As Blue Urban expands geographically, it certainly hasn’t forgotten about St. Louis. The firm continues to make a huge difference in its home playing field, moving beyond Washington Avenue to other areas in need of revival. In late 2006, the company opened Packard Lofts, a 1913 auto dealership that helped set the tone for the revitalization of the city’s west Washington Avenue Loft District—to date, the westernmost expansion of St. Louis’ loft district. In the early to mid-1900s, the area housed car dealerships and manufacturing warehouses that had become vacant or under-utilized over the years.
“Anything west of 18th Street downtown is a brave new world. You are out of the traditional loft district,” says David Richardson, a partner at the St. Louis-based law firm Husch Blackwell Sanders, which advises Blue Urban on its deals. “Kevin is pushing the envelope and always putting himself out there to improve downtowns.” McGowan’s portfolio in the west loft district—just a few blocks from downtown—includes Motor Lofts, GEW Lofts, and the MW Club, an urban country club under construction to serve all of the company’s loft buyers.
Blue Urban also is leading the redevelopment efforts across from the newly built Cardinals Busch Stadium. The firm is converting three Cupples Station warehouses—part of a series of more than a dozen turn-of-the-century buildings—into condos that will be completed by 2010. “The area was just deserted, empty, and rundown, and now, with Kevin’s efforts, it’s coming back,” says Brian Kowert, chief operating officer of HBD Construction, a St. Louis-based general contractor that has helped build a number of McGowan’s properties.
HOME SWEET HOME
When McGowan spots a building with redevelopment potential, he immediately envisions ways to transform the place into cool residential space. “One of the highlights of my day is when I get to design and think creatively,” says McGowan, who often sketches ideas at planning meetings. His office wall is decorated with clippings of design ideas he finds in magazines such as Dwell. “My style is exactly Dwell magazine,” he adds, “a clean, fresh look and while there’s edginess to the design, there’s safety. The look is not so far out that it’s turning people off.”Certainly not. Blue Urban isn’t having any trouble attracting residents—typically empty nesters and first-time home-buyers—despite the for-sale housing slowdown. In fact, its condo sales were 30 percent higher in 2007 than 2006 and the firm expects the numbers to be even higher in 2008, though McGowan notes that sales are sometimes delayed because buyers have a tough time selling their homes in the ‘burbs. McGowan, who originally started out developing rental product, later switched to condos to meet market demand. And while he does expect to add rental properties to the firm’s mix in the near future, he has confidence in the strength of the downtown condo market. “The interest is at a higher peak than ever for downtown loft living, certainly in the Midwest,” McGowan says.
Need proof? In an hour and a half, his firm sold 61 of 68 units at Ballpark Lofts at Cupples Station via an NFL-style draft where each prospect had five minutes to select a unit. The units sold from $140,000 to $710,000, a typical range for Blue Urban product. “It will probably go down as my greatest sales success in life,” McGowan jokes.
Some might argue, though, that McGowan’s greatest sales success was convincing the bank to loan him $1 million to renovate that very first building on Washington Avenue, which has since gone condo. McGowan still lives in the building’s penthouse. But now he can brag about those amazing views and gorgeous interior finishes.
ABOUT BLUE URBAN
- Founded: 2007
- Employees: 19
- 2007 Revenue: Undisclosed
- Condo units developed in 2007: 407
- Multifamily units in the pipeline for 2008: 321
- Geographic coverage: Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania
- Cool fact: Each weekend, the Blue Urban sales team gets a break from selling units. All of the other employees, from the company accountant to the project managers, man the sales center.
LEADERSHIP LESSONS: KEVIN MCGOWAN
- Age: 49
- First job: Construction framing
- Favorite quote: “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked in his shoes.”
- Favorite book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Best business decision: Selling a perfectly good home to buy a roofless warehouse
- Ideal leader: A benevolent dictator
- Greatest challenge as a leader: Establishing trusting relationships
- Best advice someone gave you: Life isn’t fair, so quit thinking it is.
- Person you most admire: Ronald Reagan
- Community involvement: Board president of Heat-Up St. Louis; founder of Urban Roots; board member of Gateway Greening
- Number of children: 4 and one on the way
- Cool fact: Coached now-Olympic swimmers as a swim coach at Yale University