urbanSTL

Hey speaking of equity, what if the dome was sold on the open market? I don't know who would buy it, but it'd be interesting if anyone tossed in a bid other than the CVC. Getting back the equity already in the building would be a remarkable thing. An honest evaluation of it in 2015 dollars should be considerably higher than what was spent twenty years ago.

Would Lumiere want to buy it?

Maybe not Lumiere, but one of the heavy Event Management firms like SMG, AEG, Global Spectrum might.

hebeters2 wrote:http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 3026e.html

Why would only half the dome need to be gutted? What would they do with the remaining half that's still full of bleachers?

$500 million for conventions is a much better investment than a billion for a sports team. When they say they'd buy adjacent lots, do they mean this?

dbInSouthCity wrote:^ stadium was going to cost the City $150M .....this $500m.

Maybe. I would hope that whatever they're planning can be done in stages. Shouldn't the CVC have capital funds set aside if they know they need massive renovations every decade? Surely some percentage of their income goes into such an account.

MarkHaversham wrote:

CarexCurator wrote: Why would only half the dome need to be gutted? What would they do with the remaining half that's still full of bleachers?

My ignorant interpretation was that it would allow them to completely redesign the connection between the dome and the convention center, but still preserve the remaining stadium portion for stadium activities (concerts?).

That won't really give them that much more floorspace then for booths and tables.

It goes without saying, but never read the comments on STLToday. I read through some on that article and it feels like every poster was saying "We lost an NFL team, how the hell are conventions going to make us money?!"

^Have you seen all the empty parking lots downtown? Hell the Bottle district is immediately north of here and is a giant empty parking lot. There is no reason to tear any building down downtown.

arch_genesis wrote:I'd rather see it all torn down and a new convention center built in Grand Center.

Tearing it all down would be crazy of course, but IF it wasn't, Union Station is a no-brainer.
-Union station has several options, and much of the utility and exhibition space covered. Grand Centers Options are very limited.
-Union Station has Metrolink access.
-Union Station has an overcapacity of retail for the foot traffic. Grand Center has limited retail and is growing with steadily (if slowly) as demand increases.
-Union Station is in a death spiral and needs a guardian angel, Grand Center is on a slow upswing with a steady if frustratingly glacial organization at its helm.
-A revitalized Union Station could have huge impact on Downtown West. The Veterans Hospital will be seen as the no go boundary for the foreseeable future in Grand Center convention center or not. (my opinion)

On the flip side. Without a convention center, what would anchor Laclede's Landing and Washington Avenue...? MLS stadium probably not by itself? Casino, not likely. Plus the hotel business on Wash Ave would probably really start to struggle.

My thinking is lets ride out the bonds a little longer, and see where we are in 5 years. They are crying they are loosing business, when we haven't even had a year without the Rams yet.