The Saint Paul Condo Blog

This cute little building has been sitting dormant for many years and now it has a new owner!  The owners has already fixed up one of the buildings, with the plans below to really jazz up 9th Street.  This is just down the street from both Printers Row and 9th Street Lofts.

Now all they need to do to 9th Street is to bury those horrendous overhead power lines!

The rumor mill has fired up some hot gossip!  I am hoping to confirm this tomorrow, but it sounds like West Side Flats might be the first casualty of the new buyers market.

West Side Flats has had a troubled life, when originally proposed it was a 12 story tower on the Southern banks of the Mississippi river on Wabasha Street.  The building height ran counter to the West Side Flats Master Plan (a long range comprehensive building and zoning plan) with the city.  The City wanted lower building heights on the opposite side of the River from Downtown.  Well once the developer finally was able to come up with a building plan, the market changed.

My guess is that the project will be revived at some point down the road, but the near future is not good.  I really hope the project does go forward because they tore down a cool looking building.  I believe it was a Coca-Cola bottling plant from the 40's.  I could be way off base on the age of the old building, but that was just what it looked like.

UPDATE (04/27/2007 3:51pm) It is official, the West Side Flats is officially dead.  The developer still owns the land, so at some point the development could be brought back to life.

UPDATE (04/28/2007 1:04pm) There was an article in the Pioneer Press this morning about the West Side Flats project.  The article states that the developer will re-unveil the project this summer.  A more mixed use, urban village concept.

Ever wonder how the windows get cleaned on all of the buildings in downtown.  I was walking to work this morning when I looked up at Great Northern Lofts and saw these guys hanging off the side of the building.  It almost looked like a military operation with them kicking off as they repelled down.

I bought a new camera today, a great little Kodak on closeout from Target in West Saint Paul.  Hold on to your socks, because I will be taking a flurry of new photos to add to the website.  It has video capability, but not good enough for the use on this site (More on that later).  This is my third Kodak digital camera I have bought.  Kodak cameras are such tanks, I can't imagine ever buying another brand.  The last one has been dropped in the snow, rained on, dropped on the sidewalk, and generally abused.  The only reason I am replacing the camera is because it was such a smoking good deal for the features it has.  Back in the 35mm days, I used a Pentax SLR with fully manual controls.  I absolutely loved the camera, but 35mm doesn't really work well in the digital age.

I put a lot of thought into the pictures I take, because they need to be able to tell the story I want to tell.  All of the photos in the directory are photos I have personally taken and I put the same work into my listings.  When you surf the web, you glance at the photos.  If they're bad, you will likely pass on the listing.  When first impressions are everything, the pictures are everything!

Not really sure how this relates to the downtown real estate market...so it must be getting late!

Good night ;)

It has been amazing how many requests for rentals we have been receiving this month!  Our website, YourStPaulHome.com does not say YourStPaulOwnershipHome.com, so we think it is time for us to expand the site.  Our thought would be to closely tie it into the directory, adding a search for rentals, or available rentals button.

The program would include a small fee to cover the work to add their information to the site.  My guess is that this feature will be up in running by mid summer.  Look for more details soon!

This Springs Art Crawl was such a blast!  I bought a great print, and am hoping that the original is still available. 

I'm not sure about how many people were in Lowertown for the event, but Friday night was packed!  Some of the gallery areas were standing room only!

The next art crawl is scheduled for October 12th, 13th, and 14th.

I am test driving a new feature for YourStPaulHome.com.  It's called MeeBo.  It's an online chat feature I can embed into the site.  So now, when I'm on the computer, if you have a burning question, you can quickly ask.  Being that this is a brand new program that I am using, please have patients with me and the program.

I am always scouting new ways to make this a better site.  If you can think of something you would like to see here, please let me know.

PS.  If you have not already signed up for the drawing, what are you waiting for?  It's a $1000 a month that is being given away!!!

This weekend is the start of the Spring Art Crawl here in Lowertown.  Artists from all over Downtown will be displaying their art in the various loft buildings (and a few galleries) throughout downtown.  There is even a free shuttle to take you around to all of the stops.  Our building (MarketHouse, Infinity Realty's home) is stop #8.  We will have a handful of artists in our building, so it's a great time to check out our office as well.  Besides, we are one of the few public bathroom stops of the crawl!

The Art Crawl starts this Friday at 6pm and goes to 10pm.  Saturday is from 2pm to 10pm and Sunday is 12pm to 5pm.

I will be at the Farmers Market Flats sales center both Saturday and Sunday, so stop by and say hi!  The sales center is also located in the MarketHouse building.

On my morning walk to work, I heard the River Park Lofts garage door buzzer going off for what seemed like an eternity.  When I rounded the corner, this is what I saw...
From the looks of it, I think the door fell off when it was open, leading me to believe someone hit it while exiting.  I could be way off base, but that is just my guess.

Speaking of River Park Lofts, I was quite surprised to see that RPL was not an entry for the Art Crawl.  It seems to be almost a natural fit, being that is is a loft in Lowertown.  Who knows, maybe the owners didn't want all of those strange people roaming the halls of their building.  I guess I can't blame them.

The Art Crawl is coming this weekend, I have another post about that shortly ;)

Ah, the life of a Realtor.  The weather was beautiful today, or so I was told...  I held two open houses today without much traffic.  It was easy to understand why, it was way to nice out!

Open houses are fickle, you never know what to expect.  If the weather is too bad, no one shows up.  If the weather has been not so good for a long stretch, then we get a nice day like today, no one shows up.

It seems like some of my best traffic open houses happen when it looks like it could possibly rain, but doesn't.

That's all for tonight, good night!

Alamode, our website vendor, has started a monthly drawing to give away $1000 for registering on all of their clients websites.  Since this promotion began mid month, April is your best chance of winning!

I guess there are two ways to get people to register on websites, giving them cash is one way.  I have always just preferred giving the most accurate, up-to-date information and letting visitors decide on their own if they wanted to register, but hey, it's not my money!

In the heart of Lowertown, lies a building that blends right into the history of the neighborhood.  It's easy to drive right by it and not know what is here.

Market House Condominium is located at 289 East 5th Street , just north of the St Paul Farmers' Market in Downtown.  Converted to lofts in the early 80's, I imagine the original developers never could have envisioned what Kyle Gunderson has done to his home.  He started off with not one condo, but two, making a 2900 square foot super-sized condo.  This spacious home occupies the North East corner of the building and has a remarkable three levels of living.

As soon as you open the door, your jaw drops at the attention to detail Kyle put into making this penthouse.  The wood-burning fireplace that rises nearly 18 feet, wrapped in beautiful field stone is such an unusual find in a loft you start to wonder if it's real (it is!  One of only a handful in downtown that have wood burning fireplaces).  The living room greets visitors in a down home comfort, yet is able to be very classy.

The kitchen is one of the most original kitchens I have seen in a long time.  Even the cut of the granite is unique - a rough edge look.  The kitchen is a very inviting area begging to entertain.  Open to the living room, the bar side begs you to pull up a stool and grab a drink.  High end appliances are the norm in penthouses, and this one is no exception.  Dual drawer dishwasher, Viking fridge, and a 36" wide Viking dual oven and cook top complete the look.

There is so much to do in this loft, you would almost never need to leave.  This home even has its own fitness room & tanning.  That's on top of the pool table lit by a skylight!  Need to get away from the rest of the home?  That is what the third level is all about.  The actual penthouse, extruding from Market House's roof is a gem in itself.  Incredibly sunny with a monstrous deck, the views of the Mississippi river, the bluffs, and Holmen Field are just stunning.  I imagine myself sitting up there in the morning with a cup of hot chocolate (I don't drink coffee) and reading the newspaper as the sun rises.

All in all, I would say that this is likely the most original condo in downtown!  Click on an image below to see a larger image.

This is a new, ongoing new series showcasing occupied penthouses.  If you own a condo that you would like showcased, please feel free to contact me.

After much talking, the Airye Condominium Association finally made a decision about the monumental assessment they were contemplating.

My sources tell me that the association has voted for the full curtain wall replacement/repair.  This estimated total is nearly $3,000,000, or roughly $25,000 per condo.

While this amount is a lot, it is necessary to prevent further water leakage into the building.  Also, after the assessments are paid, I imagine value will start to return to a more normal level.  The buildings values have been falling ever since the assessment was first talked about, nearly two years ago.

Normally when a large assessment like this passes, there is an uptick of foreclosures in the building, adding to the temoprary price fallout.  Examples are found throughout downtown.  One recent example is Market House, which passed a roughly $9,000 assessment at the first of the year for window replacement and common area updating.

We had nearly 45 neighbors show up for our first ever First Friday, a new monthly social gathering for Downtown residents and workers.  Our next First Friday (hmm, May 4th, the first Friday of May) will be held at Blackdog Cafe in Lowertown.

Buildings represented were the Rossmor, the Pointe, City Walk, Market House, Great Northern, the Fitzgerald, Essex on the Park, Dakota on the Park, and more.  We (Capitol River Council) decided it was time to get neighbors together for a little bonding.  We have three goals for First Friday; 1. Get the CRC name out to residents, 2. Have a venue for neighbors to meet and greet, 3. support locally-owned restaurants in downtown.

This Friday (April 6th) Capitol River Council is hosting its first ever Downtown neighbor happy hour.  The event is taking place at Margaux in the Rossmor building from 4pm to 6pm.  Besides the great happy hour specials, two $25 gift certificate to Margaux will be given away as door prizes for those who attend.

Don't feel that you need to already be a resident to participate.  This is a great opportunity to check out the people who live down here and ask them why they love it!

I hope to see you there,

-Bud