Condos will rise on river bluff along Broadway

Jim Merkel

Of the Suburban Journals

South Side Journal



An eight-acre site on the river bluff in Carondelet will be the scene of a major condominium development.



Developer Michael Curran plans to build about 150 condominium units on the site of the former Good Samaritan Home at 5200 Broadway.



"The feeling is that it's a signature site for the riverfront for the south part of the city," Curran said. "It's a good opportunity in some respects to redefine the riverfront,"



Curran called it the best development site in the city.



"I feel that it's the best opportunity now in the city in terms of high end residential development," said Alderman Matt Villa, D-11th Ward. "I'm excited because this will offer another type of residential housing for people that currently does not exist in South St. Louis."



Curran closed on the property about three weeks ago. He bought it from the nonprofit corporation that owned Good Samaritan Home.



The Good Samaritan Home closed about two years ago, Curran said. "When it was really going well, I have been told that it would accommodate 250 people."



The nursing home was built in three sections with a total area of 175,000 square feet. The home will be demolished to make way for the condominiums.



Curran had three architects look at the property. Two architects will develop plans for condominiums and the best one will do the design.



"We need about 150 units to justify the land costs and the demolition costs," Curran said. While exact prices won't be known until development starts, "We're trying to stay in the $200,000 to $300,000 range," he said.



Besides being right on the scenic Mississippi River bluff, the development site is eight minutes from downtown, Curran said. "There are very few places where you can live where you have condominium units with this kind of river view," he said.



All the units should have a view of the river, Curran said.



It will take six months to a year to get all plans, permits and demolition, Curran said. Construction should start within a year.



This will be the fourth project Curran has done in Carondelet.



Curran recently completed the 12-unit Virginia Avenue School Condominiums, a conversion of the former Maddox School at Virginia Avenue and Bowen Street.



He renovated old stone row houses in the 200 block of West Steins Street and renovated another stone home ? the Schmitt House ? in South St. Louis Square Park.



"Mike Curran is a proven developer who has already completed three projects in the neighborhood that have already been very successful," Villa said.



The Good Samaritan Home project would be the third major development in the works in Southeast St. Louis.



The Loughborough Commons Shopping Center at Interstate 55 and Loughborough Avenue will include a new Schnucks store, a Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse and other stores.



The $25 million Cascades development bounded by Blow Street, Robert Avenue, Field Avenue and Coronado Avenue will have 107 units, mostly condominiums.



"It's certainly helping enhance an already very desirable neighborhood and I certainly can't remember any time in my lifetime when there's been this much investment in the southeast end of the city in terms of construction and development," Villa said.

I discussed this project and others with Ald. Matt Villa last night. Tragically the old mansion and garage on the north end of the site will be razed along wtih the other buildings. He said the site was going to be lowered a few feet and the new buildings would be two stories in height.



I'm going to scoot down there this afternoon when the sun changes position so I can get some good photos.

New condo development in Carondelet will take advantage of riverside terrain

By Tavia Evans

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

10/25/2005



After walking just 10 feet beyond the entrance to the old Good Samaritan Home on South Broadway, developer Mike Curran said he was sold on the vacant building.



"I walked in the door and saw the river," he said of the property's view from an 80-foot-high bluff above the Mississippi River.



Curran has plans to market that view for a new gated condominium complex. The development, the Mississippi Bluffs, would include 56 condos, each with a two-car garage and a sweeping river view.



Three brick buildings that made up the Good Samaritan Home and an early 20th-century mansion on the 8.2-acre site would be razed to make way for the project.



Curran said the development could cost about $25 million to build. He plans to apply for community improvement district status for property and tax abatements for the future homeowners.



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Here's the website.



>>>>Mississippi Bluffs<<<<

Developer seeks permit to tear down mansion

Jim Merkel

Of the Suburban Journals

South Side Journal

11/23/2005



A city board may have the last say on whether a $25 million luxury townhouse development is built on the bluffs above the Mississippi River.



The city's Preservation Board Monday will take up the issue of whether Developer Michael Curran can demolish the historic Doering Mansion on the north side of the 8.2-acre former Good Samaritan Home property at 5200 S. Broadway.



If the Preservation Board doesn't issue Curran a building permit, Curran said he won't develop the 56-unit townhouse project.



"If they don't let me tear it down, the project's done," Curran said. "I'd have to sell the project to somebody who'd do something else."



Curran said that keeping the house would mean he would have to reduce the number of townhouses. That would make the project unfeasible.



"The only way you can afford to develop that property and keep the mansion would be to have a four- or five-story condominium building," he said. There would be more than 120 units in such a development, he said.



Curran said the mansion couldn't be saved without a huge investment.



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