Lofts in Fox Park’s future?

Fox Park is one of those South St. Louis neighborhoods in the midst of a transition. Unfortunately, like surrounding neighborhoods such as Benton Park West and Tower Grove East, the current downturn in the market has stalled the progress of redevelopment in the area. But all I see when I pass through the area is the untapped potential. Read more

Tower Grove East condos

This project has been under development for a while now, but it’s good to see that the condos on the southeast corner of Sidney & Nebraska are coming along. Located in a former Phillips 66 auto repair shop at 2600 Nebraska in the Tower Grove East neighborhood of South St. Louis, these condos will be a welcome addition to the landscape. I don’t know much about the project at this point other than that the condos are said to be “loft” style. Read more

South Grand update

It took a little long than expected, but I finally got my hands on original copies of the pictures and proposals for the South Grand Great Streets Initiative proposal. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check last week’s post regarding the planned streetscape improvements for this prominent South St. Louis commercial corridor. You can download the proposals by clicking on the appropriate links below: Read more

South Grand streetscape

This past Monday (March 31, 2008) I attended a public meeting showcasing the proposed designs for streetscape improvements along South Grand between Arsenal and McDonald. Being touted as an “example project” of East-West Gateway’s new “St. Louis Great Streets Initiative”, the project would take significant steps to beautify the area, slow down traffic and make it more pedestrian friendly overall. Read more

EcoUrban infill in South St. Louis

I was cutting through the South City neighborhood of Benton Park West a few months back and stumbled across something that was quite a shock to me: contemporary, green infill. The specific house I came across was at 3140 Pennsylvania (picture to the left). When I took a peek inside, I was surprised how nice the place was. It had so many of the features, which I would love to see incorporated in more area developments. It turns out that this building has a been given a Platinum LEED rating (for green construction) and is the product of modular construction. This project is just the 10th in the country to be given such a high LEED rating.

The sale price of $274,900 seems a little high for the area and product, but its great to see a project like this. Design-wise, the project misses the mark on a few points, but I’m still a fan. The home isn’t all that big and I’m still not totally sold on the exterior finish. Stylistically its ok, but the quality of materials and craftsmanship outside seem to be below that of the interior. They did recently add some rather attractive aluminum trim on the exterior, which made an improvement.

The best part is that this just appears to be the tip of the iceberg. Developer EcoUrban has already constructed two additional homes at 3103 and 3105 Magnolia in the nearby Tower Grove East Neighborhood. They also have plans for twelve additional 2 and 3 bedroom townhomes in Tower Grove East. There is also rumor that they are scoping out other areas in the city for similar development. Very exciting stuff. I’ll post more details and pics when they come available. If you want to follow their progress yourself, make sure you check out their website.