Developer Bets Big on Jesuit Hall
Date Posted: March 25, 2021
Posted In: Discussion, Projects,
From St. Louis Business Journal: There was a lot about the dilapidated neighborhoods in north and south St. Louis that reminded Fernando Cepeda of Miami.
Before an early 2000s urban renewal boom, Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood suffered years of deterioration due to a poor economy, rising crime and disinvestment.
But then came a transformation. Today, there’s a growing opinion that Wynwood has replaced the famed South Beach as the top go-to Miami destination with its plethora of art galleries, restaurants, retail stores and more.
“That change was unimaginable,” said Cepeda, whose family ran a construction and development company in Miami during that time. “But I saw that (potential) here in the city.”
Since 2016, Cepeda and his company, Neighborhood Properties, have built a more than $25 million real estate portfolio that acquires troubled, value-add properties in north and south city. It currently owns about three dozen properties in St. Louis and recently finished renovating the vacant four-building apartment complex at 5443 Page Blvd.
Now his company is working on its biggest project to date: the $80 million redevelopment of Jesuit Hall in Grand Center, the city’s art district that’s home to Fox Theatre, Sheldon Concert Hall, Contemporary Art Museum and more. The project calls for more than 300 new apartments and its own “ecosystem” with amenities that will enable residents to live, work and play without having to leave 3601 Lindell Blvd., Cepeda said.
But the redevelopment plans are coming together at a peculiar time for St. Louis’ commercial real estate market.
Covid-19 has walloped business for restaurants and other entertainment concepts, and it prompted neighborhood anchor Saint Louis University last year to forecast a potential $20 million deficit, all of which could present roadblocks in revitalizing the neighborhood.
Projects in general are also facing long turnaround times for permits and are receiving tougher pushback from various city government boards, whose members have a greater mistrust of developers than ever before. Cepeda, for example, was scrutinized earlier this year by city boards for unpaid taxes on his other properties while seeking incentives for the Jesuit Hall project. He said the those taxes have been paid.
“I understand their point of view,” Cepeda said. “There have been a long line of people owning (real estate) for pure speculation but we have the means to do it and the financial strength.”