The State of Downtown

bigmclargehuge · PostNov 07, 2014#7012014-11-07T00:53+00:00

All i know is downtown took a beating in the media/crime department the last month. Three maybe four daytime/Rush Hour shootings, A few random beatings, a few shootings on or around Washington in the late evening. Crime was still down for the year but i cannot remember a month with so many news grabbing incidents as this, since ive lived here that is.

I hope this all goes away and everyone forgets about it over the winter. Im trying to find a good gif to represent my property value dropping. . .

EDIT. . .Found it

downtown2007 · PostNov 07, 2014#7022014-11-07T00:58+00:00

Summer of 2012 was worse

gary kreie · PostNov 07, 2014#7032014-11-07T21:26+00:00

Saw this photo in the piece in the St. Louis Business Journal about the wonders of living in the Chase Park Plaza.

urban_dilettante · PostNov 08, 2014#7042014-11-08T02:53+00:00

^ WOW! beautiful shot! wish it were larger.

matguy70 · PostNov 08, 2014#7052014-11-08T05:18+00:00

Downtown Tonight (Friday 11/7 8:30-11:18p.m.)
Washington Ave. District (Broadway to Jefferson): Packed (including Copia)
OPO District: slower
Ballpark Village: Packed

jstriebel · PostNov 08, 2014#7062014-11-08T05:36+00:00

Is it really to Jefferson and not just to 14th? Hope so, just seems like that's been the part that's struggled.

TheNewSaintLouis · PostNov 08, 2014#7072014-11-08T06:47+00:00

Downtown will be just fine everything goes through cycles there be a time when jobs will be surpassing the growth of residents or both will be equal. I look at BPV as a much needed venue to downtown. Yes its competition for other business's but isn't that the name of the game though. Every business is competing against each other whether they collaborate or not.

True_dope · PostNov 08, 2014#7082014-11-08T14:08+00:00

I think over all BPV will help downtown but I would not be surprise if was ave was hurting before BPV.
. Seems like was ave never really recovered from the 2012 summer crimes and media stories ( remember that front page story on the post back in 2012.)
I also believe if and when BPV gets built out the money would spread around more

prophett · PostNov 08, 2014#7092014-11-08T14:23+00:00

There's a rather large convention currently DT. The crowds on Wash Ave were being driven by the convention. Also traditionally the next 3 months are the busiest months of the year for most restaurants and bars.

With little fan fare a new Mexican restaurant opened on Wash Ave last night.

Either way come Monday you better get out of dodge if you live DT. You may be stuck in your buildings for up to a week. Please stock up on food , beer , and water..You may be working from Home... Hopefully DT doesn't get to crazy come Monday afternoon.

goat314 · PostNov 08, 2014#7102014-11-08T15:43+00:00

^ but now the prosecutor has come out and said that the grand jury decision will not come out until next weekend at the earliest.

downtown2007 · PostNov 08, 2014#7112014-11-08T15:49+00:00

That's a church convention. Yeah it's large but they spend very little money and don't generate much ped activity.

Las Palmas opened at 19th and Washington. Try it out.

roger wyoming II · PostNov 10, 2014#7122014-11-10T19:44+00:00

Anyone who purchased a Power Ball ticket at the Gateway News Stand best check their numbers!

And please rehab the Jefferson Arms with your winnings!

Greatest St. Louis · PostNov 13, 2014#7132014-11-13T12:37+00:00

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/educ ... b7fad.html

Hope this doesn't affect Webster's plans to move downtown.

stlien · PostNov 13, 2014#7142014-11-13T18:15+00:00

Greatest St. Louis wrote:http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/educ ... b7fad.html

Hope this doesn't affect Webster's plans to move downtown.

It won't.

True_dope · PostNov 20, 2014#7152014-11-20T03:35+00:00

This is Clayton but did not felt this needed a new thread just for this but it seems Clayton is losing business over the protest there. Even Clayton is not safe from suburbanite fears
http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog ... ml?ana=twt

Ebsy · PostNov 20, 2014#7162014-11-20T07:49+00:00

I agree with the sentiment of the business owners. The threat of the grand jury decision hanging over everyone's head is poison. I want justice done, but this being dragged out like this as people descend into deeper hysterics is not helping St. Louis at all.

roger wyoming II · PostNov 20, 2014#7172014-11-20T23:25+00:00

There's been some progress the past couple weeks with permit activity....

720 Olive received building permits for the upper floor apartment conversion and Blues Museum submitted a building permit for $2.7 million. By this time next year we should have both of those completed as well as the Arcade-Wright/Webster U project, the Laclede Gas move to 700 Market, the improvements to the Park Plaza, the Marriot Courtyard and the Arch-related lid and Central Riverfront Trail. Hopefully 1900 Pine as well and several smaller projects.

True_dope · PostNov 21, 2014#7182014-11-21T01:47+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote:There's been some progress the past couple weeks with permit activity....

720 Olive received building permits for the upper floor apartment conversion and Blues Museum submitted a building permit for $2.7 million. By this time next year we should have both of those completed as well as the Arcade-Wright/Webster U project, the Laclede Gas move to 700 Market, the improvements to the Park Plaza, the Marriot Courtyard and the Arch-related lid and Central Riverfront Trail. Hopefully 1900 Pine as well and several smaller projects.

720 olive has a new leasing office now on the first floor.

roger wyoming II · PostNov 21, 2014#7192014-11-21T03:22+00:00

Saw a couple of recent items from the Atlanta & KC Biz Journals that touch upon our discussion here on how much jobs growth downtown may depend upon more residents.

in Atlanta, the huge boost in downtown and midtown residential is being cited by office building owners as a main reason for why office relocations back to the city center are on the uptick.

However, in KC, which is having downtown residential growth more on par of what we're seeing, a solar energy firm from California is signing 82,000 sq. ft. of downtown office space and bringing up to 600 jobs in the next few years while a tech firm from Minneapolis is signing up for 25,000 sq. ft. and adding 100 jobs. 107,000 sq. ft. and 700 or so jobs is a nice haul and the kind of success that we just aren't seeing from relocations.

I personally feel that more residents can only help in making downtown more attractive to companies, but that is no excuse for not landing successes like many other cities are seeing even though they aren't seeing boom residential growth.

stlien · PostNov 21, 2014#7202014-11-21T04:35+00:00

roger wyoming II wrote:Saw a couple of recent items from the Atlanta & KC Biz Journals that touch upon our discussion here on how much jobs growth downtown may depend upon more residents.

in Atlanta, the huge boost in downtown and midtown residential is being cited by office building owners as a main reason for why office relocations back to the city center are on the uptick.

However, in KC, which is having downtown residential growth more on par of what we're seeing, a solar energy firm from California is signing 82,000 sq. ft. of downtown office space and bringing up to 600 jobs in the next few years while a tech firm from Minneapolis is signing up for 25,000 sq. ft. and adding 100 jobs. 107,000 sq. ft. and 700 or so jobs is a nice haul and the kind of success that we just aren't seeing from relocations.

I personally feel that more residents can only help in making downtown more attractive to companies, but that is no excuse for not landing successes like many other cities are seeing even though they aren't seeing boom residential growth.

Off topic but, you always share great info, but hardly include links. Why's that?

And before you ask, yes, im lazy.

dredger · PostNov 21, 2014#7212014-11-21T06:06+00:00

Stlien, Roger posted the links. You just have to think about where to look.

I wonder if Sungevity, I believe, picked KC because of Google Fiber? Also, If so, I wouldn't be surprised Google owns a stake in them or someone involved in landing the move

I'm still expecting downtown to land a financial firm back office move and CORTEX to land a major west coast bio tenant. Like KC, cost wise makes sense for some of these West and East firms to look in either metro area.

roger wyoming II · PostNov 21, 2014#7222014-11-21T13:20+00:00

^ I'm not sure about Sungevity, but The Nerdery specifically mentioned Google Fiber and also the Cisco Systems initiative as great advantages for coming to KC. I'm also hopeful like you that we can land some financial tech firms to the city.... hopefully soon!

PostNov 21, 2014#7232014-11-21T13:42+00:00

stlien wrote:
roger wyoming II wrote:Saw a couple of recent items from the Atlanta & KC Biz Journals that touch upon our discussion here on how much jobs growth downtown may depend upon more residents.

in Atlanta, the huge boost in downtown and midtown residential is being cited by office building owners as a main reason for why office relocations back to the city center are on the uptick.

However, in KC, which is having downtown residential growth more on par of what we're seeing, a solar energy firm from California is signing 82,000 sq. ft. of downtown office space and bringing up to 600 jobs in the next few years while a tech firm from Minneapolis is signing up for 25,000 sq. ft. and adding 100 jobs. 107,000 sq. ft. and 700 or so jobs is a nice haul and the kind of success that we just aren't seeing from relocations.

I personally feel that more residents can only help in making downtown more attractive to companies, but that is no excuse for not landing successes like many other cities are seeing even though they aren't seeing boom residential growth.
Off topic but, you always share great info, but hardly include links. Why's that?

And before you ask, yes, im lazy.

Sorry about that. Here is a link to the KC action:
http://urbanstl.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 15#p242184

From the Nerdery article...
Drew Solomon, the Economic Development Corp. of Kansas City's coordinator for entrepreneurship and industry initiatives, said the EDC coordinated a multi-agency effort to help facilitate the expansion.

A similar effort helped attract another growing firm, Sungevity Inc., to Downtown earlier this month.

Come to the Lou, Drew, and show us how it's done, hon!

Here is the Atltanta article, which took me longer to relocate than I hoped....

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/real ... tower.html

In fact, office building owners believe the unprecedented number of Midtown high-rise apartment units are a catalyst for corporate relocations back to the city. That's because the new rental housing — as long as it remains relatively affordable — will convince college graduates from schools such as Georgia Tech and Georgia State University to continue living in the city once they enter the workforce.

Some metro Atlanta companies have already relocated back to the urban core to be closer to the universities, intown housing and amenities, and projects such as the Atlanta Beltline, which will connect dozens of city neighborhoods. Consider Coca-Cola, which moved from Cobb County to downtown's SunTrust Plaza tower, and athenahealth, which relocated from Alpharetta to Ponce City Market, the redevelopment of the former Sears, Roebuck & Co. building in the historic Old Fourth Ward.

I'll bill you through PM

johnwarren · PostNov 21, 2014#7242014-11-21T22:20+00:00

http://stlouisofficespace.blogspot.com/
I thought everyone might be interested to see actual stats in relation to how our CBD (Downtown) stacks up with other CBD's in terms of office occupancy, etc.

kbshapiro · PostNov 22, 2014#7252014-11-22T00:20+00:00

JohnWarren -- ouch. We have the highest amount of vacancy and the lowest rent. I guess on the positive, there's a lot of opportunity for company's that could take advantage of those stats.

The State of Downtown

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