The University Lofts development is the brainchild of W. Patrick Schuchard, the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration at the art school. Schuchard, a nationally recognized painter and sculptor, has participated in numerous public and private redevelopment projects throughout his career. He saw the project as an opportunity to provide art school alumni with incentives to remain in St. Louis after graduation and as a way to establish a Washington University presence in the heart of a developing arts district. Sixteen of the units are to rent at affordable rates through the use of federal and state housing tax credits provided by the Missouri Housing Development Commission. Units range in size from 1,250 to 2,500 square feet.
Planning is in progress for a first-floor restaurant as well.
The development also uses federal and Missouri historic tax credits, made available by the Missouri departments of economic development and natural resources, and a 10-year real estate tax abatement from the City of St. Louis. The development will benefit from the city's Washington Avenue public improvements program, for which construction plans are now in progress. All 26 units have been pre-leased, with moving in scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 1. Bank of America provided all the rehabilitation financing. The building and a nearby parking lot were donated by the University.