As we approach Election Day on November 5, issues such as the shortage of affordable housing and climate change are top of mind for many voters. Research from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Social and Environmental Futures finds that personal views on climate change were among the strongest predictors of voting behavior in 2020, especially among independent voters. When it comes to the cost of living, an unprecedented increase in home prices and surging rent are affecting both renters and homeowners. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, affordability has worsened for renters at every income level, with 41 percent of moderate-income renter households being cost-burdened in 2022.
Adaptive reuse, particularly in urban areas, must be considered as a solution to mitigate these pressing matters. Trivers’ transformation of the historic Butler Brothers Building into a mixed-use development known as The Victor embodies adaptive reuse and its ability to help provide much-needed housing while reducing the environmental impact of construction.
Revitalizing a city block
Long before Costco and Amazon, the Butler Brothers warehouse distribution building, constructed in 1906, was the modern wholesaler of its day. Sited just two blocks north of St. Louis Union Station—at the time one of the busiest rail hubs in the United States—the massive 735,000-square-foot (68,280 sq m) structure encompasses an entire city block in downtown St. Louis. The building’s size proved to be an asset and a hindrance to its redevelopment, leading to nearly three decades of vacancy.
Development Services Group engaged Trivers to reawaken this sleeping giant with 384 apartment units, 15,700 square feet (1,460 sq m) of retail and coworking spaces, and top-of-the-line amenities. What was once a daunting abyss looming over every adjoining street and structure now stands as a vibrant multifamily community. Residents enjoy spacious, sun-filled interiors, as well as an expansive rooftop terrace with a pool, pickleball court, sundeck, bar, and dog park; a fitness center with yoga and Pilates studios and a golf simulator; an internal parking garage; and outdoor courtyards, among other conveniences.
From the start, Trivers and the design team strived to reuse as much of the original structure as possible to maintain the historic fabric of the building while repositioning it for its next generation of use. The exterior brick was restored to its original color, the building’s remaining terracotta cornice was revitalized, and the original clamshell-style garage doors that once opened for horse-drawn wagons during shipping were retained and fixed in place.
Elements of the building’s rich history also appear throughout the interior, including patterns and colors from early-20th-century fashion trends and an oversized chessboard in one of the rooftop lounges. These design features acknowledge the structure’s location in the historic Washington Avenue garment district—a major source of fashion goods during the first half of the 1900s—and on the former site of Harmonie Hall, where the first World Chess Championship occurred in 1886.
The building is reorganized along a dominant east-west axial spine, with 17th Street connecting to a new lobby, open courtyard, and the historic 18th Street entry via a monumental new stair and enclosure. Apartment units and tenant amenities orient around this new axis, reactivating the building from the inside out.
Adaptive reuse and the affordable housing shortage
This adaptive reuse project is expected to add almost 500 residents to the area’s total populace, which previously hovered around 1,300 people. The Victor shows how much-needed quality housing can be provided by leveraging a community’s existing built assets. As construction costs continue to rise, adaptive reuse makes more and more sense. These projects boast unit costs that are 12 percent to 15 percent less than what comes with new construction. Developers can also capture nearly 40 cents on every dollar spent by using state and federal historic tax credits. This avenue makes housing projects in our challenging economic climate far more viable.
A wide range of residents calls The Victor home. An agreement with the city of St. Louis allowed for a property tax abatement for Development Services Group, which in turn reserved nearly a quarter of The Victor’s 384 units for those who earn 80 percent of the area’s median income.
Unit variation also makes rental rates more accessible. Because of the building’s size, different unit plans were designed for a variety of elevations and exposures. The Victor’s average apartment size of 943 square feet (88 sq m) exceeds average apartment size in the United States, thus improving the quality of life for the building’s residents and contradicting the national trend toward building smaller units.
The array of units also gives residents the ability to choose a space that speaks to their lifestyle. For example, 24 additional units that resulted from the expansion of the building’s historic courtyard got fitted with a modern window wall, giving those apartments a more contemporary look and feel.
Adaptive reuse and the environment
In addition to lowering construction costs, repurposing the building’s existing concrete and masonry benefits the environment because doing so eliminates the need to extract and produce new construction materials, which is carbon intensive. The 23,988 short tons (21,760 metric tonnes) of embodied carbon put into The Victor nearly 120 years ago would take St. Louis’ Forest Park another 100 years to offset if the structure were built today.
Furthermore, in a place once devoid of ecological value, residents currently enjoy native plant habitats throughout the building, whether while recreating at the rooftop pool and amenity deck, walking through the courtyard, or entering the building from the street.
With its significantly reduced impervious area of mounded landscapes within the courtyard, sedum trays, and healthy tree pits and planted areas along the right of way, The Victor now supports more living biomass than ever and is as ecologically healthy as it has ever been. Additionally, its walkable urban location and such amenities as central bike storage for easy commuter access let residents more easily choose to forgo an automobile, which has a positive impact on the environment.
Overall, The Victor exemplifies how adaptively reusing our existing building stock can not only preserve our history but also our planet.
Adaptive reuse and a victory
The overwhelming leasing success of The Victor illustrates the viability of adaptive reuse. After the building’s opening in 2023, the majority of its units are occupied. The influx of apartments that are both high-quality and affordable has helped catalyze this reinvented neighborhood while providing needed housing. In fact, another developer has purchased a historic structure directly to the north of The Victor, looking to invest $25 million and bring another 50 residences to the area. The developer would not have done so without The Victor’s redevelopment. The Victor shows how adaptive reuse enables us to retain our architectural heritage and our resources.
To be able to work on a project of such lasting, positive consequence is a rare opportunity. Where once there was a dark and empty building, there is now light and life at The Victor.
