Originally Posted by
LeannaM
I'm somewhat familiar with St. Louis and they saw a loft boom from 1999 until a couple of years. Construction is going on, but at a much slower pace. Anyway, a lot of the most recent developments became apartments instead of condos. Detroit might be different, but, considering the housing downturn, I can't help but wonder if apartments might be more stable, if not as profitable, as condos. With apartments it might take longer to recoup the investment, but I would think having apartments, especially more affordable ones, would fill the building up better than condos would, at least in this market.
The Stott is a beautiful building. I hope they do something with it.
One thing I noticed with the St. Louis lofts is that the tallest residential buildings in Downtown St. Louis are around 16 stories, with most of them being under 12 or so. They were more often used as warehouses and stores, rather than office space, as well. Office buildings tend to have smaller floor plans. Of course, that can be rectified. But it might make the renovation costs higher.
Of course, the building having both apartments and condos might work. I'm just not convinced that any development outside of a few select cities would be able to make any money just selling condos.