urbanSTL

dtgwvc wrote:I think a lot of upper business types hate work from home but only put up with it cause the labor market is so tight. I don’t know if this necessarily something to root for but a looser labor market could empower companies to enforce back to work policies without worrying about losing staff.


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Three companies in the same downtown St. Louis office building have renewed long-term leases over the past year, choosing to stay in their current offices and footprints after examining options elsewhere.
Two tenants have renewed leases in the past month at Gateway Tower, 1 Memorial Drive, and another renewed earlier this year, said Ben Albers of commercial real estate firm Newmark Zimmer, the leasing broker for the building, owned by New York investment firm Sovereign Partners.

Two architecture firms, Oculus and Fox Architects, renewed this fall, while the nonprofit Jefferson National Parks Association signed up for a new lease term earlier this year, Albers said. The deals range between five and seven years, he said. Oculus’ renewed lease for its 14,808-square-foot office was ranked by commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield as one of the largest lease deals signed in the region in the third quarter.
All three of the tenants examined other options before deciding to renew at Gateway, Albers said. Oculus considered moving to Clayton, as has been the trend with many of the companies moving from downtown, said Lisa Bell-Reim, co-founder and president of the firm. Rents downtown averaged $18.31 per square foot in the third quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield, versus $30.39 per square foot in Clayton.
The latest lease renewals are welcome news for a downtown that has struggled to recover after the pandemic and has lost some significant tenants, as vacancy has inched up since 2021, for example.
Another current downtown tenant, law firm Brown & James, has in recent months also opted to renew its lease at Bank of America Plaza, another downtown office tower.
It’s also welcome news for Gateway, especially given the pending departure of its longtime anchor tenant, television station KMOV, which is building out a new television station in Maryland Heights. Tenant ShipWorks, which leased about 10,000 square feet on the building’s top floor, also pulled out of its office there due to a pivot to remote work.

Tenants renewing at Gateway Tower considered the ease of staying in their current space; the proximity of Ballpark Village and its food and entertainment options; the office building’s location next to the Gateway Arch; and affordable rent that could run half what a tenant might pay in Clayton, Albers said.
Oculus decided to stay after an 18-month search in which the firm took tours and received offers from buildings in Clayton, elsewhere in St. Louis County and other buildings downtown, said Bell-Reim.
The decision to stay downtown for another five years came down to how much the firm likes its current office, Bell-Reim said. Gateway Tower is one of the closest office buildings to the Arch, and Oculus’ offices on the 14th and 15th floors have windows that give every employee an Arch view. It was renovated in 2019 just before the pandemic with new cafe areas, wellness rooms, huddle rooms, conference areas and modern amenities, she said.
“We really love the building we’re in because it has the best views of any building in the city. We have the catbird seat view of the Arch and the Arch grounds, which is amazing,” Bell-Reim said.
Although employees can grow accustomed to the sight, clients who visit “absolutely go gaga off the fact that there’s this beautiful national monument right in front of them that is spectacular,” Bell-Reim said.
The other architectural firm that renewed its lease in the building, Fox Architects, also has a 360-degree view of the Arch from its office windows.

At Oculus, employees work a hybrid schedule with time divided between the office and working remotely, Bell-Reim said. The firm has about 60 employees total, with about 35 in its St. Louis headquarters and the others divided between offices in Portland, Oregon, and Dallas.
The architecture firm has been headquartered in the city limits of St. Louis since it was founded in 1994. After operating during its first decade from the Central West End, Oculus has been at Gateway Tower ever since. Staying in the city limits was a major consideration, since the company has taken pride in a city location.
“We didn’t want to abandon the city. We were really excited about being there, and really believe that it’s not going to get better if everyone moves,” Bell-Reim said. “And I think it will get better. I think there’s a lot of positive things happening too.”
As part of the lease renewals, Oculus was able to negotiate for more parking inside Gateway Tower, which also helped sway the firm to stay, Bell-Reim said. One of the reasons the firm had chosen to look at county options was that parking might be closer, Bell-Reim said. By staying downtown, the firm also has a right of first refusal for adjacent office space in case it needs to expand.
Albers said Oculus and the other firms renewing also considered downtown's accessibility from the Metro East, with its workforce and customer base.

JaneJacobsGhost wrote:Gotta love the BJ’s bs. Paint the decision of these companies as one of charity and totally ignore the fact that they’re happy (1) with their building (2) with being downtown and (3) with having first class views of a world class monument.

STLEnginerd wrote:He is commenting on the tenor.  Information is there for those looking but cursory scan gives impression that the companies prioritized their presences impact downtown over what is best for their own employees.  For a casual reader this comes off as 'downtown sucks but were staying to make it better' instead of "downtown is has exciting momentum and we want to be part of it".  He is not wrong. 

JaneJacobsGhost wrote:I ran a search on the BJ’s website and they’ve made ZERO mention that General Dynamics opened its first office in StL in decades and did so Downtown.

Hard to believe a Business Journal could miss the arrival of F-500 company. Color me a downtown optimist all you want, if General Dynamics opened an office in Centene Plaza C, you would have heard about it in the BJ.

A little more than $20 million was collected from the tax — more than $3.5 million higher than what officials with the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission expected during the past fiscal year that ended in June. 
The commission, also known as Explore St. Louis, collects the 3.75% tax from hotels in St. Louis city and county. The tax is generated from nightly hotel stays.

Hotel taxes in St. Louis spiked 84% during the same year-over-year period — from July 2022 to June 2023 — while St. Louis County hotels saw an increase of 47%, the commission reported Wednesday during its monthly meeting. 

Officials cited the lifting of COVID-19 travel and meeting restrictions for the increase. They believe hotel tax revenues will increase again over the next fiscal year as leisure and business travel continues to rebound. 

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Nov 08, 2023

If you follow me Twitter and my taxable sales updates this isn’t news to you, I told you this months ago