urbanSTL

tztag wrote: ↑

Oct 04, 2020

With the cancellation of additional development any time soon, I’m sad they put that East garage up, I can’t imagine it gets any use for years.

Agreed. The east garage seems really excessive and unnecessary without imminent adjacent development. 
Hopefully the west garage can accommodate awnings for any retail that goes in to provide some much needed color and variation. 

They've already painted over the east face of the east garage. Hopefully it's temporary.

What a beautiful entry to the Plaza... gotta love the dirt and monstrously large garage wall on Forsyth.

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^What a beautiful entry to Clayton as a whole. Or I suppose Clayton as a hole. 

moorlander wrote: ↑

Sep 18, 2020

When they said they were going to build a theater, I didn't realize they meant a puppet theater.

framer wrote: ↑

Oct 04, 2020

moorlander wrote: ↑

Sep 18, 2020

When they said they were going to build a theater, I didn't realize they meant a puppet theater.

I miss the Shady Oak.  Clayton needs theatres and performance venues.  Existing restaurants and bars have no feeders after 5:30 PM.  It's always been an issue.  Downtown just owns this segment.

brianadler6545 wrote: ↑

Oct 04, 2020

What a beautiful entry to the Plaza... gotta love the dirt and monstrously large garage wall on Forsyth.

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What was originally supposed to be on this corner, the theatre? Or more parking?

Also, are there really that many retail spaces (I count at least 5) on the base of the two garages, or are some (or all) fake as well?

urbanitas wrote:

brianadler6545 wrote: ↑

Oct 04, 2020

What a beautiful entry to the Plaza... gotta love the dirt and monstrously large garage wall on Forsyth.

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What was originally supposed to be on this corner, the theatre? Or more parking?

Also, are there really that many retail spaces (I count at least 5) on the base of the two garages, or are some (or all) fake as well?

There was supposed to be an auditorium on thst corner. All additional subdistricts are paused for now and they are far behind. Unclear if they will continue.

Plan documents indicate that they must contain ground floor retail, at least in the 2016 docs I'm combing through. I'm working on a feature covering all this so I'm hoping to have the details in the next few days.

Already have submitted a public records request for a meeting outlining SDD regulations that mysteriously has no public records or minutes.

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I'm much more optimistic than that. Centene is still growing like crazy, the new tower is already full, and Clayton's residential market is very strong.

Chris just reported that Centene is going ahead with re-cladding the 7711 Carondelet building to match their other towers. This really pisses me off! 

framer wrote: ↑

Oct 10, 2020

Chris just reported that Centene is going ahead with re-cladding the 7711 Carondelet building to match their other towers. This really pisses me off! 

I see this as a cheap excuse for them to show Clayton, "see... we're still committed to developing our campus. Now give me those incentives."

I posted this in the recladding thread before I saw this but... since the original Phase 4 was to demo this for new construction, this means that the rest of the planned phases are probably completely out the window now.

As for the recladding of 7711 Carondelet itself, I actually like it. 

That's exactly right. They have stated clearly now in their application for the Welcome Center that Subdistricts 2B and 3 are on hold indefinitely. The news about 7711 Carondolet I found today before posting the article about all of this. 

One of the things that I tried to document is the sheer lack of transparency and the scope of unfulfilled promises and statements made of "transparency" and "commitment to Clayton" that were never delivered upon. You can read it here if you haven't already - it was a real big one to get all the details for! And thanks as always, Chris, for helping spread the word too. 

https://missouri-metro.com/2020/10/10/c ... -st-louis/

brianadler6545 wrote: ↑

Oct 11, 2020

That's exactly right. They have stated clearly now in their application for the Welcome Center that Subdistricts 2B and 3 are on hold indefinitely. The news about 7711 Carondolet I found today before posting the article about all of this. 

One of the things that I tried to document is the sheer lack of transparency and the scope of unfulfilled promises and statements made of "transparency" and "commitment to Clayton" that were never delivered upon. You can read it here if you haven't already - it was a real big one to get all the details for! And thanks as always, Chris, for helping spread the word too. 

https://missouri-metro.com/2020/10/10/c ... -st-louis/

I think your Fortune 500 number is off. I’m pretty sure they are 42. 244 was their global number a few years ago.

^No one wants Centene to fall into that bait and switch category of impressive multiphase renderings with minimal additional investment beyond Phase I. And that's what this is shaping up to be. 

On the other hand, the additional location in Charlotte may have been a shot over the bow in terms of Missouri supporting them via Medicaid expansion (which voters just approved). And perhaps it's part of a longterm vision for Sacramento (west coast), Charlotte (east coast), St. Louis (mid-country and global HQ), which wouldn't bode well for Tampa (Wellcare's former HQ). The addition of Charlotte as a strategic location probably helped kill the proposed later Clayton phases, and now Covid has been a nail in the coffin. But I don't doubt that Neidorff likes Clayton and St. Louis and believes Centene can thrive here and continue to grow as a major industry player. He knows better than anyone that you don't need an internationally connected high cost east coast city to succeed as a major U.S. health insurance company: Humana (Louisville), Anthem (Indianapolis), Aetna & Cigna (Hartford), United Health (Minnepolis/St. Paul). 

jshank83 wrote: ↑

Oct 11, 2020

brianadler6545 wrote: ↑

Oct 11, 2020

That's exactly right. They have stated clearly now in their application for the Welcome Center that Subdistricts 2B and 3 are on hold indefinitely. The news about 7711 Carondolet I found today before posting the article about all of this. 

One of the things that I tried to document is the sheer lack of transparency and the scope of unfulfilled promises and statements made of "transparency" and "commitment to Clayton" that were never delivered upon. You can read it here if you haven't already - it was a real big one to get all the details for! And thanks as always, Chris, for helping spread the word too. 

https://missouri-metro.com/2020/10/10/c ... -st-louis/

I think your Fortune 500 number is off. I’m pretty sure they are 42. 244 was their global number a few years ago.

You're right, it's 42! Just double checked and their website had the old number. Just updated it. Thank you.

tztag wrote:Anyone know if they are going to paint or finish the East-facing garage wall? Hard to believe they managed to make that area at jackson and Forsyth so uninviting when you drive in to Clayton.


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Per Mayor Harris: “There is a plan for this wall and also the west facing wall on the garage with the metallic wind curtain (the previously built tower). Centene staff will begin work in January '21 to gather public & city staff input to develop the artistic criteria for the walls. The walls are currently painted to provide protection and a blank canvas for what is to come.”


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geconway wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2020

 II thought I would chime in with my opinion.  

1.  Centene has a bad reputation as a place to work.  The recruiters know as well as the candidates.  It not one of the best places to work in St Louis.  They do not promote a good work life balance with their ancient work ethic.  Wake up Mike, it's not the 80's any more.  Most companies are switching to a work-from-home model.  All the best candidates are going to choose that model over Centene.

Here's my opinion... I worked at Centene for 4 years.  I had some of my best work experiences there and some of my worst work experiences there.

The first project I led was overseen by the then Chief Information Officer.  Got to work with many people in leadership.  Got a lot accomplished and made significant cost savings for the company.

Later on, I worked on projects overseen by a manager I did not report to and who rarely attended my project status meetings.  Needless to say, that didn't turn out well when it came to performance evaluations.

The best summary I can give is that if you have a VERY specific role and don't make waves, you'll do perfectly fine there.  If not, you will not last very long.

There are many people there who have left (voluntarily or not) who were great talents -- from the software developer level up to the executive level.  Meanwhile, there are a number of people still there who I don't know what they actually get done on a day-to-day basis.

^FWIW that sounds like virtually every company these days 

Please God do something with the Forsyth/former Trianon portion of this site. It looks horrifyingly awful at current. Additionally, having that amount of space land banked by Centene could potentially leave that space dead for a half century should they not do anything with it. Major fingers crossed they are not done with their ambitions in Clayton.

I know each is department at Centene is different but I got the feeling they tend to churn and burn their employees. It’s a very top heavy company and I know they recently let go their entire marketing workforce.