbell, a senior vice president at Bank of America.

Bank of America had planned to donate Building 7 at the complex to Downtown Now so the nonprofit group could tear it down without jeopardizing historic tax credits for other projects. However, those plans are on hold until the city approves a development plan for the complex, said Tom Reeves, executive director of Downtown Now

This is a very cool project - I think it will be off the chart successful being is such close proximity to the new ballpark and Ballpark Village.

[ZachariahDaMan]

I've been looking for the latest updates on Cupples Station, here is what I found:

Kevin McGowan and Nat Walsh of McGowan{sodEmoji.{sodEmoji.|}}Walsh Historic Renovators are moving forward with an $86 million plan to rehab the remaining three undeveloped buildings in Cupples Station, downtown's former warehouse district.

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories.../26/story1.html