The new owners of the 10-story Merchandise Mart Annex downtown plan to start renovating it this fall into loft apartments, shops and offices.
Loftworks, a new development group led by Pyramid Construction Co. president Craig Heller, bought the vacant building recently from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The building is on 10th Street, connected by a skywalk to the historic, city-owned Merchandise Mart at 1000 Washington Ave. The Merchandise Mart also is empty, and city officials hope to find a developer to revive it too.
Heller said his group plans to put 34 loft rental units into the upper floors of the Annex, retail and parking at the street level, and a mix of parking and commercial space on the second and third floors. Some parking also might go in the basement.
The average apartment will have 12-foot ceilings, and about 2,700 square feet of space. Heller said apartments will rent for $800 to $1,150 a month.
“We think the location is good,” Heller said. “It is close to the Washington Avenue loft district … and close to a lot of other things people might want to walk to, like their jobs, MetroLink stops, entertainment, St. Louis Centre, services and restaurants, even Laclede’s Landing.”
Mercantile Bank has agreed to finance the project, which is expected to cost more than $5 million. Heller also plans to seek state and federal historic renovation tax credits, and 10 years of city property tax abatement.
Kathryn Bader, president of Mercantile’s Community Development Corp., said Loftworks is one of several groups the bank has been working with to help get more housing built downtown.
“We think the demand is there,” Bader said.
Heller said he hopes to have the renovated building open next year.
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The Merchandise Mart, designed in the Romanesque Revival style by noted architect Isaac Taylor, was built in 1888 and 1889 for tobacco company magnates John E. Liggett and George S. Myers.
The Rice-Stix wholesale dry-goods company built the red brick Annex, designed by Mauran, Russell & Crowell, in 1913 after it outgrew its space in the Merchandise Mart.
Carolyn Toft, executive director of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, said preservationists welcome the renovation plan.”It will help enliven the streetscape, and bring the residential (development) we all want to see,” she said.