I have two new listings coming up in Tower Grove East. When finished both will be 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths with 2nd floor laundry. Additionally each will have a two-car detached garage. The kitchens will be new with granite and stainless appliances and the first level of each home will have hardwood floors. But when these renovations are finished there will be valuable improvements that won’t be nearly as obvious.

Insulation: Each of the four exterior walls will have added insulation to make this 2 story brick home a little more energy efficient

Ductwork: The new ductwork is contaminant free and will also help with efficiency.

New Wiring: All of the old knob and tube wiring was ripped out and new wiring will be run throughout house and connected to a 200 amp panel.

New PVC: all of the vents and stacks will be replaced with PVC.

PVC Lateral Line: New plumbing under the basement floor and out to the main in the alley.

In the end, these improvements won’t be as obvious as the many more updates to come, but knowing that these improvements have been taken care will give the new homeowner peace of mind. Additionally, many of these projects will translate in an overall savings to the new homeowner. A new roof and new wiring can save on insurance costs and the new ductwork, insulation, HVAC and windows will equal a great deal of monthly savings on energy bills.

Not all rehabs are created equal, make sure to investigate what’s behind the walls. Ask for proof in the form of before and after pictures, receipts and warranties. For these two projects, I plan on keeping up with my clients throughout the rehab process. I will post their progress here, but when it is listed, I will leave a scrap book in the home so that prospective buyers get a sense of the completed work and do not have to rely on word of mouth.

Check this out. More national press on our downtown.

Above is a rendering of the former Dillard’s building which will now be known as the Laurel. Notice anything missing? For a hint, visit the website.

Also unveiled this week was the Mercantile Exchange.

I’ve always loved this small patch of St. Louis City. For those that are not familiar, it’s the neighborhood on the southeast corner of Forest Park, just south of the Barnes Jewish Medical Campus. It’s a perfect central location with a collection of beautiful homes that are still relatively affordable… and it’s the location of my first and last post-college rental apartment. I also can’t forget to mention it is home to one of St. Louis’ best bakeries, La Dolce Via.

Here are just a few homes currently available in the area: 4521 Gibson, 4517 Gibson, 4571 Arco.

The Neighborhood is still undergoing a major transformation as new developments enter the neighborhood.

Click here to read the Business Journal article about the speculated future of Forest Park Southeast (I still have a hard time calling it ‘The Grove’). Here’s a highlight:

“The Gills hope to use low lease rates to attract retailers such as small grocers or gift shops. Rents will range between $7 and $10 per square foot for commercial space. For its residential projects, rents will be below $1 per square foot, or between $650 and $850 per month. The first round will focus on one-bedroom apartment units to attract young professionals. By year five of the development, Amrit Gill said, the plan is to attract families with children and empty nesters. “

An interesting page detailing Restoration St. Louis involvement in the area:
http://www.restorationstlouis.com/?pg=neig&id=thegrove

Another good article on the neighborhood planning:
http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9410.html

Delivery of 3140 Pennsylvania

See more images here.

EcoUrban Homes is a budding development group in St. Louis focusing on pre-fab and offering LEED certified options. Below is a short interview with Jay Swoboda.

What inspired you to go GREEN in STL?
We approached this project with the goal of rebuilding neighborhoods and decided that infill development could be most effectively addressed using some form of prefab building technology. However, the majority of our inspiration came each month when an issue of Dwell Magazine would arrive in our mailbox. We realized that the prefab process and the minimalism we aspired to through our modern design already put us on our way to building green. For us, there was just something innately green about the modern style and process we were using. We decided if we were going to do this then we wanted to have something we’d be proud of - not just something that would make us money. So we made the decision to start green, build green, and finish green with our homes.
Building green not only makes financial sense for us as a builder, it also makes a lot of sense for marketing and sales. Ultimately, everyone wins – the buyer, the builder, the community, and the environment. We’ll be the first LEED-certified homes in Missouri. There aren’t a lot of people – maybe not anyone – doing the things we’re doing all at once: green, modern, prefab – all at a price within reach. It’s exciting, and we hope that we’ll really be able to kick off something big in St. Louis.

What projects are you currently working on?
Right now we’re in the first phase of our product rollout building our first development in the Tower Grove East and Benton Park West neighborhoods. Our first home was delivered on April 30th to 3140 Pennsylvania Avenue in Benton Park West. It was pretty exciting. Our first tour group will be going through on May 12, with more to follow – just two weeks after the home was delivered.
What can we expect in the next year?
You can look forward to the rollout of EcoUrban homes to other neighborhoods in St. Louis. We’re also looking at expanding to other cities in the future (Denver, Kansas City, Chicago, Pittsburgh) focusing on urban areas.
What is your past development experience?
EcoUrban is a year-old company, and our parent company’s past experience has been in the downtown loft and commercial redevelopment. We also have experience in owning and operating low-income apartments and SROs.
Front Elevation of Finished Home.

Sage Homebuilders is building GREEN homes in the city. Check out this one on Childress or this one on Gustine.

Below is a quick interview with Jason Stone, one of the company’s partners.

What inspired you to go GREEN in STL?

I wish I could take credit, but the idea to go green was Rick Hunter’s. You would think that one of the leading green builders in St. Louis would have been the inspiration of some hyper-environmentally conscious group, but that just wasn’t the case. Rick and Mike Greene (along with Realtor Sebastian Bautz) saw that there was a shortage of high quality new construction in St. Louis City. Green building simply proved to be an extension of better quality building. The more we learned about going green, the more it made sense to us. We didn’t fully grasp the importance of the environmental component until we had immersed ourselves in the building science and techniques. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t even recycle until late last year, but now that I know what I know I feel guilty throwing away anything at all. Go listen to someone like Ed Mazria talk and it will really open your eyes.

Next month’s newsletter (get the newsletter by emailing to info@sagestl.com) will likely be about the environmental component of what we do. Oddly enough, it’s usually one of the last reasons mainstream buyers end up choosing to go green, but it’s the most important and the most rewarding.

What is your past development experience?

All of the partners in the company have historic renovation backgrounds. It’s how we all met and know one another. We cut our teeth on restoring old homes in the City. We grew our individual development businesses on the state historic tax credit programs, so the transition to the 3rd party certification process of green was like old hat to us.

How many current projects and where?

As of today, we have seven homes under development. Everything we’re doing has to be a certified green project, either through the HBA GBI or USGBC’s LEED. Projects include the two in Dogtown (one of which just made the news for being the first home in the City ever certified green under the HBA GBI guidelines, the other is under contract and going under roof next week), four in Tower Grove South (The Gustine Townhomes are quickly becoming known as the “Boulder Houses” among the neighbors for all the landscaping walls – all salvaged limestone and granite taken from the excavation of the site the homes now sit on – how’s that for a recycling effort?), and the show stopper, the Owens Corning sponsored NZEH (near zero energy home) in Creve Coeur. Rick and Mike did interviews for NBC Nightly News on the house when it was featured on the National Association of Homebuilders Green Building Conference Builder’s Tour. To get attention like that you know it has to be truly special home. It features all kinds of great green concepts and products including solar, geothermal, insulated concrete forms, and more. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a great looking house to boot – right out of a story book (thank you designer Jeff Day!).

The “Boulder Houses” on Gustine in Tower Grove South

What’s in store for next year?

I think people are excited about the idea that our houses don’t necessarily look green, but perform green (energy efficient, better for your health, lower maintenance, etc.). These days we’re getting a ton of inquires on our custom builds, so next year will probably have us focused on some exciting custom projects. We’re also looking at a number of smaller commercial projects. The St. Louis green commercial market is one of the best in the country (technically, it’s been listed as #7), so the hope is that we have something tangible underway within the next twelve months. If any of your readers are looking for green commercial space to lease, they should give us a call asap.