Empty Cupples warehouse gets owner with big plans
By Charlene Prost
Of the Post-Dispatch
09/08/2005
Workmen from Clayco proceed with the renovation of one the Cupples Station warehouses
Conrad Properties Corp. will start construction this fall on one of the last empty Cupples Station warehouses, planning to revive it with office space above what probably will be a restaurant.
The company is in an "advanced stage" of negotiations with a potential office tenant that would move from another downtown location and take up to four floors of the six-story, 108-year-old building at 1000 Clark Street, said Kevin Kloster, president and chief executive.
Kloster also has been talking with restaurateur Ted Geiger, who originated J. Bucks Restaurants and is Conrad's partner at the Finale Music and Dining nightclub in the Clayton on the Park hotel and residential building.
"We see the makings of a double play here," Geiger said in a statement, "drawing baseball fans and fans attending sporting events at (nearby) Savvis Center" to a J. Bucks Restaurant.
Conrad bought the building Thursday from Bank of America, backed with financing from Enterprise Bank & Trust and U.S. Bank. The sale price wasn't disclosed, but Kloster said it is rolled into the $15 million renovation cost.
As Conrad was moving forward with its project, the McGowan/Walsh development group was at work on an $80 million-plus plan to renovate the other three empty warehouses in the Cupples complex.
Built between 1894 and 1917, the nine former warehouses still standing were once part of a thriving railroad freight depot; the noted Eames & Young architecture firm designed most of it.
McGowan/Walsh has a contract to buy the three warehouses from Bank of America for a total of about $6 million and also is lining up tenants.
"We are talking with a number of restaurants who want to be there," said Kevin McGowan, a partner at McGowan/Walsh. "We have three law firms, all downtown now, talking about going there. I think the rest of the project will be residential."
He added: "In a couple of years, this is going to be a very exciting area."
McCormack Baron Salazar Inc. led the way at Cupples when it, and partners, recycled the first four warehouses into a $75 million Westin hotel that opened in 2001. More recently, HRI Properties bought a seven-story warehouse it is reviving, at a cost of $37 million, with 131 loft apartments and retail space at street level. HRI plans to finish the project early next year.
Kloster, at Conrad, said the location and the building itself attracted his company to what was once the Hammermill Paper warehouse.
"It has architectural character, a midsized floor plate ... and a superb location - within two blocks of the entrance to the new Busch Stadium, within three blocks of Savvis Center and two blocks of a MetroLink station."
Kloster said the building was "in decent shape" but would need "some minor structural work." He said renovation would take 14 months or so.
Conrad hired the Lawrence Group, which specializes in "green" or environmentally friendly architecture, to design a renovation that meets certification standards set by the U. S. Green Building Council.
Architect Tim Rowbottom at Lawrence Group said the firm intends to use recycled and environmentally friendly building materials, energy-efficient mechanical systems, light fixtures and other features. To bring in more natural light, he said, "we'll make openings on the west facade that now has no windows."
Lawrence Group also designed a two-level parking garage with 80 spaces that will be built into the slope of the land, giving it a low profile, Rowbottom said.
What's now Bank of America teamed up with McCormack Baron in 1998 to buy and save the once-threatened warehouses from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri.
Mary Campbell, a senior vice president at the bank, said officials there were "feeling very good" about progress since then.
"When we bought them, downtown was not ready for major development on the south side. The new stadium was not a certainty. The office market made it impossible to lease space, and the housing market was still being tested on Washington Avenue," Campbell said.
"Now fast-forward to today," she said. "We have a relatively mature housing market on Washington Avenue. We have a beautiful new stadium about half done. The time has finally arrived for Cupples Station."