Developers hope third time's a charm

Tucked away on a back street in Soulard, a 19th century nunnery that saw a second life as a nursing home has been resurrected a third time as apartments.

Aptly named The Cloisters, husband-and-wife-team Amrit and Amy Gill have carved 22 living units out of one of the first Carmelite monasteries in the United States.

But the Gills weren't aware of the property's holy history two years ago when they first visited the building. The Little Flower Nursing Home had operated there since the 1950s, until the Gills bought it in 2003.

Built in 1878, the property had fallen into disrepair by the time the Gills saw it. Inside, dark interiors and only glimpses of light concealed the historic stained glass windows and marble floors. "It was one of the scariest buildings in the neighborhood," said Amy Gill.

The building's T-shaped layout focused around two chapels located in the center, as parts of the nuns' cloistered life.

"It had little rooms and shared bathrooms, long, dark hallways and weird ramps. The entire building was built on eight different levels. And even as a nursing home, there just wasn't enough light coming in," she said.

The Gills, who also revived the Moolah Temple and the Coronado Hotel, bought the building for $350,000. Then, they embarked on a $4.8 million renovation project to restore historic elements and unveil others long covered up.

That meant restoring 10-foot stained glass windows depicting the sacraments and the last rites, some in places where the glass had been punched out to put in air conditioning units. Now, the stained glass windows are in several of the apartments.

"When I first walked into the building when it was a nursing home, panels and laminate plastic dividers concealed all the stained glass, but you could tell there was something under there," said architect Gina Hilberry, who designed much of the interior. "The building was layered like a giant wedding cake, with additions and extensions, and we had to take out all of that to get back to the original building."

As a result, most of the units have stairs leading down into their entry halls. The building's varied levels also make each of the 22 units unique. Some are two-level townhouse apartments with spiraling staircases. In a small unit with few windows, casement windows off the bedroom open up into the living room for more access to light. Most of the units, which rent for $600 to $1,850 a month, have entryways with steps that lead down into living and dining rooms.

Old photos of the Cloisters' entryway were used to restore the masonry. Skylights were found in covered interior atriums; once uncovered, they helped filter light back into the building.

Decks, including some on the rooftop, are part of nearly every unit. A brick wall along part of the property was restored- along with seven Stations of the Cross embedded in the walls. A new wrought-iron fence around part of the property juts out to include an apple tree, the last one left from an orchard operated by the nunnery.

An outdoor swimming pool was also added to the property.

National City Bank provided the bulk of the financing for the project; $1.65 million in federal and state tax credits were also used, in addition to about $550,000 in tax increment financing.

"Without tax credits and the TIF financing, a project like this - that other developers said couldn't be done - wouldn't have happened," said Alderman Phyllis Young, D-7th Ward. "At this point, we would have been tearing the building down and doing infill."

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.