urbanSTL

^ I just can't help but think that the hotel is just underwhelming considering the ever expanding BJC/Wash Med School/StlCoP and the growing CORTEX employment base. Especially if Koman and or Lawrence Group can further strengthen that business and employment base

Just feels like the area could easily support another 100 to 150 rooms but more importantly, some decent amount of conference/catered event space as well. Instead get the impression that no confidence from anyone or no takers involved to fill the site with a better hotel proposal. So you end up with a medium size hotel trying to fill in a site with urban context when your probably just as well front it on FPP and putting a surface parking lot that offers future infill/expansion off Duncan or vice versa. Instead you get this mid lot placement that neither fronts FPP or Duncan & the architect will put CORTEX in a state of denial with renderings that feel like its urban.

Hope Wexford's building grows in some square footage when ground is broken. My feeling it would look at lot better without the goofy plan view. polygon shape, get some more square leaseable footage at little extra cost and get rid of what we will be these little goofy triangle patches of ground/landscape.

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

OK, based on this, I think this:



Is actually looking at the Duncan-facing South face of the Aloft hotel, looking North from the street.



Note the Hotel's setback from Duncan and the curbcut indicated on the map below - there's a roundabout at the front of the building serving as a drop-off point in front of the main entrance. The 'bistro' is the offset stub on the south end of the building.



That would mean the Hotel is showing it's rump to Forest Park Parkway, no? That plus the setback could make for a more awkward presentation there.

-RBB

rbb, makes sense on the flipped image and yeah it had already been reported that a patio space will go on the FPA side at the rear of the hotel... what I'm not sure of is whether there will be an additional curb cut or expansion of the curb cut on the Cortex properties; hopefully not. It'll be interesting to have two restaurants facing Duncan essentially adjacent to each other- the one opening soon in the TechShop building and the one that'll be part of the hotel --hopefully they'll both be bustling.

dredger, I agree a slightly bigger hotel would be nice but also suspect that we'll see another hotel in the district in a few years as things grow -- and in the end having a choice of options will be better than a single one. As for meeting space, I believe the Innovation/District Hall space is going to serve that function and with existing capacity at @4240 etc. it appears that they feel their covered on that end.

Hotel is definitely the most underwhelming of the three. I like the office building; I just wish they'd somehow expand that overhang to the Duncan side of the building to give the Duncan streetscape more pedestrian massing, and maybe minimize that stone slab in the middle of the wall, and instead put an entrance there. For the apartment/parking garage, the windows are small, but the massing seems just right.

Is this area subject to the new form-based code? Wouldn't that require the new hotel maintain the existing street line along FP?

imran wrote:The CWE form based code stops at forest park avenue I believe. Even if it didn't, Cortex gets to do whatever the heck it's little suburban heart desires

Or another good way to put it. Euclid is turning into a great street while CORTEX 3.0 with its site plan will lead Duncan down the path of so so on your way to Ikea. You got Ikea's sea of parking on one end and CORTEX Commons on the other. In the long term, don't believe you need to give each building its own little courtyard, lawn or plaza.

I'm liking Apartment/garage more and more relative to the hotel & next Wexford building. The massing as a few have noted seems right on for the immediate area and fronting the apartments on Duncan & hiding the garage will come out pretty good. No need for residential tower on top of a parking deck for the apartments only to create more green spaces and plazas next to it. CWE, Cortex East and Foundry still offer some good locations for that residential tower or two still to come..

I was hoping the hotel curb cut was on the Parkway side. That stretch of Duncan has the potential of becoming a very dense, narrow, charming corridor - that could really define Cortex - with the apartments, 4240, new office space, and future Koman development built right up to the sidewalk. The hotel driveway kinda impedes that.

Game on CORTEX/Wexford as you now got some serious competition between Centene's vision, LG Foundry and now Koman's Cupples X & BPV Phase II. Either the pragamatic, constrained development will get you breaking ground before the other guys or you missed tenants who have some pretty good options now being put out in front of them. Nor will having a new metrolink station give much of advantage with metrolink next door to Centene and BPV/Cupples X . Any thoughts on if CORTEX 3.0 to timid? Need to up their game and propose a better plan for Duncan Ave - especially Wexford's next building?

The plus side for CORTEX 3.0 is Wexford could easily incorporate wet lab space niche into its square footage where it makes no sense for that in the other developments. Also to have give credit for working the hotel into CORTEX 3.0. Somewhat surprised that BPV didn't have hotel even with the boutique hotels going up. I also think it was a plus when Koman got its hands on property within CORTEX also and looking forward to something dynamic if indeed are the ones talking to Microsoft.

^ not sure. i see the Foundry as complementing Cortex, and Cupples X and BPV 2 as appealing to a different category of occupant. i guess the office portion of the LG project might be a competitor...

I have a feeling that demand is overflowing from cortex and that's why we see adjacent development. We might see competition when space becomes less available. Maybe if SLU develops a similar development we will see competition.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

user28 wrote:I have a feeling that demand is overflowing from cortex and that's why we see adjacent development. We might see competition when space becomes less available. Maybe if SLU develops a similar development we will see competition.

I don't really see it as demand overflowing but more of Wexford ownership change impacting US Metal site development and put them behind the 8-ball. Unless mistaken, Wexford's next building is more of a straight up office, open work space that seem to cater to more tech space then lab space from my understanding. That space can be easily provided by LG Foundry or Koman's Cupples X or own CORTEX property. Complete speculation on my part but my impression iis that Wexford lost out on an anchor tenant for US Metals site and is now playing catch up.

Hopefully Koman has secured Microsoft and will see a nice proposal forthcoming on their CORTEX property. Anybody with any insight on that thought? Microsoft name was in a lot of reports leading up to CORTEX 3.0 but not included in media event.

^ can't read the full article. what are the criteria? St. Louis' claim to fame thus far has been its % change in # of startups, not raw numbers. i have a hard time believing, though, that Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Kansas City are all ahead of St. Louis. f*cking Cincinnati? and Nashville at # 5? i'm not buying it. i'm not sure that "tech real estate market" directly translates into startup activity. and, of course, are they considering metros or city boundaries? i compared the 2014 new business numbers for KC and STL a while back (from the Bureau of Labor Stats) and STL's rate of new business formation was significantly higher than KC's, both in the city and in the county. granted those new businesses aren't necessarily in tech but still.

How many advanced tech jobs do we currently have? Do we have a lot, average, a little? If we have a lot already, then its going to be hard to show a huge growth percentage especially to cities that have none. Its like comparing GDP growth of the US vs India. I can't find good enough info, but I'm pretty sure we already employ a large amount of tech jobs compared to other cities on that list.

stlgasm wrote:I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but apparently St. Louis's self-proclaimed status as an up-and-coming tech startup hub might be a bit of an embellishment. A reality check from the Business Journal (Oct. 27th, 2016):

Kauffman ranked the 40 largest metro areas on startup growth and put St. Louis at No. 29 on that list. That’s better than the city’s ranking last year, when St. Louis came in at No. 31. But it’s still a lower ranking than all of the major startup communities that are widely known (Silicon Valley, Austin, Boston, etc.) and most Midwestern metros such as Nashville (No. 5), Cincinnati (No. 16), Minneapolis (No. 17), Indianapolis (No. 20) and Kansas City (No. 24).

Full article:
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... -rent.html

I highly doubt the validity of this research. I would like to see the criteria to this. Nashville? Puhhhhhhleeeeeeeassse. From what I get from the article is that St Louis might not have enough real estate for tech companies, which is probably true. However, I still do not really buy the study.

Drilling at the hotel site.

arch city wrote:

shadrach wrote:I feel having the aLoft brand is more of a win than hotel size. (IIRC, Arch City called it years ago on the IKEA thread!)

I stayed in this one once. Not your fathers hampton inn.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That rooftop lighting should help draw attention to Cortex from the highway.