Euclid Plaza building to be redone as apartments

Best known locally for its Streets of St. Charles project, a developer from Peoria, Ill., is about to begin a loft apartment project in the Central West End neighborhood in St. Louis.

Cullinan Properties bought the Euclid Plaza building at 625 North Euclid Avenue and plans to begin renovating it within weeks. A company official said Thursday the building should be ready for tenants by late next spring.

Planned are 87 studio, one and two bedroom apartments with granite counters, “designer” bathrooms and 12 foot ceilings, the developer said. Indoor parking, a fitness center and a rooftop deck with a clubhouse for residents are part of the project. Cullinan calls the development the Lofts@Euclid.

Retail space will be available on the ground floor of the six story building. Cullinan said one
tenant, the Medicine Shoppe, already has leased 1,400 square feet of space.

Ginger Benz, Cullinan’s operations manager, estimates a construction cost of $10 million.  The company said it is financing the project through a loan, equity and state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

Central West End demographics and demand support the project, said the company, noting
the building’s proximity to Forest Park and the neighborhood’s shopping and entertainment
areas.

Cullinan’s other project in the St. Louis area is the 27 acre residential, retail, office and
entertainment Streets of St. Charles project near Interstate 70 in St. Charles. Among its
other developments is the Levee District shopping center in East Peoria, Ill.

Euclid Plaza opened in 1910 as a warehouse for the Langan & Taylor Co. The design is by the
firm of Widman and Walsh, which also did work at the Anheuser-Busch complex and St.
Louis University, Cullinan said.

“This magnificently beautiful, historic building has been overlooked for redevelopment for
too many years,” David Dewey, Cullian’s senior vice president, acquisitions and
development said in a statement.

“By restoring the Euclid Plaza building to its former place of prominence, we hope to be the
messengers of change, extending the Central West End neighborhood to its historic north
entrance, and bringing progress and vitality to this location.”