urbanSTL

STLrainbow wrote: ↑

Apr 11, 2018

Here's the BizJournal story.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ortex.html

It contains an ackward last paragraph...

The new developments will be located in the $55 million 4220 building, Cortex's third phase that will be anchored by Microsoft's new regional headquarters and the district's first hotel, Aloft Hotel. The third phase will also feature a 180,000-square-foot technology office facility, a 200-unit apartment building and a 1,000-space parking garage.

Not sure if that's just repeating the old announced plans or means the apartment building will be moving ahead along with a second tech office facilty. Wouldn't doubt the garage is 1,000 spaces.

the garage was suppose to be 600 or so spots originally but currently Cortex leases 300 spots from WUSM, that WUSM is taking back when the lease is up in June.

^ thanks.

^^ right now there's Park Ave coffee and Vicia in the core, along with the deliciousness of IKEA to the east. There'll also be a restaurant fronting Duncan as part of The Aloft Hotel development and I wouldn't be surprised if a casual grab n' go type place takes up the vacated Tim Horton's space. (I also think the adjacent space to THo's that has yet to be fully built out also can be commercial.)

Anyway, I think there is room for all that, especially as it continues to grow. And Vicia is more of a destination restaurant that I don't think is dependent on Cortex employees. Sounds like maybe the Chocolate Pig may have some of that larger attraction as well. (as opposed to the grab n go market.)

Developer plans more buildings in St. Louis' booming Cortex innovation district

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... e49fb.html

Cortex President and CEO Dennis Lower said the district also will start developing a 650-car parking garage on the site over the summer.

Plans for the garage were paused for most of last year after developers decided the initial plan for a larger garage and 220 connected apartments was not financially viable. The apartments portion of that project remains stalled, while the construction of a $28 million, 129-room Aloft Hotel at 4245 Duncan Avenue is expected to begin soon. A new $13 million MetroLink station is also under construction nearby and should open later this year or early next.

^ And for looking ahead....

Mark Gorski, director of development at Wexford Science and Technology, said the Baltimore firm has had master planning exercises with design firm HOK for two new buildings that would likely be similar to the new Microsoft building at 4220 Duncan Avenue and the @4240 facility Wexford developed for $73 million in 2014.

“Because of the success we’ve seen with our other buildings, we’re anticipating future growth and are planning for that — we’re definitely in that (growth) mode,” he said. “We’re spending considerable dollars going down that road in terms of design and are exploring what the best use of that remaining space could be, but it’s too early to speculate on a timeline of when we may break ground.”

Both PD and BizJournals had articles on Crescent building. I like the follow paragraph from the PD article link and speculate that maybe some drive behind CORTEX/Wexford in working with HOK as reported earlier

Believe Crescent is last building within CORTEX footprint that can be rehabbed and going forward you are talking infill of surface lots. A big turning point.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... d8a06.html


In addition to redesigned and additional space for early-stage companies, Rubin said there will be lab space for growing companies to “graduate” into from the accelerator. Rubin and other biotech advocates in the region have pointed to the need for affordable lab space that startups can move into after the incubator stage.

While the Crescent rehab will address some immediate needs, Rubin said “we need to keep our eyes on the ball” and continue adding lab space to enable biotech entrepreneurs. “This building won’t solve the demand for lab space,” he said.

^ The Cortex District is almost tapped out on rehab potential but not quite.

Partner WashU owns the warehouse building catty-corner to the Crescent... somewhat reminiscent in character to the ones demo'd on the other side of Duncan to make way for the Aloft hotel etc.; could be neat rehab but my guess is demo here, too. WashU also owns the collection of duplex and multifamily properties just to the west of the Cortex One building on Forest Park Avenue; my guess is they'll continue as residential until eventually making way for new construction down the (long) road.

Besides those, I have to think more buildings inside the official district will be acquired for Cortex use. On the south side of FPA you have the rather significant Legal Services, Extra Space Storage and Goodwill buildings.. On the north side you have the Salvation Army's collection of less significant buildings (and more likely demo-destined) across from IKEA... I wouldn't doubt some of these non-profits sell at some point similar to what Habitat For Humanity did; generally a win-win I think. .There's also a couple buildings on Laclede behind the Salvation Army that are in the official district footprint.

^ Bizjournals must be reading your post on the question if need for space is out there? Right on time with article. Not specific to CORTEX but matches up with a fair share of development proposals on the table.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... gtech.html

At stake is the ability to grow and retain startups that could develop into the next Ralston Purina, Monsanto or Express Scripts, driving the St. Louis economy for decades to come.

The metro trains are now running on the new tracks through the Cortex station, westbound only. The conductors announce that the station is not yet open. Pretty cool, and takes you that much closer past the new MSFT building.

According to Post Dispatch Square will be adding 300 jobs over the next 5 years within Cortex.. They'll be leasing an additional 56,000 square feet of office space in the Cortex 1 building @ 4320.. Great news for St.Louis & Cortex

^ Now we just need a good rendering of the next Wexford building. Hopefully a story or two higher to break things up a little.

Anyone heard any rumblings on when CORTEX going to break ground on parking structure, or even exact location

I drove down Duncan just today, and there were a few workers puttering around on the site of the hotel; probably prepping some utility work.

right. some prelim work on the Crescent has already started so I suspect that will get underway in earnest before the hotel, which I think still hasn't had the foundation permit issued.

dredger wrote: ↑

May 10, 2018

Anyone heard any rumblings on when CORTEX going to break ground on parking structure, or even exact location

I suspect sometime this year; it's currently in the re-zoning phase. It'll be just east of the new 4220 Duncan building and I believe it will be in the rear of the parcel by the rr/x tracks and with future buildings fronting Duncan... will be interesting to see how they plan access.

I’m personally anxious to see what Koman proposes for their site.
I’m hoping it’s a taller, mixed use complex/group of buildings

Haven't seen any reviews of the new 4220 Building so I guess I'll weigh in... I think it's a perfectly fine and functional building; you can certainly tell that not a tremendous amount of money was put into it and that's ok, it seems to work well and will serve the users nicely. (Most of the first two floors -- where CIC is already open and future Innovation Hall will be -- were open yesterday but not the upper floors where I think Microsoft and the more traditional tenant office space will go.) CIC space is pretty cool. Looking forward to seeing how it all looks/feels when the restaurant and cafe open later this fall. I also think the way it relates to Duncan is pretty decent. An interesting thing I noticed on a more windy Wednesday is that the courtyard/plaza space b/w the 4220 and 4240 buildings leading to the Metrolink station has a strong wind tunnel effect.

Also nice to see some decent CIC tenancy, with a couple companies including Centene already in.

STLrainbow wrote: ↑

May 11, 2018

...you can certainly tell that not a tremendous amount of money was put into it...

as in the materials looks cheap? things don't align properly? lots of visible seams? are chunks falling off already?

^ not trying to say that it is cheap materials (I guess time will tell on that) but I guess what I'm getting at is maybe spartan is the right word.... kind of a white box, open space that isn't trying to make an ornamental statement of grandeur. When you walk in you won't get the sense of awe that a prominent office building of the last century would be more likely to attempt to deliver. And that's ok I think; would rather Wexford deliver perfectly fine buildings that land tenants with spaces that meet their functional needs than go for palaces.

Right. For a building designed by HOK, it's hardly significant.

The interior is very well done.

Some pics of the interior

STLrainbow wrote: ↑

May 12, 2018

^ not trying to say that it is cheap materials (I guess time will tell on that) but I guess what I'm getting at is maybe spartan is the right word.... kind of a white box, open space that isn't trying to make an ornamental statement of grandeur. When you walk in you won't get the sense of awe that a prominent office building of the last century would be more likely to attempt to deliver. And that's ok I think; would rather Wexford deliver perfectly fine buildings that land tenants with spaces that meet their functional needs than go for palaces.

You literally describe most of the silicon/bioscience spec space being and has been built on the Peninsula in the Bay area, Whether I'm driving to/from SFO via Bay bridge and or cutting across San Mateo bridge into Foster City/Redwood City most of construction is exactly that. Nothing impressive, a lot of 5-7 story buildings and you can see the open floor spaces during the construction. They go up and get the finishing clad on quick.

On KWMU this morning, they mentioned that Microsoft now plans to have 300 employees based in their CORTEX office, as opposed to the originally planned 150.

Microsoft Expands into Cortex, Looks to Grow Workforce, Economy

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Microsoft isn't just moving from the suburbs in the city. It hopes to move the St. Louis economy into the future too.

The tech giant plans to double its area workforce as it moves from Creve Coeur to Cortex.

“This is the new home of Microdot. This is three times the space we had in Creve Coeur,” says Regional manager Adem Sefa.

Sefa says much of the new space will be in the form of a Microsoft Technology Center, which basically means customers and the community get to play with the newest toys.

Read more
https://kmox.radio.com/articles/microso ... ce-economy

Microsoft just moved its Detroit MTC into its new downtown location (from the burbs) and this article has a photo gallery. Probably will be rather similar of what to expect here.

Microsoft moves 450 workers to be part of Detroit's 'technology revitalization'
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index ... eadqu.html