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PostFeb 04, 2016#751

The demo planned right next to the Tech Shop building will add a surface parking lot along Forest Park Ave. This is insane! :evil: Is CORTEX being run by a bunch of suburbanites? (I think I know the answer)
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PostFeb 04, 2016#752

^ Here's the people in charge. Probably too late to do anything about this particular instance, but I think they need to hear some disapproval from our community.

http://cortexstl.com/who-we-are/staff/
Cortex Staff
Dennis Lower
President & CEO
(314) 531-4500
dlower@cortexstl.com

Mike Sullivan
COO and General Counsel
(314) 531-4516
msullivan@cortexstl.com

Christina Green
CFO
(314) 448-4195
cgreen@cortexstl.com

Bradley J. Castanho, PhD
Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
(314) 448-4021
bcastanho@cortexstl.com

Phyllis Ellison
Director of Entrepreneur Services and Institutional/Corporate Partnerships
(314) 610-0545
pellison@cortexstl.com

Amy Kimball
Office Manager & Administrative Assistant
(314) 531-4500
akimball@cortexstl.com
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PostFeb 04, 2016#753

: Is CORTEX being run by a bunch of Rev. Biondi?
Fixed it
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PostFeb 04, 2016#754

Here's my email to Cortex CEO and his secretary:
St. Louis deserves better than low-rise buildings surrounded by seas of parking. Good urban planning attracts and retains creative and design-minded employers and employees.

First Cortex demolished the Brauer Supply building 8 months ago for Tech Shop, despite there being other developable, vacant parcels in the district. Now you want to demolish 4 more buildings for surface parking in a district already dominated by seas of parking (over 50% of the land area by my estimate). With a new light rail stop dedicated to the district coming next year, your approach of demolishing buildings for more surface parking, even if "temporary," is foolhardy.

Temporary parking lots tend to remain a lot longer than desired. Recent and not-so-recent "developments" in the Central West End and Downtown prove this point. Please stop the madness. I had higher hopes for Cortex and St. Louis.

We need to be smarter about development and transportation planning to be competitive in this century. Surface parking already accounts for 75% of the north streetscape of Duncan Ave. between Boyle and Sarah. 100% here we come! So much for a walkable Cortex district...
...and his response:
Randy, I agree with your observations. Wherever we can save existing buildings we do it. The surface parking lot that we are preparing right now is only temporary. We have a hotel developer that we are negotiating with for that lot. We are also currently planning a 1200 car parking garage because we have a number of buildings soon to be developed on surface lots.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#755

Basically this is a game of poker where you guys see only 2 cards and Cortex leadership sees the whole deck.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#756

Good to see he included the hotel part. Now we have to hope that when it gets built it has good urban form.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#757

dbInSouthCity wrote:Basically this is a game of poker where you guys see only 2 cards and Cortex leadership sees the whole deck.
You do have to understand people's skepticism about the rest of the deck the way so many other things have gone in St. Louis.

Still, I trust Cortex. I think they share many of "our" priorities with maybe the one exception of preservation. But while they like to tear down and build new, I genuinely do believe they prefer urban oriented buildings, density, walkability, and an encouragement of transit.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#758

^ I don't think the Cortex 1 parking lot is at capacity. It's a free lot (across the street from Tech Shop) and I have never had issues parking there when I have had meetings in Cortex. If they weren't going to actually develop the lot behind TechShop and instead turn it into a parking lot, it would've made 1,000% more sense to save the Brauer Supply Building to be renovated into offices and put the Tech Shop building to the south on the future "temporary" parking lot.

Keep in mind that the site of this demo-for-parking is 1 block away from the future Cortex Metrolink station.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#759

I just want to know why they took down that beautiful bakery at Vandeventer and Forest Park. So much glazed brick lost without reason. It isn't even a parking lot.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#760

This is simply the failure of City leadership. In historic districts, we are asking for building permits before merit buildings are demolished but CORTEX gets a pass.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#761

Randy wrote:^ I don't think the Cortex 1 parking lot is at capacity. It's a free lot (across the street from Tech Shop) and I have never had issues parking there when I have had meetings in Cortex. If they weren't going to actually develop the lot behind TechShop and instead turn it into a parking lot, it would've made 1,000% more sense to save the Brauer Supply Building to be renovated into offices and put the Tech Shop building to the south on the future "temporary" parking lot.

Keep in mind that the site of this demo-for-parking is 1 block away from the future Cortex Metrolink station.
Cortex 1 lot may not be at 100% capacity but it is quite close.... frankly they can't build a garage soon enough and that's even w/o the additional demand that @4260 will bring. Relatedly, there's been some questions on how full the Dupont building is.... while I don't know what the occupancy is, the parking spaces are definitely being utilized.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#762

It sounds like they plan a mixed use building on the Cortex 1 parking lot. They're creating a temporary lot to compensate for the loss of that lot.

Then they hope to build a parking garage to accommodate the mixed use building, the hotel and new construction at the former metals building site. For CORTEX, this is a logistical issue -- it's choreography.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#763

^ exactly.... it's unrealistic to expect that CORTEX be built in a day and it requires a lot of moving parts and transition. They have a solid plan to build significant density with decent urban form and it's great to see them executing it.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#764

"Choreography"; I like that!
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PostFeb 04, 2016#765

RW, yes CORTEX won't be built in a day but in very short order they could be at competitive advantage in its ability to offer ready to go Class A. I state that because you will see tower cranes for at least two office buildings in Clayton CBD for Apex Oil and Centene & if I understand correctly they both will have more space then what anchor tenants will need. Also add the fact that you now got movement of the old Tri proposal along Forsyth. In addition, you got a legit Westin hotel proposal as well as boutique hotel for Centene II.

I also agree that CORTEX has the whole deck. But also believe their is a legitimate business argument to be made for paying up front demolition costs in order to reduce long term maintenance costs if you intend to land bank. That is a scary thought
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PostFeb 04, 2016#766

Personally, I trust CORTEX CEO Dennis Lower. I can't say the same about the Cardinals and Cordish.

Try (Randy) writing the same letter to Bill Dewitt, III or Cordish and see what kind of response you get.

My bet.............crickets.

I get the feeling Dennis Lower is a stand-up guy. CORTEX is his baby. In that context, he is going to feed it, burb it then make sure that it is dressed appropriately. I have the utmost confidence in him. In my opinion, there's really nothing about CORTEX that has been a big fail.........yet.

My only......and I mean ONLY complaint is that CORTEX needs to get taller. These dinky buildings are beginning to make my eyes cross permanently - especially when I see Wexford projects - like the one below - envisioned for Philadelphia called UCity Square.

I know demand drive square footage, but it's time for a big city height in the CORTEX area. No dinky hotels or dinky labs.



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PostFeb 04, 2016#767

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PostFeb 04, 2016#768

Something on the scale of those renderings would be satisfactory, in my opinion.

I think a 10-15-story hotel would be great in height (beefing up the area) plus the area could use more mid-scale hotels.

With SLU (medical center and main campus) growing nearby and an expanding Washington University Medical Center, I'm very surprised there aren't more rumors about multiple hotels for the area.

Is Drury asleep?
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PostFeb 04, 2016#769

.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#770

I'm fine with mid-rise for now although hold out some hopes for a tower hotel; who knows. But eventually I'd like to see at least one signature tower that would at least be as tall as SLU's Griesedeck.... that would really be a nice accomplishment serving as a beacon of sorts.
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PostFeb 04, 2016#771

.

PostFeb 04, 2016#772

This is what a 15 story building would roughly look like on the corner of Duncan and Boyle. Very underwhelming in my opinion.
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PostFeb 05, 2016#773

^ 15 stories... underwhelming? :? Almost the entirety of the Central West End must be a huge disappointment, then. Pro tip: helicopter views from 1000+ ft up in the air are a poor way to judge street level impact in a neighborhood.
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PostFeb 05, 2016#774

^ I like mill's thoughts. A nice mid rise 10-15 story hotel w conference/a boutique hotel to fill a surface lot/residential option(s) would fit well. Beyond that and IMO, it will be a huge gain for the city as well as the region if Wexford can build out and fill 500,000 square feet of space over several buildings as proposed or envisioned. At that point you would have relocations from outside of the region as well as support further expansions such as Square and now a MasterCard presence, so. The rest of the infill will happen at that point..
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Another way to put it, I would much rather see high rise development happen at BPV, Lacledes Landing and bookend the west end of gateway mall downtown over CORTEX. I just don't see the region at the moment being able to support three skylines or really needing three skylines nor CORTEX needing to have a signature tower for the sake of a tower. If anything, rather see a tower at the corner of Lindell and Kingshighway anywhere else in CWE/Midtown.
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PostFeb 05, 2016#775

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