urbanSTL

roger wyoming II wrote:^ Thanks for the update..... do you know if the Sarah closure will be for repaving ahead of the IKEA opening or is there something more substantive involved?

And interesting on the Cortex 1 parking lot... are you saying retail and apartments will be going in on that spot, which, if I understand correctly, would be the Northwest corner of Boyle and Duncan?

I've tried to contact St. Louis City about the streets but they seem to know to avoid me by now. As far as I can tell from the plans, there will be only minor changes if any beyond repaving. A diagram I saw included a slightly improved intersection at Sarah and Duncan but it didn't look like a full roundabout like I was hoping for. They still need an access point for large trucks but I do hope they improve the line of site.

And you're correct about the Cortex 1 plans as far as they explained them. They indicated some desire for non-retail too but didn't elaborate on how they hoped to incorporate them. They want some sort of rental for housing and tenants as well as a built-in parking garage on that space (NW corner Boyle/Duncan).

Demo fence is up around the Brauer building.

dredger wrote:thanks flip, that sounded like a pretty informative presentation. My take away which I think is what Roger is getting at

1) A planned Residential/Retail will be going in place of Cortex 1 parking lot, northwest corner of Duncan & Boyle. Sounds like this is going to happen.
2) US metal site will be home to Cortex II, III & IV. I also got the impression that Cortex II will happen in the near future with the rest of the site being used as surface parking lot until commitments are secured for Cortex III & IV. Would that be correct?

In other words, my take away is that you could see two new groundbreakings in near future on top of the new building for tech shop and current expansion/build out of 4240.

It will be interesting to see if Cortex can pull off a hotel development and if so, what they are looking for considering that Drury might or might not do something with their Kingshighway location and wonder if Koplar/Koman or not angling for hotel as part of their Lindell/Kingshighway in the works.

1) Yup, it should be a go. Likely in 2016 but I wouldn't be surprised if construction was started at the end of 2015.
2) Cortex II should be starting likely in the fall of 2015. The temporary surface parking lot at the US Metals site will need to be finished by September due to other closures coming up. The plans were vague on what they plan to do for Cortex III and IV as to whether they will be built over that temporary lot or whether a parking garage will go up. I think they are hoping for updates on Metrolink plans and interested parties (using Cortex II as the sales pitch model) before fully committing to plans on those.

Brauer still isn't being torn down but by June 6 all of US Metals should be demolished. I anticipate Brauer still being down by the end of June and construction starting on both sites ASAP.

As for hotels, Wexford and Cortex are both in agreement that they want boutique hotels here. Possibly from a chain brand but they want something that will be personalized to the area, offer longer-term rentals, and preferably restaurant options beyond room service. They mentioned the Midtown district of Atlanta as an example of apartments, hotels, retail, and tech workers that they'd like to see. Not a surprise to me since our Ikea is nearly identical to theirs so city planners in both cities sound like they have the same idea.

What is that thing? A shelter? A piece of art?

pretty sure the spears on the top are for roasting pigs on a hot summer day... just toss one up there

dbInSouthCity wrote:pretty sure the spears on the top are for roasting pigs on a hot summer day... just toss one up there

That's what I figured.

flipflopju wrote:
Here's some current photos that show the state of the wing. I don't know if you can see at all but they're adding lights that span posts across the top of Boyle.

Are they expecting people to be there walking the street at night? Why? There's no night life or non-office uses on that block. I guess when TechShop opens there may be some pedestrians in the area at night.

The plaza under the wing looks cheap. Is the concrete even stamped or anything or was it just the cheapest install they could find?

The former US Metals office building could have made for a nice bar or restaurant, but Cortex wasted no time making sure it was the first structure on the US Metals site to be demolished.

Boyle now has one lane open in each direction all the way through to Clayton. Still lots of work to be done on the Commons, but it's gonna look great!

I drove through Cortex the other day and it felt very suburban office parky to me. Anyone else feel this way?

sirshankalot wrote:I drove through Cortex the other day and it felt very suburban office parky to me. Anyone else feel this way?

like earth city?

mill204 wrote:

I love that little red brick building so much.

^I'd guess that it's an old railroad switch-control tower. Sure does have character.

yes is an old railroad tower. Alwasy thought it should be saved maybe in to a bar or something

The Brauer Building is disappearing fast. The Commons is taking longer than I thought.

interesting commentary on the Brauer demo over at Vanishing STL:

I find it odd that Cortex's CEO stated in the STL Public Radio story said that the Brauer Building would have been difficult to make work for Tech Shop, who will be an anchor tenant in the new building. The Streetview shot above is of Tech Shop's San Francisco location, which is housed in an old warehouse building in the SOMA district that appears to date from the 1920's or 1930's.

In Fargo, North Dakota another J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company Branch House with almost the exact same footprint of the Brauer building continues service as an office building. It will soon lose its sister in St. Louis.

http://vanishingstl.blogspot.com/2015/0 ... rauer.html

while i'm okay with—but not wowed by—the design of the new building, it always irks me that St. Louis is so quick to dispose of its historic architecture. it would be one thing if buildable land were in short supply but it's not. too many people around here see our old buildings as ugly instead of as assets.

Doesn't every proposal or development in Saint.Louis seems to progress slow or stall? Even a snail would reach it's final destination before anything gets built here. City leaders really need to change the way they do business because its become a silent killer & having all these aldermen are just as bad as all these little municipalities feeding off of each other.