Washington Avenue is downtown's Main Street, according to Alex Oliver of Oliver Properties. His company is snapping up "distressed" properties on Wash Ave., and creating what he calls a "micro sub-market within the downtown submarket."
Oliver has owned properties in neighborhoods all over the city and county, but is focused solely now on Washington Ave.
Hear Debbie Monterrey's feature story with Alex Oliver:
"I don't view downtown as one universal blanket statement that it's all the same," explains Oliver. "There's different pockets, different neighborhoods. We are focusing specifically on Wash Ave. Right outside our door, we've got nine different restaurants and shops and bars and social places people can go to."
His business model is not to do the massive gut rehab, but to take over distressed properties that need good, local management, some upgrades and amenities and also recruit businesses outside their doors to fill in the neighborhood. The massive Six Cord at 1000 Wash Ave. was fully rehabbed in 2004, so Oliver says it's essentially a 20-year old building. He currently owns six properties and is working on acquiring at least five more.
Oliver moved to St. Louis with his wife in 2007 and settled in Soulard. It was their first experience with urban living in an historic building and he fell in love with the architecture. The Olivers now live in a Wash Ave building he owns so he can walk, bike or scooter to work.
