urbanSTL

roger wyoming II wrote:^ According to wiki, it appears the One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) cost $3.8 billion with a floor area of 3.5 million sq. ft. That might be as expensive as it gets in the country.

It gets more expensive than that in Manhattan (if you're including land costs).

I was just referring to Cleveland and it being a small city. There's just no way a highrise would cost that much there. In NYC, just the building construction costs are around $600 per sq ft. And I bet thats twice as much as it would cost to build new in Cleveland.

Why isn't this building turned into something like the Chelsea Market meets the hippest retail boutiques in St. Louis? Perhaps just the first and second floors, and go from there. Why aren't the windows turned over to Wash U design students/ architecture/ fashion school etc. the photo wraps look great and all, but imagine where each window is given to a student to create something awesome..perhaps it would at least get people talking about the building.. Which I see Sansone is now marketing..

Imagine the first few floors turned into a whole new style, modern day "mall"... and boutique operators mostly, not just foot locker and the like..
http://www.dionco.com/tedtopping/CoolHunterRetail.htm

^ Ever since visiting NYC last year, I've been enamored with a couple of concepts that I think could be successful here.

One is Chelsea Market. The other is the Brooklyn Bazaar. The Bazaar would be better pulled off elsewhere, but Chelsea Market would be fantastic in RX. I wish it would happen.

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Crossing my fingers...

roger wyoming II wrote:Holy downtown redevelopment tsunami!

https://nextstl.com/2016/05/1-2m-sf-rai ... t-planned/

Woah!

Amazing. Incredible news! This could really turn some heads if this pans out. Just seeing all this construction going on downtown will definitely get people talking. Now if we could just get some streetscape improvements!


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Olive from Broadway to 8th isn't going to be recognizable in 5 years. I'm also hearing rumors that downtown YMCA might be relocating to NW corner of 6th and Locust. Railway Exchange redevelopment might be the shove they needed. Would probably look similar to the YMCA in downtown Houston.


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The downtown YMCA has been gathering comments about their future. I sent a few suggestions, including my support for this location. If you agree, the manager is verrrrry polite, drop her a line.


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These comments were added to the NextStl article. Looks like the rumors were right about the Rams negative impact on downtown....

Comments by Avi Greenbaum of Hudson Holdings added to story: Asked about factors supporting the redevelopment plan, Greenbaum stated, “None of these deals would be possible without historic tax credits. We’re very grateful to the state of Missouri and St. Louis leaders for supporting the program.” He also stated his belief that the departure of the NFL Rams will be an overall positive for the downtown hospitality market and that the team’s presence had been a negative influence on downtown convention business.

Quote from NextStl Facebook Page

Any idea how that 6th/Locust would work? 10 years ago, Gold's Gym was in that space for a little while.

Would this new location include all the amenities? pool, spa, sauna, etc?

Rams leaving was the best thing this city could have done the more and more i think about. The team itself was a black hole a few winning seasons along with the super bowl but i don't think the team truly felt like it was St.Louis' from start to finish. Its sad that we were actually fighting to keep that team here including myself but i honestly feel relieved.
Kroenke did us a favor and I'm sure his death will be celebrated by many St.Louisans and I'm not sorry say that after he tried to completely demoralize St.Louis.
He's simply the grinch
Anyways moving on to the REB this will be perhaps the most explosive development in the central business district the sheer size of the building alone will have so much foot traffic pending amenities and attractions. Then when you add the chemical sullivan then the locust block with an already completed arcade grocery store OPOT along with the possibility of YMCA this area will be blazing.
This is a reason to be optimistic about downtown.

Don't get excited yet



"Initial reports made it seem like the developer had experience in redeveloping large buildings -- they don't yet."
http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/2016/05/c ... -building/


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Also, I think it's worth remembering that these waves of announcements always result in a few projects coming to fruition. Whether in DT, CWE, or Clayton not every project pans out. But when there are signs of progress for JA, Chemical, Union Trust, Railway, and LaSalle - all of which have happened just in the last couple weeks and months - chances are a few will move forward and become a reality.

For every SkyHouse (DT), Mills Tower (CWE), or Montgomery Tower (Clayton), there have been multiple other projects that have succeeded. Basically, having a lot of projects in the pipeline is the best indicator of future progress. Downtown now has that.

Does anyone know what kind of work is currently being done inside the Railway Exchange building?

I was hoping for something exciting, but my hopes dropped when i saw the Woodard Cleaning & Restoration logos on the equipment outside...they have lanes of olive and 6th blocked for the equipment.