In this episode, Realtor Adam Kruse and Realtor Shannon St. Pierre talk to Amrit and Amy Gill of Restoration St. Louis http://www.restorationstl.com/. Find out how they have succeeded in breathing life back into neglected neighborhoods like The Grove by developing the worst 10% of the properties.

Email questions to PODCAST@HermannLondon.com

Adam Kruse-https://hermannlondon.com/realtor/adam-kruse/

Shannon St. Pierre-https://hermannlondon.com/realtor/shannon-st-pierre/

Amrit and Amy Gill-http://www.restorationstl.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HermannLondon/

Producer - Joey Vosevich

Theme Song by Trastornobeats

1:51 Hotel Saint Louis is their latest project

2:23 Everyone within their companies must know the mission statement

2:39 Their mission statement is to strengthen and enhance the communities they operate in by redeveloping neglected neighborhoods and making them great places to live, work, and play

3:08 Adam remembered seeing their double headed eagle logo spray painted on homes 14 years ago 

3:28 The first neighborhood they redeveloped was the loop and then they worked their way to the Coronado by SLU campus

4:58 A & A Contracting was their first company

5:39 How did they choose to start redeveloping The Grove neighborhood in St. Louis?

7:04 “Every building is like a person. Single and unrepeatable.”-Louis Sullivan

7:37  In 2003 they mounted an aggressive effort to save the Harris Teachers College

11:06 SLU wanted to buy up everything and tear it down. They would buy the drug houses around SLU and redevelop them.

12:02 The Grove started out as a defensive project in 2004 

13:10 Once people find out the Gills are coming, property values jump and speculators start to snatch up properties

14:20 They buy unoccupied properties 99% of the time

15:01 They will map out the entire neighborhood so they can focus on the worst 10% of the property

17:15 Rents in The Grove were around 50 cents a square foot when they started developing the neighborhood.

19:36 When the recession hit, the community banks they had construction loans with went out of business. The bigger banks tried to put liens against their properties

27:15 How do they operate their business differently since the recession?

42:30 How did Amrit and Amy Gill get started in redevelopment? What was the first building they ever bought? What happened when Amrit and Amy Gill tried to buy their first building in the Delmar Loop?

52:08 They worked with Pulaski Bank to create a program where people could cash their checks with no charges and no overdraft fees

56:42 What is the next area they will be redeveloping?

58:07 St. Louisans are down on St. Louis because of the decline of downtown

59:00 They will be expanding Hotel Saint Louis into The Chemical Building next door

1:01:00 To redevelop downtown St. Louis it must be made attractive to young people

1:04:08 If we care about St. Louis as a region and its place in this nation then we’ve got to make downtown a lot more vibrant