Bank forecloses on Dogtown condos
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| Erica Burrus photo -- Lehman Place at the Park sits empty in Dogtown after Southern Commercial Bank foreclosed on the loan. |
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Workers completed Lehman Place at the Park this spring, but the development elicited little interest among prospective tenants of the condominiums and commercial spaces. The lender, Southern Commercial Bank, foreclosed Aug. 1 on the $5.5 million property at 6400 Wise Ave.
Chuck Billings, one of 17 people who had invested in the property, said they lost $675,000 when the bank foreclosed. He attributes lack of interest in the property to a poor real estate market."It's no news that the real estate market is in a slump nationwide. Condominiums are always the first casualty of a recession in the real estate market," Billings said. "The market is glutted in St. Louis right now."
Ron Moser, senior vice president for Southern Commercial Bank, said it is bank policy to refrain from commenting on foreclosures and he could not say what the bank will do with the property.
Lou Barrale, owner of Cairdeas Coffee, 1223 Tamm Ave. next to Lehman Place, said he had talked to the developers about moving his business into Lehman Place before relocating in February. The coffeehouse had been farther north on Tamm Avenue. Barrale said he couldn't work out a deal to move into Lehman Place.
Barrale said the developers didn't want to install a stove hood in one of the commercial suites in the building. He had hoped to open a restaurant there, but could not without the hood. He has since opened a restaurant called La Gras Italian Tapas in his new location. He also had a problem with the pricing for the commercial suites at Lehman Place.
Prices for the commercial spaces ranged from $15,984 per year before taxes, utilities and insurance for the smallest space to $33,024 per year for the largest space. Prices for the condos had been listed in the range of $265,000 to $580,000.
"This is Dogtown. It seemed like the price went up and up and up. That's so far out of the price range for the neighborhood," Barrale said.
Alderman Bill Waterhouse, D-24th ward, said Steve Hamlin, who was the main investor on the project, had a good idea, but too much changed from his original plan after he took on other partners.
"No tenants were interested in going in there. That tells me the price is too high," Waterhouse said. "It's a shame. The truth is they were their own worst enemy on that deal. They were supposed to get a tax abatement, but they built it with no minority participation and ended up losing that."
Hamlin did not return calls from the Journal. The development was built on the former site of Lehman Hardware, founded in 1909 by Hamlin's great-grandfather, George Lehman. The hardware store closed in the summer of 2003.
