The Washington Avenue streetscape could change if a planned development by King Realty Advisors moves forward at 1801 Washington.
The site, which is currently a block sized parking lot, has an apartment and retail building planned. Parking would be hidden in a 2-story, 220 space parking garage, which would be accessed from both 19th and Lucas. Because of the site elevation changes, no parking ramps would be in the parking garage, but the first level of parking would sit slightly below grade. Fronting Washington Avenue is 5,085sf of retail space, but an additional 2,290sf would be available on the 3rd floor as a restaurant or bar with access to an outdoor patio with views down both 18th Street and Washington Avenue.
Elsewhere in the building, 184 apartments consisting of studio and one-bedroom sizes are planned. Each unit will feature sleek modern finishes, in-unit washer and dryer, granite countertops, and plank flooring among other features. All units will also include a normal, recessed balcony or Juliet balcony.
For community amenities, the building is planned to be highly amenitized with a dog park, pool deck with grills and fire pits, fitness center, yoga room, club room with a community kitchen and billiards, bike storage, and beer taps that are tied to unit RFID keys.
1801 Washington's height and massing act as a bridge from the late 19th century warehouses to the East of 18th Street and to the shorter commercial buildings found West of the site and throughout the Downtown West neighborhood. Beyond this though, the building will restore a building on all 4 corners of the 19th and Washington intersection. Downtown St. Louis and Downtown West are filled with street corners where buildings have been replaced by parking or vacant lots. 1801 Washington is one of the few projects to be proposed in Downtown in recent years that replaces a parking lot with a contributing building that repairs what was lost years ago and even adds something new.
In a statement to CityScene STL about the project, developer Bryan King had this to say...
"We first started eyeing the site in 2016, but back then there was no MLS team, NGA relocation was still a toss up, and Union Station was only a hotel. We speculatively closed on the site in 2017 and feel like Downtown West finally has the momentum to make an infill project feasible".
The plans for 1801 Washington are still preliminary, so the renderings featured in this story are not finalized. However, the hope is that construction can start in Q2 or Q3 2021. King Realty Advisors, which is based near the Old Post Office, is the developer. Chesterfield-based HDA Architects is the architect. The developer is expected to request a 90% tax abatement at 10 years for this project. The project goes before the LCRA on December 15th to review a resolution to blight the site.
1801 Washington sits just a few blocks Northeast of the St. Louis City SC Stadium. The stadium is expected to bring numerous new projects to the immediate area as it anchors an area of Downtown with a lot of potential, as alluded to by the developer. In the immediate block South of 1801, developers are working on redeveloping two different buildings into loft style apartments. One being the old Tire Mart Building on Locust, which will become the Lofts at the HUPP (67 units), and the Mulligan Printing Building, which will be redeveloped into 72 apartments.
The development is also the second new apartment focused development proposed in the Downtown St. Louis area in the past month. The other is a 146-unit apartment building by the OPUS Group near Busch Stadium. 1014 Spruce will be built on a grassy parcel and is highlighted in this previous story. Together, 1801 Washington joins a list of Downtown developments that is growing and includes over 820 apartments, 539 known hotel rooms, and the America's Center expansion.
Update: January 21st, 2021
1801 Washington is moving forward. The LCRA is expected to name King Realty Advisors as the developer of 1801 Washington Avenue. The project now includes 59 workforce housing (80% AMI) units. The remainder of the units will be market rate. The tax abatement will still be 90% for 10 years. The LCRA will hear again hear the project at their January 25th meeting.