^ I should have expanded on what I said a tad bit more, I mean in the context of atmosphere and inside set up.
City Foundry has picked up a sizable investment.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headline
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headline
City Foundry, the $210 million restaurant and entertainment district in Midtown, has received a $40 million investment from a Florida-based holding company. CapStone Holdings has invested in the district, part of which will open later this year. Steve Smith, CEO of Lawrence Group, is principal owner and developer of City Foundry.
“City Foundry matches our investment criteria in terms of high-growth location, a vision brought to life by established developers and entrepreneurs, and with long-term projected positive returns,” CapStone founder and Chairman Keith Stone said in a statement. “The significant buzz that is building among the business community, the excitement among residents and the national attention this and other projects are generating for St. Louis all confirm the factors leading to our partnership in City Foundry.”
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CF is still fundraising for the total build out, this appears to be one of the sourcesdebaliviere wrote: ↑Mar 03, 2020I'm not sure I understand this arrangement.
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Experienced restaurateurs say it’s a paradigm shift—new people, new sources of money, new expectations, most of them unrealistic, and a new generation of diners who don’t consider seats and service a priority. As more businesses look for more ways to feed us, today’s definition of “restaurant” may take its place on the shelf right next to the typewriter.
https://thecounter.org/why-restaurants- ... s-angeles/
https://thecounter.org/why-restaurants- ... s-angeles/
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Chris comments got me to think about ghost kitchens, shadow kitchens servicing the doordash crowd, food delivery business. Does anyone think that some of the Foundry real estate might setup for such at the end of the day?chris fuller wrote: ↑Mar 03, 2020Experienced restaurateurs say it’s a paradigm shift—new people, new sources of money, new expectations, most of them unrealistic, and a new generation of diners who don’t consider seats and service a priority. As more businesses look for more ways to feed us, today’s definition of “restaurant” may take its place on the shelf right next to the typewriter.
https://thecounter.org/why-restaurants- ... s-angeles/
It looks like two more Food Hall tenants have bowed out. There were 7 in the City Foundry directory a few days ago, now 5. One was Natalie's Cakes. I think the other was Chela Tapas. These are the tenants left on the Food Hall directory:
GOOD DAY
Breakfast
HELLO POKE
Poke Bowls
PRESS WAFFLE CO.
Waffles
CITY TACO SHACK
Tacos
BUENOS AIRES CAFE
Quick Bites
GOOD DAY
Breakfast
HELLO POKE
Poke Bowls
PRESS WAFFLE CO.
Waffles
CITY TACO SHACK
Tacos
BUENOS AIRES CAFE
Quick Bites
Rene Knott had a piece on City Foundry yesterday in his My Lou segment. Lots of construction shots of the renovation and new buildings, and one of the Element Hotel across the street.
KSDK - City Foundry renovations combine old with new
KSDK - City Foundry renovations combine old with new
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^It almost certainly will not. There's going to be significant scrambling across the country to keep things moving forward. Not sure how much space Punch Bowl was taking and how far along into build-out they are. The space is going to have to be re-purposed, the farther along they are the more difficult that will be.
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Flamingo Bowl second location? 
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Maybe, bowling in plexiglass tubes?GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Mar 28, 2020Flamingo Bowl second location?
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Re: Punch Bowl Social. Could be the worst possible concept for the next year or so... There's an article on this thread that I believe said they were taking a 20,000 SF, 3 level space. But from the recent tour pics, I don't think they had started the build-out yet, and they weren't planning on opening until at least late fall or winter.
City Foundry will delay its opening due to the virus and its effects on the hospitality industry. Construction will continue, however.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headlineThe long-awaiting opening of the City Foundry will be delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis, its owner and developer said. But while the Midtown restaurant and entertainment complex won't open this spring as expected, the Lawrence Group's Steve Smith said construction will continue at the site even as COVID-19 continues to threaten the restaurant and hospitality industry.
City Foundry's first phase also has been complicated by the viability of at least one major anchor, Denver-based Punch Bowl Social. The first phase of the more than $210 million restaurant and entertainment complex at Forest Park and Spring avenues in Midtown was to feature entertainment anchors such as Punch Bowl Social and Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, in addition to a food hall featuring dozens of new and local concepts, office tenants and more. "Clearly a lot of our tenants in hospitality are dealing with the problem of the moment," said Smith, adding that he's confident tenants will still be able to open at the food hall. Smith said he's had "several conversations" with Punch Bowl Social officials, who've said they still want to be at City Foundry despite the uncertainty of the brand's survivability during the pandemic.
Denver-based Punch Bowl Social is a combination restaurant, bar, bowling alley and arcade concept. Last week, Cracker Barrel, which purchased a stake in Punch Bowl Social for $140 million in July, said in a regulatory filing that it would not save Punch Bowl Social from foreclosure. Punch Bowl Social has closed all 20 locations and laid off 2,300 employees. "In keeping with the company’s strategy to concentrate its resources on its core business during the pandemic, and in light of the substantial uncertainties surrounding the Punch Bowl Social business coming out of the pandemic, the company has decided not to invest further resources to prevent the foreclosure or otherwise provide additional capital," according to the regulatory filing.
Meanwhile, Punch Bowl Social founder Robert Thompson told the Denver Business Journal that its lender has said it does not intend to foreclose but that Cracker Barrel's decision left the entertainment concept without working capital. Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, City Foundry's other major anchor, closed nearly all of its locations, including its spot in Springfield, Missouri, due to COVID-19. Smith said Alamo also is still interested in opening at City Foundry. Smith, meanwhile, is searching for the silver lining.
"Whenever there's change, there's opportunity," he said. "We're already thinking of how the world will be different."
I'm sure the fact that they had so few tenants, only one anchor ready to open this spring, and were behind schedule, all before the pandemic, has nothing to do with it.sc4mayor wrote: ↑Apr 03, 2020City Foundry will delay its opening due to the virus and its effects on the hospitality industry. Construction will continue, however.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headlineThe long-awaiting opening of the City Foundry will be delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis, its owner and developer said. But while the Midtown restaurant and entertainment complex won't open this spring as expected, the Lawrence Group's Steve Smith said construction will continue at the site even as COVID-19 continues to threaten the restaurant and hospitality industry.
City Foundry's first phase also has been complicated by the viability of at least one major anchor, Denver-based Punch Bowl Social. The first phase of the more than $210 million restaurant and entertainment complex at Forest Park and Spring avenues in Midtown was to feature entertainment anchors such as Punch Bowl Social and Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, in addition to a food hall featuring dozens of new and local concepts, office tenants and more. "Clearly a lot of our tenants in hospitality are dealing with the problem of the moment," said Smith, adding that he's confident tenants will still be able to open at the food hall. Smith said he's had "several conversations" with Punch Bowl Social officials, who've said they still want to be at City Foundry despite the uncertainty of the brand's survivability during the pandemic.
Denver-based Punch Bowl Social is a combination restaurant, bar, bowling alley and arcade concept. Last week, Cracker Barrel, which purchased a stake in Punch Bowl Social for $140 million in July, said in a regulatory filing that it would not save Punch Bowl Social from foreclosure. Punch Bowl Social has closed all 20 locations and laid off 2,300 employees. "In keeping with the company’s strategy to concentrate its resources on its core business during the pandemic, and in light of the substantial uncertainties surrounding the Punch Bowl Social business coming out of the pandemic, the company has decided not to invest further resources to prevent the foreclosure or otherwise provide additional capital," according to the regulatory filing.
Meanwhile, Punch Bowl Social founder Robert Thompson told the Denver Business Journal that its lender has said it does not intend to foreclose but that Cracker Barrel's decision left the entertainment concept without working capital. Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, City Foundry's other major anchor, closed nearly all of its locations, including its spot in Springfield, Missouri, due to COVID-19. Smith said Alamo also is still interested in opening at City Foundry. Smith, meanwhile, is searching for the silver lining.
"Whenever there's change, there's opportunity," he said. "We're already thinking of how the world will be different."
And on top of that, apparently, from their construction camera, they had a major water line break or something a couple weeks ago that required cutting and digging out a huge portion of the Food Hall floor slab, after they had already started building out the vendor stalls...
Can't begin to imagine the havoc that the pandemic is going to wreak on the restaurant industry across the board, especially in a new development like this. Something like 10-20% of existing restaurants are expected to get wiped out completely and permanently close.
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Just imagine if they had already opened, would have been disastrous. If anything their late opening is a bit lucky. I have to imagine the newly opened Union Station complex is having a bit of a struggle at the moment.
Not to mention the new restaurants in Ballpark Village. Or the new hotel. Or the new healthclub.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Apr 03, 2020Just imagine if they had already opened, would have been disastrous. If anything their late opening is a bit lucky. I have to imagine the newly opened Union Station complex is having a bit of a struggle at the moment.
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True. But I think it will also open the door for a new wave of restaurants to develop and take over those spaces. There are still a lot of concepts that had yet to even make it here.DTGstl314 wrote:Can't begin to imagine the havoc that the pandemic is going to wreak on the restaurant industry across the board, especially in a new development like this. Something like 10-20% of existing restaurants are expected to get wiped out completely and permanently close.
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Indeed. While scores of restaurants will inevitably close permanently by the end of this pandemic, it doesn't affect the pool of talent that exists in STL. It may take months or years to get back on their feet, but the same people making waves in yesterday's restaurant scene will be back to making waves in tomorrow's. Dead concepts that went before their time will be brought back to life years later in new locations. Others will pivot to completely new concepts. It will be a hard few years but the restaurant will certainly be interesting to follow moving forward.
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Is this an old rendering? Prospect Yards tweeted about the Element Hotel with this rendering and I was wondering about that apartment building. ![]()
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Yes, that's absolutely an old rendering. We may eventually see apartments in future phases, but this rendering does not depict anything that is actually in the works at this time.
Any future residential connected to the City Foundry will be east of Spring Ave., on the property FOPA Partners bought along Forest Park Ave. And I suspect it will be more oriented to SLU students.chaifetz10 wrote: ↑Apr 08, 2020Yes, that's absolutely an old rendering. We may eventually see apartments in future phases, but this rendering does not depict anything that is actually in the works at this time.