urbanSTL

Lord. The Ikea sits in a giant sea of parking isolated from everything. It's gigantic and unfriendly. It's hard to get into and even harder to get out. I hate to say this, but the Southampton Target blows it out of the bloody water. I'll go there about any day. I see no real reason to ever go to the Ikea again unless going for someone else's entertainment.

I would call it a model for potential but not as an actual district at this point, as jsbru mentioned. However, this area while also including foundry, SLU, wumc and Cwe, is what I would consider one of the great potential and existing districts for the ideal urban setting: anchoring institutions and public spaces (namely forest park), shopping and retail districts (existing and emerging), affordable housing and commercial stock (historic and new),accessible public transit (mostly in the southern part) and maneuverable grid, and diverse development.

I have no doubt that within ten years time this area we call midtown/Cwe/cortex will be used as a representation as an ideal dense, urban structure we aim to develop in metros across America.

I will admit I am very optimistic. I have a good feeling that future development will follow suit to the pedestrian friendly phase I'm sure we will see in tomorrow's presentation at cortex. In my opinion it will provide the ideal density and traffic, not too much or too little.


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http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 1a374.html

Details on the expansion. Aloft hotel. 200 apartments plus more office space

^ Might be more clear once they have their media event but does the $170 million referenced include the 180,000 sq feet Cortex 3.0 being developed by Wexford in addition to the hotel/apartments and parking structure or is Cortex 3.0 a separate investment that brings total dollars over $200 million? Also, not clear if Cortex 3.0 is a given. Anyone else have the same impression?

The one surprise, Microsoft not referenced in article. Maybe that changes in the media event

It sounds like they just don't have all the deals 100% done on tennets so I doubt they announce any today.

perhaps after this phase begins construction, the demand for new lab space in cortex will rise high enough that we have announcements for new buildings throughout each of the next few years, as opposed to large phase announcements once every several years.

At first blush this site plan looks pretty good... hopefully the Forest Park streetscape will be decent although I believe Duncan will be the frontage. Really glad to see the apartments and retail soften the parking structure.

If I have my bearings right, the Cortex district section between north side of Duncan and Forest Park Ave west of Sarah will be completed with this phase (at least until Goodwill or Legal Services, etc sells) and there will still be room for additional development on the US Metals site south of Duncan. Along with the metrolink station, this will be a big step forward for the district.

The Wexford building looks good, and the hotel might be alright, but that apartment building is really awful. Dark, drab and oppressive; and what's with the tiny windows?

The rendering I posted earlier looks perhaps like a rough "first version". One of the buildings look nearly same.

Alex Ihnen wrote:Images:

Looking south - 4240 Duncan at right:

Not entirely sure if that is two separate office/lab buildings or just one but with different facades with glass fronting Duncan and more traditional look in the rear. If they are separate, I guess that southern portion is a future phase.

The facades of these newly planned buildings are much better than what we've seen so far. I wish the hotel weren't set back so much, the Duncan-facing wall of the new office building borders on being hostile to pedestrians, but you can't have everything. At least the apartment building has the right idea.

dweebe wrote:At least it's a hip hotel brand and not some suburban yawner like Drury.

Agree on the brand. However, I think a hotel tower with some decent conference space incorporated into the plan would be a better fit overall and maybe a missed opportunity on CORTEX part. Definitely feeling the keep it safe mid rise, methodically development pace. Maybe Cortex East/Lawrence Group will break the mold on other side of Vande or Koman will sneak something different in. Apartment developer keeping their proposal in line with garage height/Cortex mid rise height makes sense if I was also trying to develop a premium high rise tower nearby on West Pine. Just have to go back to hotel tower being a missed opportunity IMO.

My sneaking suspicion is Koman might be negotiating to land Microsoft as a tenant and Wexford not sure what to do after the transition of private equity ownership.

Thought it was interesting that their is essentially no wet lab space as to be had in the area as report by PD but none is being built out either or included in CORTEX 3.0. Hope Wexford didn't go completely suburban in region with new ownership by trying to push wet lab space development over to a greater Dansforth Plant Science District first and CORTEX second.

Not much new at the press conference. Estimates of 1000 construction jobs during, 800 permanent following opening. The District Hall sounds like it will be partnered with Venture Cafe for some management and it will be the big conferencing center the district needs. Restaurants coming in the Hotel, the 1st floor of the labs/District Hall, and opportunities in the retail level of the garage/apartments. Idea for the hotel setback involves having an outdoor space to have small events to fit in with the pedestrian corridor that is Duncan. No final site plans exist so there's no real update on infrastructure and how they plan to design new roads to the hotel/garage/labs. Don't get me started on the short-term parking plan.

One person asked about why they needed TIFs for this project. Dennis Lower waivered between the project not being completed at all without TIFs and that CORTEX would have to pick and choose between one of the projects on the image boards.

They anticipate construction beginning in February or March of 2017, coinciding with the Metrolink. They hope for a spring/summer 2018 staggered finish for the hotel, garage/residential/retail, lab/district hall/fitness center, Metrolink. No firm timing on any project though.

flipflopju wrote:Not much new at the press conference. Estimates of 1000 construction jobs during, 800 permanent following opening. The District Hall sounds like it will be partnered with Venture Cafe for some management and it will be the big conferencing center the district needs. Restaurants coming in the Hotel, the 1st floor of the labs/District Hall, and opportunities in the retail level of the garage/apartments. Idea for the hotel setback involves having an outdoor space to have small events to fit in with the pedestrian corridor that is Duncan. No final site plans exist so there's no real update on infrastructure and how they plan to design new roads to the hotel/garage/labs. Don't get me started on the short-term parking plan...

Thanks for the update... I heard a bit of the conference online but missed some. I heard Lower say the parking structure is a key piece that will not only serve this phase but also allow additional phases to move more easily and that the Customs Metals site could hold another three buildings, but did you get a sense of Cortex feeling the future development being sooner rather than later?

As for your comment about short-term parking, I see Cortex already submitted a $300k building permit application for parking on the Custom Metals site so I assume that will be a key part of the plan.

Lastly, can you remind me (if you know) when the pharma company is supposed to settle into the TechShop building?

STLrainbow wrote:Thanks for the update... I heard a bit of the conference online but missed some. I heard Lower say the parking structure is a key piece that will not only serve this phase but also allow additional phases to move more easily and that the Customs Metals site could hold another three buildings, but did you get a sense of Cortex feeling the future development being sooner rather than later?

As for your comment about short-term parking, I see Cortex already submitted a $300k building permit application for parking on the Custom Metals site so I assume that will be a key part of the plan.

Lastly, can you remind me (if you know) when the pharma company is supposed to settle into the TechShop building?

I know Dennis plans on Custom Metals holding 3 buildings, maybe a garage, but based on limited conversations I believe we won't see construction start until 2018 or later. I'm hoping the news about the Foundry gives them incentive to push that up.

For short-term parking, they just plan to extend the temporary lot they made off Sarah on the Custom Metals site. The expansion will still be a surface and further to the south. They may activate a lot at the corner of FPP and Sarah that works as overflow for CET at times. The north @4240 lot will be closed to build the new parking structure. @4240 and Cortex I will have gates installed so lots are reserved for tenants only. Meters were going up on Boyle and Duncan today for all street parking.

Alcami (the new name of the pharma company) was last targeting a move in date for sometime after Jan 1. No word if that's still on schedule.

flipflopju wrote: I know Dennis plans on Custom Metals holding 3 buildings, maybe a garage, but based on limited conversations I believe we won't see construction start until 2018 or later. I'm hoping the news about the Foundry gives them incentive to push that up...

The addition of Cortex East and Koman in the south edge certainly makes things interesting in how fast things fill up around the core of the district surrounding the @4240/Commons area. As chaifetz10 mentions. I can see Koman attracting some players that may have gone to Wexford/Cortex such as Microsoft but also perhaps some entirely new prospects that otherwise weren't necessarily thinking about the area. But the great thing about it is that whereever the jobs are being located, it's going to drive more retail and residential in the area... the important thing is that all the players are working together to ensure a walkable, dynamic district.

St. Louis Public Radio has an article with an easier-to-parse site plan: Plans revealed for major Cortex expansion

I sure wish the hotel would conform to the existing street line on Forest Park.

Agreed, the site plan and massing for the other two parcels looks good, but the hotel doesn't really seem to contribute to a street wall anywhere.