Ferguson developer has lofty ambitions
By Norm Parish
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/14/2006
Working as a graphic artist in one of the most popular places for lofts in downtown St. Louis, Jessica McGee acknowledges that she can't help being attracted to the buildings containing the apartments.
But she lives in one that is about a dozen miles away in an unlikely site - Ferguson.
"I love lofts, but I don't want to live right by work," said McGee about why she lives in Ferguson instead of near her job on Washington Avenue.
McGee, 23, is a resident of Ferguson Lofts - a complex of six loft apartments and five shops at 250 South Florissant Road. Joe Lonero, the complex's developer, is planning to build about dozen other loft-style units about two blocks away. "I know it is unusual to have lofts in a community like Ferguson," said Lonero, 45. "But why can't we have them in our town? It is something unique and different."
The city of 22,400 residents is one of the latest communities to have lofts outside St. Louis. Areas like Kirkwood, Maplewood and St. Charles, also are attracting loft-style complexes.
"Lofts should be a big trend," said Pearce Neikirk, a RE-MAX real estate broker based in Ferguson. "The lofts in the Washington Avenue area have become so popular that people in (St. Louis) County and other places want them too. And they will really be popular because there are abundance of storefront buildings in St. Louis County. People like having hardwood floors and having fun in a commercial district."
In May, Lonero is expected to have his last tenant - Quizno's - move into his first development, which he began building in 2004. Other businesses in the complex include O.T. Hodge Chile Parlor, Curves, El Palenque Mexican Restaurant and Ga Ga's Vintage Furniture.
In that $1.5 million development, Ferguson officials provided $80,000 in tax-increment financing for acquiring property within Ferguson's Special Business District and pledged about $380,000 to help repay Lonero for renovation costs. The facility is in the old SportsPrint building. All the businesses are on the first floor, while the lofts are on the second floor.
The apartments, which are now all occupied, are 1,000 square feet, contain two bedrooms, fireplaces and hardwood floors. Some have 16-foot ceilings. Rent is $650 a month.
"I don't think you are going to find too many better deals in St. Louis," McGee said. "I love the tall ceilings. It is nice and open. And I don't have to cook much. It is cool to go downstairs and get something to eat."
In Loreno's next development, which he plans to start work on this fall, he wants to build about a dozen lofts at the nearby E and J Market grocery store site. Like his current complex, that development will include several shops on the first level and lofts on the second, including some for ownership.
That development is expected to cost about $2.5 million. He has yet to get city approval for the project.
The lofts are in Ferguson's new Citywalk District, a 10-block area that includes about 25 restaurants, two art galleries and a handful of bars. The city also is working to have a gallery in the district tied to the nearby University of Missouri at St. Louis campus.
"All I have to do is build them and they will come," said Loreno, who chairs the business district group. "People first thought I was a little nuts, but now a lot of people want to live in them."
