Six Cord: Oliver Properties’ $7 million renovation of the Merchandise Mart lofts

Originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. By Nathan Rubbelke. September 19, 2024. Canonical (paywalled): bizjournals.com. Full text used here from the Wash Ave Retail reprint — credit Rubbelke and SLBJ, not the reprint host.

Oliver Properties is investing $7 million at Six Cord, a 213-unit building at 1000 Washington Avenue, after a late-2023 acquisition, Nathan Rubbelke reported for the St. Louis Business Journal on September 19, 2024. The November 2023 purchase was $18.8 million from Milwaukee-based Mandel Group, owner since 2016.

The building is the former Merchandise Mart, built in 1881 in the garment district. The name Six Cord refers to a type of thread. Commercial tenants named in that 2024 story were Stanley’s Cigar Lounge and Sen Thai Asian Bistro (The Moniker was not yet open). Unit work then underway: new appliances, lighting, refaced cabinets, upgraded bathrooms; the renovation was more than 60 percent complete at the time of the story. Amenities named: game room, coffee lounge, bike racks; lobby, mailroom, gym, rooftop deck, and a spa with a cold plunge. Financing: Midwest Regional Bank in Clayton plus unnamed private partners. Architecture and rebrand: Arcturis.

Rents Oliver provided that fall, as Rubbelke reported them: 1-bedroom average $1,186; 2-bedroom average $1,579. Occupancy then about 65 percent, with 40-plus leases in the prior three months.

“Almost always we’re taking an existing structure, and in most cases, we’re taking existing apartments and just changing the amenities, changing the configuration and doing some strategic capital improvements.”

— Alex Oliver, quoted by Nathan Rubbelke, St. Louis Business Journal, Sept. 19, 2024

“There’s a ton of walkability in this immediate vicinity and that’s a big thing we look at for attracting residents.”

— Alex Oliver, St. Louis Business Journal

Oliver also described the product to Rubbelke as “modern Class A living at a class B price point.”

Sarah Fenske’s St. Louis Magazine profile (October 10, 2024; the page also shows a March 21, 2025 update stamp) called Six Cord Oliver’s first Wash Ave building and put the count at 210 apartments. Rubbelke’s SLBJ figure is 213. Both numbers are reported as given; this post uses 213 as the acquisition figure and notes Fenske’s 210.

Fenske wrote that the $7 million plan included about $15,000 in renovations per unit; a game room off the lobby; a renovated rooftop with seating and cornhole; and a sauna. Oliver told her: “We got three leases just from advertising the rooftop space.” The building had seen three management companies in the 18 months before Oliver. Neighbor Shonette Colbert of San Cafe Market was quoted on community-focused residents.

“This is class-A living at a class-B price point.”

— Alex Oliver, quoted by Sarah Fenske, St. Louis Magazine, Oct. 10, 2024

“Pretty much every building is for sale. Everyone wants out.” / “The big advantage I have, I’m the only person buying.”

— Alex Oliver, St. Louis Magazine

“We have 320 apartments right here in these two blocks. We’ve signed 90 leases in the last 90 days… It’s a vibrant urban community—with challenges, but it really is a vibrant urban community.”

— Alex Oliver, St. Louis Magazine

Six Cord already has a Wash Ave listing. For the building profile — address, leasing, and a path to the official site — see Six Cord Apartments.