Loft District Questions (St. Louis, Washington, Walker: for sale, apartments, leasing)

[Chelmel]

What's it like to live in the loft district on Washington? Is it a good area for single women?

What's the best part? Worst part?

I'm looking into a few loft apartments there; I won't be working downtown, but I really like the idea of a loft (more space, etc.)

Thanks!

[Curmudgeon]

DANG! And here I thought lofts were places to store hay!

[Brickmama]

The loft district is a vibrant street in Downtown STL. It is considered as a good place for singles since there is a wide variety of nightlife within walking distance. Overall it is very convienent since there are numerous bars, clubs, shops, sporting events, live music, coffee houses, etc. There is also a lot of places of employment nearby so if you are lucky you may have the option of walking to work. Overall its a great place to live and in my current situation I would not choose another area right now.

[Todd.LA]

I just got back from an apartment hunting trip to St. Louis, and I ended up viewing lofts in most of the buildings with rental apartments and a number of the predominantly owner-occupied buildings as well. It seemed to me that along Washington between 10th and 14th was the most lively portion of the Lofts District.

It seemed like a nice area, with lots of people out walking their dogs even at 10pm. I ended up renting a place in the Central West End because I didn't need an enormous amount of space moving from out of town and because that neighborhood seemed to have a bit more going on in terms of street life, shops, and restaurants.

If you have any questions about specific buildings, let me know. I just toured 10 buildings.

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by Todd.LA

I just got back from an apartment hunting trip to St. Louis, and I ended up viewing lofts in most of the buildings with rental apartments and a number of the predominantly owner-occupied buildings as well. It seemed to me that along Washington between 10th and 14th was the most lively portion of the Lofts District.

It seemed like a nice area, with lots of people out walking their dogs even at 10pm. I ended up renting a place in the Central West End because I didn't need an enormous amount of space moving from out of town and because that neighborhood seemed to have a bit more going on in terms of street life, shops, and restaurants.

If you have any questions about specific buildings, let me know. I just toured 10 buildings.

Sorry to tug the thread towards CWE, but what buildings did you check out over there, and how did they compare to the Wash St lofts? I've considered back and forth on which area I'd learn toward living. Although I like CWE's area more, I'd likely work somewhere downtown..

If you had to select a place downtown - which did you like the most? How about CWE - which did you like the most?

[Todd.LA]

Originally Posted by ucfjtm

Sorry to tug the thread towards CWE, but what buildings did you check out over there, and how did they compare to the Wash St lofts? I've considered back and forth on which area I'd learn toward living. Although I like CWE's area more, I'd likely work somewhere downtown..

If you had to select a place downtown - which did you like the most? How about CWE - which did you like the most?

I will be working downtown also, and I actually looked at more places downtown, hoping to be able to walk to work. My partner will be working from home, however, and we ultimately went with the CWE just because the neighborhood was much more lively and diverse. It seemed like a better bet for us, being from out of town and not knowing that many people.

Our apartment hunt in the CWE was pretty haphazard. Part of this is because there are a lot more small buildings in that neighborhood, as opposed to downtown, where there are fewer buildings but they tend to have more units because they used to be enormous warehouses and factories.

Overall, the downtown buildings were obviously much newer, though I was sometimes surprised how much some of the developers cheaped out on some of the finishes (ugly fan-lighting fixtures; Formica; etc). As a big cook, I was also kind of bummed that none of the downtown lofts have gas stoves, which I prefer to electric ones (our CWE apartment has a gas range). The CWE buildings were generally more run down but also had more "character" and usually had more light. Often the lofts were a rectangle floor plan, with only one bank of windows on one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, leaving the back of the unit, often the bedroom area, quite dark. The buildings in the CWE were designed to be apartments, and every room usually has windows and plenty of light.

None of the downtown lofts really blew me away, but in general, the units for rent in buildings that were condos (i.e., partially owner occupied) were nicer and better deals than in the buildings that were designed as all rental apartments.

Of the apartment buildings, I like Fashion Square, which had a great north facing unit open with tons of light, but it the finishes weren't that great, and it lacked proper enclosed closets in the bedrooms. The Syndicate building on Olive is renting some of its condo units, and they were quite nice, but the prices were a bit high. The Ely Walker building was nice, if a little pricey and out of the way. The Bee Hat lofts had a great location, and lots of light in the units, but the building doesn't have enough parking.

It's a bigger pain to rent in the condo buildings, because there are no leasing offices, and you have to make appointments with owners or realtors to see the units. The Meridian was really nice on that side, but whether there will be a unit for rent is highly variable. If you're looking to buy, it seems like there are tons of condos for sale, but I can't really give advice there.

As far as apartment hunting in the CWE, I'd say the best thing to do is just to show up and walk around with cell phone in hand, calling phone numbers for buildings that have "for rent" signs out front. We found our building through a craigslist ad, but we didn't look at all that many buildings in the CWE and kind of lucked out in finding a place we liked.



Yikes that was long winded. Hope that helps.