urbanSTL

Point being, the Chinese delegation is coming to Saint Louis to continue discussions of basing a logistics air hub at Lambert International and contingently MidAmerica Airport. It is not actively pursuing other cities for such a hub, at least with any named competition between cities to vie for a hub.

^ Thanks for the cleanup and refocus to this thread.



Q: You mention that it’s feasible for a deal to be made by this summer; could you expand on this? While I have quietly thought this, especially amidst the needs to jumpstart both our countries’ economies imminently, I haven’t heard anything regarding an actual timeline.

I do recognize that these negotiations have definitely been fast-tracked by both sides, and I am so thankful to the domestic leaders’ quiet progressions versus a “Mission Accomplished”-esque premature celebration.



Meanwhile, the delegation of 70 Chinese representatives to the area is very significant for its size. I bet that this group includes both government officials, for both diplomatic negotiations & feasibility studies, and private sector business leaders at the executive level seeking active investment in the Metro Area. I bet officials from various Federal agencies are also involved at high levels here in town this weekend as a part of this.



They didn’t travel 8,000 miles for a baseball game, that’s for sure.

Nice coverage tonight on Fox. Maybe I haven't stayed up with the thread enough, I didn't realize Wash DC was also a competitor.

http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-stlouis-chi ... 4411.story



Front page headliner of Fox's website. Awesome! I love the mainstream attention on this and glad the news is covering such an optimistic story.



(Also, if this goes through, I would buy Express Scripts stock)

The Chicago & DC remarks were at the tail end of the Fox link.



Actually, I’m glad to hear that Chicago and DC are in the mix as well. When you consider the competitive advantages of both those cities to Saint Louis for what the Chinese are seeking in a cargo hub, it speaks well to our capabilities. Chicago’s airfields are both very heavily congested; I don’t even know if Midway could handle large cargo planes on their runways. Meanwhile, DC is great for East Coast (potentially), but it doesn’t address their Midwest needs, let alone land acquisition costs. Also, it shows that the Chinese delegations are conducting their own extensive diligence, of which Saint Louis offers a much more competitive product for logistics. Meanwhile, I could realistically see multiple & simultaneous US sites for such a deal; they have the manufacturing capacity.



For US headquarters, yes, I do expect Chinese firms to establish their bases of operations around the country, if for no other reason than there are so damn many companies running in China right now that no one metro area could hold all of them, not even NYC. Of course, I’d love to see Chinese firms establishing a major presence in StL for headquarters, with new skyscrapers jumping up all around Downtown, but I won’t lose much sleep if they like Chicago’s skyline more than ours. I do myself. Chicago’s proximity also could speak to their dedication to the Midwest in general; better there than if they were considering Philadelphia and DC. I’m also sure that there’s lots of open Class A space in Chicago right now just waiting for occupants, whereas a major influx of tenants would rapidly expire our immediate supplies. Who knows; maybe some companies would set up temp spots in Chicago and seek new construction here for long-term occupancy. After all, this whole thread is based upon reasonable speculation.



I’m also glad to hear that it’s Chicago and DC in the mix, as opposed to Indianapolis and Memphis.



What makes me most interested is the relative “blank slate” that StL can be for China for HQ & logistics establishments. We have a larger swath of land for them to develop, including area around Lambert for development, open sites in Downtown for new construction, and so much open land along 255 and 370 for warehousing and manufacturing. Here, they’d have a lot of sway in establishing themselves. Plus, as well as being committed in state & local leadership, StL interests were the ones who first broached the idea to the Chinese of establishing such a hub, and that initial relationship has clearly gone a long way and is sure to continue throughout all of this. These relationships, I believe, are at the heart of everything involved in these negotiations.



You know, setting up a series of towers could actually be seen as a consolidation of economic power in the US, with StL as the focal point, and be utilized for perceptions of de facto economic hegemony within the US markets. Not that it would be a complete truism or necessarily a bad thing, but a fascinating concept in ideas of theoretical diplomacy.



I remain cautiously optimistic of a deal being made in the relative near future.