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| A rendering of the Park East Tower, currently under construction at the corner of Euclid and Laclede avenues. |
LIVING LARGE
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The Park East Tower Rises 26 Stories High in the Central West End
By Linda F. Jarrett
Out of the remains of an old parking lot in the Central West End, the Park East Tower is rising, one level at a time. By next October, the Tower will be at 26 stories, jutting 320 feet into the sky.
As the first resident high rise in the City for 30 years, the $50 million Tower promises to redefine city living.
OPUS Northwest L.L.C. of Minneapolis designed and is building this luxury high rise at the corner of Euclid and Laclede avenues, in the center of one of St. Louis’s most
cosmopolitan areas. The 21st century, art-deco style building will feature 89 residences, all of which will have floor to ceiling windows—a design detail guaranteed to make this building stand out from the crowd.
Prices for the one, two and three-bedroom residences and pent homes range from $250,000 to $2 million (which is the two-story penthouse topping the structure).
 John Pitcher, director of real estate development, OPUS Northwest L.L.C. |
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John Pitcher, director of real estate
development for the OPUS project, believes the success of the building is related to the neighborhood. “This is a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with an availability of activities, shops and entertainment. And having Forest Park in your backyard is a great amenity.”
Those qualities attracted OPUS to the Central West End, plus a national trend toward urban living.
“We knew this was happening in New York, Chicago, San Francisco,” Pitcher says. “Now you’re seeing it in the second-tier cities that have never seen it before—cities like
St. Louis, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Denver.”
Demographics for this luxurious residential abode include empty nesters and single
professionals, Pitcher says. “Also DINKS
(double-income, no kids)! We’re finding that over two-thirds of the buyers are from outside of the Central West End and city area. We’re attracting people out of town and the west suburbs.”
UNBELIEVABLE VIEWS
In addition to a spacious lobby, the first floor of the Park East Tower will have 8,000 square feet of street level retail space. Pitcher says they have gotten a lot of interest in
the space.
“That’s not a lot of square footage. We could get a financial institution, coffee shop, flower shop, maybe a small restaurant that is sandwich or breakfast oriented,” he says.
An enclosed, secure parking garage
occupies floors two through six. Floor seven will have three residences, an exercise room, club room, a fully-furnished guest suite, plus a rooftop pool, hot tub, arbor and lounging area.
Residences will be on floors eight through 24. The 25th and 26th floors are a one-residence, two-story penthouse, completely encased in floor to ceiling glass.
Other amenities include a room for bicycle storage, storage facilities for each residence and a catering kitchen.
Each residence features an open floor plan, high ceilings and one or two decks or
balconies, depending on the floor plan.
All outside surfaces from the seventh
floor up are glass, giving each residence unparalleled views of green space and city lights from Forest Park to Clayton to Downtown and the Arch.
“We take advantage of our views from the very first level of our units,” Pitcher says. “The higher you go, the more unbelievable the view.”
MAKE IT YOUR OWN
Buyers are able to customize their residence at the Park East Tower DesignStudio recently opened at 337 North Euclid.
Nathan Bavolek, interiors project manager, says that one of the features that makes the Tower unique is the ability to have a wide range of selections from which to choose for the home.
| (Pictured above and below): virtual renderings of possible Park East Tower interiors. |
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“We have over 3,000 different choices for buyers,” he says. “They can customize their home to their life style and needs.”
Samples of plush carpets and rich hardwood line the walls of the studio along with granites and tiles. Buyers can choose from hundreds of pulls, faucets and shower heads. Choices in fireplaces, lighting controls,
custom closets, and whole house audio with AV packages will make the prospective buyer’s head spin.
“I think we have more options available than others in town,” Bavolek says. “You can choose every little detail of your house.”
DEMOGRAPHICS
Who would buy here? People wanting to leave their big houses with the requisite maintenance, and join the national trend for sophisticated, urban living. People who would prefer to leave their car in the garage and walk to restaurants, galleries, antique shops and entertainment venues.
“We call it ‘urban convergence,’” Sales Manager Kathy Capps says. “Our buyers are leaving a lifestyle that’s a little bit
cumbersome and coming to the easy life. Forest Park is their back yard, plus there are 15 restaurants in this area, not including those on Maryland and McPherson.”
Another thought has been that since this is the first high rise residence built in the city in 30 years, there is a pent-up demand for the type of newer residence that has amenities, such as climate control.
“In many of the older buildings,”
Capps says, “their air-conditioning is
turned off in October, and if it gets hot,
you sweat. The same with the heat. Our
units have individual controls.
Capps says that of the 89 residences, 15 remain on the market, with five of those reserved, that’s 83% pre-sold! “These are committed buyers under contract. We started selling in June 2004, so that has been about one residence per week.”
“I think the product really sells itself. It’s a beautiful building with light, bright interiors and spectacular views with the floor to ceiling glass.”
Buyers will start moving in next October at the rate of one floor per week, with full occupancy expected by the end of 2006.
MORE TO COME
Since sales for Park Tower East have been so successful, OPUS has put two new projects on the drawing board.
In the coming months, they will announce an l48-unit loft project, Park East Lofts, directly east of Park East Tower. This project would include a city-owned public parking lot topped with three stories of loft-style condominiums.
“We’re also working through the initial stages of a 26 or 28 story residence building with 200 units,” Pitcher says. “This will be on the northeast corner of Euclid and Lindell. It will be a little less expensive and a little smaller than average size.
ABOUT OPUS
Based in Minneapolis, Minn., OPUS historically has been more of a suburban retail, office and industrial developer. The Park Tower East project is the company’s first St. Louis residential project.
Pitcher, joined OPUS four years ago to form the St. Louis office. “We’ve gotten heavily into residential in the last four years, and it represents a significant part of our business at this time in terms of our company nationwide. We probably have over one billion condominiums in various stages of development throughout the country.”
Park Tower East will give another countenance to the many faces of the Central
West End.
HISTORICALLY TRENDY
Stretching from midtown’s western edge to the city’s western border, the Central West End has become synonymous with eclectic. With its magnificent historic mansions
hiding on tree shaded gated streets, bustling sidewalk cafes, and unique art galleries, the “CWE” has weathered the ups and downs of the changing social and political climates for the past 50 years.
In 1958, the Central West End Association formed to preserve the unique and historic characteristics of the neighborhood, as well as to deal with neighborhood issues.
Robyn Nagle, executive director of the association, says while the long-time “anchors like Duff’s, Balaban’s and the Chase Park Plaza” have always grounded the area, new commercial investments like the Opus Park East Towers, Conrad Properties’ loft project and the Barnes-Jewish Expansion have added to the area’s appeal.
“And we have the people who have lived here long before it was trendy,” she says. “Now young families and professionals who have moved here in the past five to 10 years help keep it going.”
Always known as “the place to go” for people watching, the neighborhood is now experiencing a resurgence—one that can only go up. |
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