Developer Envisions Luxury Living in Revived Capistrano

   Two years ago, the Capistrano apartment building in the Tower Grove South neighborhood wasn't exactly a place you'd want to call home.

   Empty and dilapidated, the three-story brick building at 3905 Utah Place barely had survived another fire. "In one wing, the floor was just gone," neighborhood resident and developer Susie Gudermuth said. "You looked right down into the basement, and the second floor was just hanging on."

   But that was before Gudermuth, who thrives on reviving down-on-their-luck neighborhood buildings, took on her biggest project.

   After buying the 79-year-old building for $1 from St. Louis and clearing out tons of trash, she has brought in construction crews to renovate what had been 21 or so small apartments.

   Now, the neighborhood's first condominium building will have a total of six condos, each with more living space than a typical house.

   Designed by Gudermuth and Paradigm Architects to fit vertically into the unusual, sawtooth-shaped building, each unit will have three floors of living area, a basement and outdoor decks on many levels.

   They'll have hefty price tags, too: $450,000 for 3,300 square feet to $750,000 for 5,000 square feet.

   Gudermuth and Joseph Valenti, a senior vice president at Allegiant Bank, said the prices reflect increasing property values in the reviving neighborhood and the features that buyers will get for their money. The bank is financing $2 million of what's expected to be a $2.6 million project when it's finished next year.

   "If you go by per-square-foot prices, it is in line with single-family residences (that Gudermuth) has already renovated and put on the market," Valenti said. "We wholeheartedly support what's she's doing."

   Gudermuth's company, Tower Grove Homes Inc., has renovated 21 neighborhood buildings in the last 23 years, with three more in the works.

   At the Capistrano, she said: "I know I'm pushing the market. But I think city neighborhoods are undervalued. And if somebody doesn't push the market, how will we ever get there?"

   Her latest challenge languished for years while she and others gradually revived the surrounding area.

   The building was designed and built with handsome bricks, wood floors, marble stairways and other special features by a Zeppenfeld family company that worked elsewhere in the city and in Clayton.

   For years, a confectionery and a beauty salon in the basement catered to neighborhood residents. There's also an enclosed 12-car garage in back that will be spruced up for condo buyers. Gudermuth plans to build a swimming pool nearby.

   But the garage's flat, concrete roof, with poles imbedded in it, probably won't be put back into use. "I think the roof is where they used to hang clothes out to dry," Gudermuth said.

   In some respects, the Capistrano project has been a tough go. Floor joists, support columns and other structural elements had to be replaced.

   But on the plus side, the building has 230 windows, so there's plenty of natural light. And because of its irregular shape, rooms have interesting nooks.

   In a finished display, for example, a modern kitchen fans out with a large breakfast and family room enclosed on three side with windows. At the front, overlooking the street, Gudermuth cut away part of the ceiling to expose another level of windows on the second floor, adding height and extra light to the room. She built a balcony, across from the upper row of windows, overlooking the room.

   Also on the first floor, there's an irregularly shaped living room with a window-enclosed nook and a fireplace. A dining room with doors opens onto a deck.

   The two upper levels have bedrooms, baths, sitting rooms and more doors opening onto decks. Other spaces could be put to a variety of uses.

   "I call this the party room, because we've put a kitchen over there," Gudermuth said, standing on the top level, a skylight above and tree-house-like views of the neighborhood. "But it could also be for a teenager, for house guests, or it could be an office."

   Another condo incorporates what was originally a fire escape at the rear of the building. Gudermuth enclosed it, left the copper guttering that gurgles when water runs through it and put a skylight overhead. "It's just an outdoor enclosed space," she said, "You could have breakfast here or just sit and read."

   To embellish living areas, Gudermuth is bringing in ornate fireplace mantels, thick wood doors and other items she has salvaged from other buildings. Also, she's adding energy-efficient mechanical systems and other features, including insulation.

   The building's name, in stone above the entry doors, probably is linked to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California. "We have old Zeppenfeld family pictures," she said, "and one shows the family touring Capistrano."