urbanSTL

BrickCity4470 wrote:As i stated Downtown is a great place to live and visit but with the lack of some key retail it will sting for awhile.. Downtown clearly needs a big company locally to step up and lead charge. I just don't understand why Edward Jones with all of its expansions continues to ignore the city do they even have one single office downtown? Express Scripts, Energizer, Rawlings, Scottrade, Monsanto, Boeing, Schnucks etc..

FWIW, Boeing buildings are likely best located near the airport for obvious reasons.

I should say not relocating HQ but at least adding some jobs downtown such as satellite offices in such that in itself would make a difference . I do agree it takes some give and take and im not sure what our leaders are willing to give or take.. What about the oncoming of the Boeing IT jobs?
Would you say Stifel is almost in the heart of downtown and they are doing some hefty investing and commitments.. Im actually glad they decided to stay where they are this livens that part of Wash Ave.. I will say walking from Broadway to Locust and then from Locust past OPO gives me kind of the creeps like someone is lurking and following me....

seanmcelligott644 wrote:I think a problem with downtown is all the biggest office employers in the city are not really downtown. For example Anheuser busch , Ameren ,Purina , Wells fargo advisors and Sigma-Aldrich. I think there are about 15,000 workers here but none of them are downtown. We want companies from the county to move or expand downtown but maybe the city should work with these 5 here to also expand downtown. I think the city should try get Sigma-Aldrich to move downtown. Having them were they are at now dose nothing to help the city become more urban. Yes having move downtown may just shuffle the deck but it would be better for the city to have them in downtown. Also were they are at now can be rezoned for light industry. Not to rant too long but I think Anheuser busch should move some workers to BPV it would help get the project in to high gear and AB can get a lot of free adverting at that location

I don't know how we get there from here. But I will say that Cincinnati is one of the best examples I know of a smaller metro area that benefits from a major corporate presence downtown. Kroger, P&G, and Macy's Inc. are all right there.

And I'm probably forgetting a few more companies large and small with headquarters in DT Cincy as well- those are just the largest that come to mind.

I love Downtown Cincinnati and their new tallest is a beauty i had to drive there each year just to see it being built. Sure wish Queen City Square was added to our downtown skyline just think of how that would fit in with Arch and the new stan span..

Wow Queen City Square addition is nice for Cincinnati. Now i did more research their downtown residential population was only around 9000 when this was started and was only growing buy a few hundred a year before construction. Around 2009 they are seeing thousands of new resesidents added yearly.

Inst that the opposite logic people say that if we add residents the jobs will eventually come? Or is Cincinnati just a one off case? Downtown St Louis has added about 4000 residents over the last 10 years? What is it going to take. Never thought i would have Cincinnati envy

I really like the discussion about other downtowns and office and residential prospects, etc. and there is a connection again b/w office jobs and retail, but can we take the more downtown office oriented discussions over to a more proper thread and try to get back to downtown retail here? Thanks!

Here's some other threads that might be better....

Downtown Residential Thriving
http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... al#p225176

Downtown Office Occupancy/Vacancy
http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... e&start=30

What can the city do to land more corporate jobs
http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... s+#p224114

or the more generic State of Downtown for overall conditions
http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... wn#p225841

This is sad news
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyr ... downto.php

Downtown St Louis once again is in decline. This needs to be stopped at once. Recently was in St Louis with friends, Downtown Omaha is way more vibrant than St Louis. It is so embarrassing that our beautiful downtown is so unbelievably dead. To be brutally honest, when people I know visit St Louis, I recommend that they stay somewhere near Clayton, where it is much more vibrant.

Chalupas54 wrote:Downtown St Louis once again is in decline. This needs to be stopped at once. Recently was in St Louis with friends, Downtown Omaha is way more vibrant than St Louis. It is so embarrassing that our beautiful downtown is so unbelievably dead. To be brutally honest, when people I know visit St Louis, I recommend that they stay somewhere near Clayton, where it is much more vibrant.

I think a problem with downtown is it seems like the region dose want to get behind downtown. I never been ask by a friend hey want to go downtown. The people I know are not scared to go downtown they just don't think of it. Were is the city leader ship on downtown? I feel Read and Slay don't really have a plan for the city and just settle for any thing.

Chalupas54 wrote:Downtown St Louis once again is in decline. This needs to be stopped at once. Recently was in St Louis with friends, Downtown Omaha is way more vibrant than St Louis. It is so embarrassing that our beautiful downtown is so unbelievably dead. To be brutally honest, when people I know visit St Louis, I recommend that they stay somewhere near Clayton, where it is much more vibrant.

you had me at Clayton and more vibrant part... have you been to downtown clayton after 6pm?

recent pic

EVERYBODY PANIC!

Wait how is downtown in decline.


That pic of Clayton is funny but so not true. Parts of Dowtown Clayton and the surrounding neighborhoods will be bustling after hours tonight and this weekend. Let's not get carried away.

seanmcelligott644 wrote:

Chalupas54 wrote:Downtown St Louis once again is in decline. This needs to be stopped at once. Recently was in St Louis with friends, Downtown Omaha is way more vibrant than St Louis. It is so embarrassing that our beautiful downtown is so unbelievably dead. To be brutally honest, when people I know visit St Louis, I recommend that they stay somewhere near Clayton, where it is much more vibrant.

I think a problem with downtown is it seems like the region dose want to get behind downtown. I never been ask by a friend hey want to go downtown. The people I know are not scared to go downtown they just don't think of it. Were is the city leader ship on downtown? I feel Read and Slay don't really have a plan for the city and just settle for any thing.

I rarely go out outside South City, maybe once a while to the Loop and CWE but even that's about 4-5 times a day....this really started after age 25...last 3 years i mostly go out to local places in south city, on Macklind, Morganford, South Grand and few bars on Gravois

^ Yeah, in defense of downtown it is nowhere near being in a state of decline. Billions have been invested in downtown in recent years and I feel that its on an upward trajectory. I think downtown is more of a neighborhood in transition, from a traditional corporate hub to a mixed use neighborhood of residents, small and medium sized businesses. Omaha having a much more vibrant downtown is laughable, Omaha's downtown is horrible and very ugly in comparison(speaking from experience). I actually will agree that civic, political, and business leadership is a little behind the times and still holding out for that big corporate relocation (which is never going to happen). I think the way BPV is being developed is a perfect example, trying to develop most of this project for office when we there is no demand downtown and being timid on residential when that's what is selling like hotcakes. I actually think we are another 5-10 years a way from having a truly good downtown, I also believe streetscape improvements, improved transit connectivity, and redevelopment of the north and south neighborhoods will be key to downtown's long term viability. I also think downtown is marketing way too much to the stiff, mid 30, single urban professional types (no offense) instead of city lovers, new college grads, artists, and beatniks that would actually add to the vibrancy of the streetscape.

Hopefully Left Bank can find a new home downtown. The Bride's House, Board of Ed, or Syndicate buildings would all be great new locations, and are within 1 block of the current location. Did anything ever replace the People's National Bank in the Paul Brown at 8th & Olive? That's a great corner for just about anything.

I don't think downtown is in decline. This just means that downtown can't support retail yet, especially a retail model that is struggling everywhere. We're going to need a lot more residents down here if we want meaningful retail that will last.

Good points RW. Just as Craig Heller did, a developer could give them cheap space to help fill up a building. No telling if the timing would work out (since the developers are dragging their feet) but the Chemical would be perfect. Having a bookstore with a small coffee shop on the first floor would be a great sales point for getting apartments leased, and they'd have a solid source of customers across the street in Webster U.

It is surprising they couldn't work something out with Craig Heller though. He seemed rather accommodating from the start, and willing to use LBB as a bit of a loss-leader. At least for a time. Maybe someone else can start picking up the tab.

^ Agree

The old Mosaic space just a block away is being leased for 120k a month. Heller was leasing this space for practically nothing. Why wouldn't he want more?

Downtown is not in decline and it's laughable that someone would ever recommend Clayton over downtown STL

downtown2007 wrote:^ Agree

The old Mosaic space just a block away is being leased for 120k a month. Heller was leasing this space for practically nothing. Why wouldn't he want more?

Downtown is not in decline and it's laughable that someone would ever recommend Clayton over downtown STL

A month? Or a year? How many square feet is it? How many sqfeet was Left Bank books in downtown?

I went to LBB once and there weren't many people there. I honestly don't even know if I have bought a book from a store since I visited the bookmobile as a kid. Nowadays we have this thing called the world wide web, where you can literally get "on-line" and type in a web address and go shopping somewhere like http://www.amazon.com or http://www.ebay.com.

Regardless, I bet a new bookstore will open in the Arcade. Colleges have student bookstores, so maybe they could combine that idea with a regular bookstore like LBB (that way it isn't just text books).


It may not be Paris, but it's okay. ^