A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the opportunites in the gallery towers condo building in downtown St. Paul [Tower of opportunities].  

Lot 270 0n E. 4th street represents a different type of opportunity.  The units are more expensive than those found in Gallery towers but Lot 270 is a newer luxury condo building located in Lowertown and right on the light rail line.

lot 270

The building was built in 2005 and right now there are six units on the market starting at $109K.   The unit is listed for almost 100K less than it originally sold for in 2005.  The building is just East of the farmers market and is five stories tall with 45 condos in it.  They have 10 foot ceilings and larger windows.  Many of the units have small decks and the building has an outdoor courtyard and a wonderful exercise room and parking comes with each unit. 

Click to see lobby panorama

lot 270 E. 4th street, downtown St. Paul

 The Pullman style flat is one of my favorite housing styles.  They were built in the early 1900's as apartments and today some are apartments and others have been turned into condos.  They can be found mainly in mainly in the Crocus Hill and Summit University areas.  There are several wonderful examples along Grand Avenue.  The outsides of the buildings look similar to the building in the picture which is located on St. Albans street. They are square with balconies and can be made of brick or wood.  

42 St. Albans

The Pullman style is named after the style of sleeping car trains designed by the Pullman company in the early 1900's.  The space is long and narrow.  

The Pullman style units in St. Paul usually open up into a long hallway, and most of the rooms are on one side.  The first room is the living room and if the unit has a balcony or porch like the building in the picture there is door or window access onto the balcony  There is a formal dining room, bedrooms and of course a kitchen.  The kitchens are at the back of the unit.  

Like all housing these units have come down in price but if you want to buy one in St. Paul, in the Summit Hill or Crocus neighborhoods entry level is about $140K, plan on paying 180K and up.

 
gallery towers 26 W. 10th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102

The Gallery Towers condo building in downtown St. Paul is located at 26 West 10th Street.  It is off the beaten path unless you work at St. Josephs Hospital or any number of government offices in the area. 

I call this a tower of bargains because right now there are 12 units on the market priced between 39 and 89K.  The largest unit has 3 bedrooms.  The median price in the building last year was a little over 60K.  It may seem like there are a lot of units in the building for sale but with a total of 182 units there are always some on the market.

The Gallery Towers building was built 30 years ago and some of the units still have that kind of 80's thing going on but they are in good shape and ready to move into with some wonderful views.  A couple of months ago I had a client buy one of the units.  He works nearby he paid cash and will save thousands on rent for years to come and be able to save even more money by walking to work. 

rossmor

 About half of my business is condos.  I did not choose to sell condos they kind of chose me and over the years I have sold units in most of the buildings downtown.

One thing I have never understood is why agents will use a picture of the condo building as the lead picture in the MLS.  When I look at a page of downtown condos I might find 20 pictures of the same building it doesn't stand out at all.  When I find a picture of a kitchen or some other part of a condo unit on the page it really stands out.  The picture in this post is of the Rossmor on Robert street downtown and it is one of my most stolen photographs.  I took a new one yesterday because I have never liked this one and am sick of seeing it on the internet.   It will be interesting to see if the new one gets stolen as often. 

If you have a downtown condo on the market use a picture of the kitchen or of a fireplace or balcony as the lead photo and let some other looser steal one of my exterior shots and use it as the lead photo. 

A little St. Paul Trivia from Don Empson's book, "The Street Where You Live".  Don used to me my neighbor.  He moved I stayed and I digress. Dayton avenue was not named after our governor or his family.  It was named in 1854 after a real estate developer Lyman Dayton.  I took the picture near the cathedral.  This part of Dayton Avenue has some fine historic condos and larger homes and right now twenty of them are for sale starting at $69,00 and going up to $400,000 if you are interested in seeing any of them let me know. There are also rental units and a big church close by.  

272 Dayton Avenue

481 Laurel ave. St. Paul MN

More condos on Laurel.  Yesterday I wrote about Riley Row, a beautiful historic row house on Laurel Avenue where the famous writer F. Scott Fitzgerald lived for a year.  The Fitzgerald's moved around a bit but F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in this building in 1896.  The Fitzgerald's lived at 481 for two years. The building is now called the F. Scott Fitzgerald condominiums but it used to be the San Mateo Flats, which were originally luxury apartments.   There are apartments that were converted into condos all over the Summit Hill and Crocus Hill neighborhoods. They are the nicest historic Condos in the city.  

The condos are nice. They have fireplaces, exposed brick walls, built-ins and are about 1450 square feet each with two bedrooms and those wonderful balconies.  There are rarely any units for sale in the building.

There is a plaque on the building you can see it in the picture to the left of the steps.  The building is designated as a literacy landmark by friends of the Library USA. 

There is also the F. Scott Fitzgerald Row house at 599 Summit Avenue. 

599 Summit Avenue - F. Scott Fiztgerald Row House

Riley Row House 286-294 Laurel Avenue, on the corner of Nina and Laurel.  So close to the cathedral that you can see it and close to Summit Avenue.  This building is one of St. Paul's hidden gems and is considered to be one of the finest Victorian era row houses in the country. 

It was built in 1887 and the exterior is made of sandstone, granite, brick and slate.  F. Scott Fitzgerald lived there for a year between 1808 and 1809.  There are other amazing historic homes and rowhouses in the immediate area.  It is one of my favorite areas to walk or bike. 

Riley Row

Riley Row