urbanSTL

They applied for a demo permit. My guess is that it'll be temporary surface parking. 

Difficult to know what Wash-U and SLU are up to until they're actually breaking ground. IMO, I think the Pevely complex demolition would've been a bit more tolerable if we knew a 14-story children's hospital was planned. 

I think Brickline Greenway is planned to run along this parcel. Doubt it’s because of the Greenway but hopefully we’ll see some progress.


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https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2026/10/08/bjc-healthcare-new-hospice-house-st-louis.html

BJC is building a new hospice facility at 4520 Clayton Ave. The facility will be 15,610 square feet across 1 story and accommodate 12 beds.

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My biz journal susbscription expired, did they include any renderings or architectural details (e.g. 1 story)? 

here you go https://imgur.com/a/DlGcy7k

^Thanks. Yikes though, terrible urban form. 

Looks like they want to sneak it in before the form based code passes. 

Heard that Microsoft and Accenture will not be renewing their Cortex leases.  No idea on validity. 

Microsoft invested $50,000,000 in their 30,000 sq foot space in 2018 

That'll kill Cortex geez

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dbInSouthCity wrote:Heard that Microsoft and Accenture will not be renewing their Cortex leases.  No idea on validity. 

Microsoft invested $50,000,000 in their 30,000 sq foot space in 2018 

$50million? Is that a typo?


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^ My SOs office was just moved into Cortex, WashU physicians group.

FWIW, I asked AI how well Cortex is doing financially; see below:  

The Cortex Innovation Community in Midtown/Central West End St. Louis is doing very well financially and continues to expand aggressively.
Since its inception, the 200-acre tech and life-sciences hub has attracted over $1.33 billion in total investment. Rather than slowing down, it is actively transitioning from a purely office-and-lab space into a dense, mixed-use live-work district. [1, 2]

Current Financial & Growth Status

• Strong Tax & Revenue Generation: As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Cortex has evolved into a massive economic engine for the city. Between 2014 and 2024, it generated $105.5 million in net new tax revenue. This has directly boosted local infrastructure and funnelled millions into Saint Louis Public Schools. [1]
• TIF Stability: Cortex utilizes a $167.7 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) grant approved by the city to make undeveloped land "shovel-ready". They manage this conservatively—funding initial infrastructure costs themselves and slowly pulling reimbursements from the new tax revenue generated by completed buildings. They have used roughly $88.7 million of that allocation so far, leaving plenty of runway for future development. [1]
• Secured Development Powers: The district faced a brief political hurdle when city lawmakers debated its "blighted" status renewal—a designation required under Missouri law to retain eminent domain and tax incentive powers. After an initial vote failed, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted to approve a five-year extension. This guarantees that Cortex retains its redevelopment authority to continue building out the remaining areas of the project. [1, 2]

Major Recent Developments & Status

• Pivot to Housing: To complement its 1.1 million square feet of tech and research space, Cortex broke ground on its first major mixed-use residential development. The project aims to bring apartment units online to tenants by the end of 2027, transforming the area into a 24/7 neighborhood. [1, 2]
• High-Profile Retention & Biotech Wins: Cortex successfully retained C2N Diagnostics, a prominent homegrown biotech company advancing Alzheimer's disease testing. C2N is anchoring "Catalyst"—a massive 160,000-square-foot redevelopment of the historic Goodwill Building spearheaded by Washington University. Furthermore, a string of Cortex-based startups (including Varro Life Sciences, Panome Bio, and Sweetspot) were named "Startups to Watch," keeping the hub firmly on the national biotech radar. [1, 2]
• Infrastructure Upgrades: The perimeter continues to fill out with lifestyle amenities, including the Aloft Hotel and popular dining spots like Vicia. The Cortex MetroLink station platforms also received upgraded security gates to integrate the hub more seamlessly with the city's transit system. [1]

Attribute	Current Status & Figures
Total Lifetime Investment	$1.33 Billion
Net New Tax Revenue (10-Yr)	$105.5 Million
TIF Funding Used	$88.7 Million out of $167.7M authorized
Legal/Redevelopment Status	Eminent domain & tax authority extended through 2030
Primary Focus	Launching residential housing and life sciences expansion (Catalyst building)

moorlander wrote: ↑

5:31 PM - 12 days ago

dbInSouthCity wrote:Heard that Microsoft and Accenture will not be renewing their Cortex leases.  No idea on validity. 

Microsoft invested $50,000,000 in their 30,000 sq foot space in 2018 

$50million? Is that a typo?


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https://www.stlpr.org/economy-business/2018-09-19/microsoft-tech-center-opens-in-st-louis-cortex-innovation-community

Should we look into something like this Houston proposal for our grain elevator next to IKEA?

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/189HNs6ryP/

From the past I thought the owner of the grain elevator was not going to sell/change the elevator.  The grain elevator is a working business for the owner.

In the Houston plan, I don’t see anything in the bins, like hotel rooms. So I’m not sure their plan is incompatible with a working grain elevator as long as the truck loading and unloading shed is walled off from the rest of the base. Apparently, ours doesn’t even use rail cars anymore. Just trucks.


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^They lost rail access when Bi-State replaced the bridge over Vandeventer some dozen or so years ago. The new bridge is lighter, so heavily loaded freight couldn't use it. The Foundry had closed a few years earlier, making freight service along the line less profitable anyway.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

4:42 PM - 1 day ago

^They lost rail access when Bi-State replaced the bridge over Vandeventer some dozen or so years ago. The new bridge is lighter, so heavily loaded freight couldn't use it. The Foundry had closed a few years earlier, making freight service along the line less profitable anyway.

That new bridge was built with a 3rd set of tracks to be able to continue servicing the grain elevator. The rail traffic stopped sometime later if I recall correctly. More around the time of the Cortex Station construction. The tracks and interlocking were all pulled just a few years ago kind of around then. They may have decided just to switch to trucking. There was a relatively short period overnight that they were able to cross the Metrolink tracks to move covered hoppers in and out, so it wasn't the best rail situation anyway. Did that short line serve anything else but the remnants of that spur? I assume it shut down operations. I seem to remember it being just like one guy and his locomotive, but I may be making that up.

I think there were usually two people on the crew; the engineer and the conductor who I think also acted as a brakeman. I believe there was footage of one of the last runs over the line on YouTube, but it's been a long time. I'll ask a couple of people who know better.

They replaced the bridge in, what, 2009? The last evidence I can find of switching on Google Earth is 2008. The track into the elevator looks more and more disused after that, and by 2014 it had been removed. Maybe something like a 44 tonner or a high railer could have used the new bridge, but it was my understanding the railroad discontinued operations in part because the bridge wouldn't support them, and by that point that elevator was probably the last customer. (There had previously been a couple of warehouses and if you go back to Wabash days there were tons of customers, including the brewery and there was a small yard there as well.) I'll ask around, or see if I can find the article. (It was in the Post Dispatch, as I recall.)

 

I could be completely wrong on the timing. Everything starts fading together around there.

The real rail related disappointment for me around there is when the old turntable was pulled. I always had impractical dreams of that Wabash roundhouse being rebuilt. But at least the turntable is in good use in Florida.