Edison condos change downtown real estate
Recently I took a client to see the Edison Condominiums in downtown St. Louis -- beautiful units with lots of amenities. For more info, email me by clicking here or calling 636.391.9997. See the following article from the Post-Dispatch for more information on the Edison Condominiums.
Floor by floor, a former distribution warehouse for J.C. Penney is being converted to fit a niche in the market for condominium hotels.
Developer Donald Breckenridge and Gundaker Commercial are spending about $40 million to carve through concrete floors and beams of the old 13-story warehouse at 400 South 14th Street.
After cutting an eight-story atrium through the center of the building, they've created 81 units, known as the Edison Condominiums. The housing is built out on four floors above the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites. The distinctive building, alongside Highway 40 (Interstate 64), is decorated on the outside with a huge trompe l'oeil mural.
The hotel opened in October 2001 after $53 million in renovations and a severe downturn in the tourism industry following the terrorist attacks that September.
Nationwide, the tourism and hospitality industry has struggled to return to pre-9/11 operating levels. But Breckenridge said convincing anyone in St. Louis about a high-end market for condos downtown was even harder.
"If you would have asked me or most other folks (whether) a product like this could be in the city, I would have questioned it," Breckenridge said. "Before this, only lofts had been built downtown, and they were capping out at $150,000 back in 1999."
But all 81 condominiums are sold, with about two floors still left to build out. Hardesty Homes is the construction firm; the project also is using some state and federal historic tax credits, and state Brownfield credits.
The units range from 1,600 square feet to 2,900 square feet. Prices start at $275,000 and some go up to $1 million.
The mix of tenants has been a surprise, too. The average age is 47, and most have opted for the larger condos - even buying multiple units to create larger floor plans.
With about 1 million square feet, the property was big enough to rehab and less expensive than new construction, the route that most condo hotels take, Breckenridge said.
Condominium-hotel properties are most popular in top tourist sites, such as Orlando, Fla.; Miami; and Las Vegas. Adding a residential component is one way large hotels can be built during the early recovery period, according to a report by Lodging Econometrics, a lodging industry research firm.
"These came about when larger hotels were very difficult to finance," said Gary Andreas, a consultant with H&H Consulting Group in Chesterfield. "By including condos in the hotel project or by selling the rooms as suites, developers were able to generate additional cash for equity in securing the loans. And it makes it a little easier to finance and increases the comfort level for lenders."
Top tourist cities are seeing a boom in condo-hotel construction, but the trend has been slower to catch on in Midwest markets.
Breckenridge bets that will change, as tourism rebounds and demand for the housing increases.
And he expects to see more tenants like himself and his wife, who moved from St. Louis County to the Edison Condominiums a year ago. Their home is a combination of three units and has 6,200 square feet, with views overlooking the city.
By Tavia Evans
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/11/2005
Floor by floor, a former distribution warehouse for J.C. Penney is being converted to fit a niche in the market for condominium hotels.
Developer Donald Breckenridge and Gundaker Commercial are spending about $40 million to carve through concrete floors and beams of the old 13-story warehouse at 400 South 14th Street.
After cutting an eight-story atrium through the center of the building, they've created 81 units, known as the Edison Condominiums. The housing is built out on four floors above the Sheraton St. Louis City Center Hotel & Suites. The distinctive building, alongside Highway 40 (Interstate 64), is decorated on the outside with a huge trompe l'oeil mural.
The hotel opened in October 2001 after $53 million in renovations and a severe downturn in the tourism industry following the terrorist attacks that September.
Nationwide, the tourism and hospitality industry has struggled to return to pre-9/11 operating levels. But Breckenridge said convincing anyone in St. Louis about a high-end market for condos downtown was even harder.
"If you would have asked me or most other folks (whether) a product like this could be in the city, I would have questioned it," Breckenridge said. "Before this, only lofts had been built downtown, and they were capping out at $150,000 back in 1999."
But all 81 condominiums are sold, with about two floors still left to build out. Hardesty Homes is the construction firm; the project also is using some state and federal historic tax credits, and state Brownfield credits.
The units range from 1,600 square feet to 2,900 square feet. Prices start at $275,000 and some go up to $1 million.
The mix of tenants has been a surprise, too. The average age is 47, and most have opted for the larger condos - even buying multiple units to create larger floor plans.
With about 1 million square feet, the property was big enough to rehab and less expensive than new construction, the route that most condo hotels take, Breckenridge said.
Condominium-hotel properties are most popular in top tourist sites, such as Orlando, Fla.; Miami; and Las Vegas. Adding a residential component is one way large hotels can be built during the early recovery period, according to a report by Lodging Econometrics, a lodging industry research firm.
"These came about when larger hotels were very difficult to finance," said Gary Andreas, a consultant with H&H Consulting Group in Chesterfield. "By including condos in the hotel project or by selling the rooms as suites, developers were able to generate additional cash for equity in securing the loans. And it makes it a little easier to finance and increases the comfort level for lenders."
Top tourist cities are seeing a boom in condo-hotel construction, but the trend has been slower to catch on in Midwest markets.
Breckenridge bets that will change, as tourism rebounds and demand for the housing increases.
And he expects to see more tenants like himself and his wife, who moved from St. Louis County to the Edison Condominiums a year ago. Their home is a combination of three units and has 6,200 square feet, with views overlooking the city.
By Tavia Evans
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/11/2005
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