Answers.com coming downtown would be an awesome new addition to the vibrancy of downtown. I believe they have over 200 employees. Is there enough space on the first floor to support 200+ employees? With the Blues Museum opening around Labor day this year does the MX want to give up that prime retail location for office rent rates?
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^ I was joking about Answers going into the M/X.... I think the apparently top-secret buzz is about an awesome restaurant moving into the Takaya spot.
My best speculation for real though on Answers is that maybe they are the client that Green Street supposedly has secured for their office building across from Wells-Fargo. But if they are expecting to expand rapidly that might not meet their needs.
My best speculation for real though on Answers is that maybe they are the client that Green Street supposedly has secured for their office building across from Wells-Fargo. But if they are expecting to expand rapidly that might not meet their needs.
Pittsburgh Biz Journal has a video up of a panel on what their downtown might look like in 10 years...
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/n ... in-10.html
it's not terribly exciting and is kind of hard to hear so not particularly worth watching but it does get me to thinking about ours. I'm pretty optimistic that if the general socio-economic trends continue we'll have a much more robust downtown. Among other things, I'd love to see:
-- a population approaching 25,000
-- a growing employment base fueled by maturing start-ups and established companies moving back to the CBD
-- a nearly complete rehab of historic buildings and no or minimal loss of existing historics
-- significant infill in Downtown West, the Landing and Near North Riverfront
-- a handful of taller infill buildings, but modest height for the vast bulk is okay
-- at least one new form of rapid transit connecting through downtown
-- a huge dent made in homeless population done in an effective and humane manner
Along with progress in Midtown, we'd essentially have a Central Corridor with a lot more vitality than today stretching from the river to Clayton with few gaps.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/n ... in-10.html
it's not terribly exciting and is kind of hard to hear so not particularly worth watching but it does get me to thinking about ours. I'm pretty optimistic that if the general socio-economic trends continue we'll have a much more robust downtown. Among other things, I'd love to see:
-- a population approaching 25,000
-- a growing employment base fueled by maturing start-ups and established companies moving back to the CBD
-- a nearly complete rehab of historic buildings and no or minimal loss of existing historics
-- significant infill in Downtown West, the Landing and Near North Riverfront
-- a handful of taller infill buildings, but modest height for the vast bulk is okay
-- at least one new form of rapid transit connecting through downtown
-- a huge dent made in homeless population done in an effective and humane manner
Along with progress in Midtown, we'd essentially have a Central Corridor with a lot more vitality than today stretching from the river to Clayton with few gaps.
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^^ I was thinking, is there many other cities that have a corridor development similar to here? Since it seems the way the development is its not that common and the example I can see that is similar is Atlanta. (And even at that the St. Louis Central Corridor is twice the length)
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Memphis has a similar central corridor development pattern to St. Louis. It's not as dense as ours, but it runs basically from downtown all the way east to the eastern suburbs.imperialmog wrote:^^ I was thinking, is there many other cities that have a corridor development similar to here? Since it seems the way the development is its not that common and the example I can see that is similar is Atlanta. (And even at that the St. Louis Central Corridor is twice the length)
http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/reade ... 58044.html
KC must be doing something right. Wonder why things are slower in our downtown?
KC must be doing something right. Wonder why things are slower in our downtown?
^ I think you can rehash some things that have been talked about but some items that come to mind that have been advantageous for KC as of late.
One big city vs. St. Louis County/St. Louis City divide. Especially when county is 1 million vs a city of less than 400k. Why does that matter? Politically it is huge in how things are built and corporate incentives are divvy out.
1) Infrastructure for one - County is and will push for Daniel Boone metrolink extension over North-South that has a better shot over federal funding. Worse yet, county decided to pay off cross county bonds with prop A funding via a nifty loan trick so no foreseeable funding in future to add. KC might have a smaller fixed transit system but talk about a good and well placed first start.
2) GSA is another example of city position in the political structure of the region. The city simply doesn't have the political pull from keeping VA jobs from moving out of the downtown. This is being played out on a bigger scale with NGA. While most might agree that the city picked for a NGA site sucks. Part of the issue is the city is reacting because it simply doesn't have the political pull in the region to bend the requirements or drive the bus. So city found a big swath in the heart of an established TIF area and declared eminent domain.
3) Corporate expansion for St. Louis in the last decade has been with companies in the county. To put it simply, the county has no incentive and or political desire to move companies into the city. It comes down to the hard cold fact that a Corporate Executive makes that call. So far, outside of Centente, how many Corporate execs have even tried?
So that is my political structure issue. But, I also agree that Slay as well aldermen is far from being bold and lacking clear leadership in a couple areas.
1) Infrastructure. Yes, city is not getting North-South handed to them on a silver platter. However, what about central corridor streetcar? or even a phased plan that would take the streetcar into the heart of north and south neighborhoods on the proposed North-South alignment? I also think Slay messed up by not embracing the low hanging fruit of demolishing raised section of I70 freeway downtown for boulevard. The idea looks even better with a new proposed N. Riverfront stadium. Finally, aldermen need to get of their rump and put together the bond bill for voters. Let things fall apart is not a plan for bringing back growth.
2) Push back on the Rams Stadium proposed sea of parking. With some tweaks you save Broadway, a lot of grieve from local businesses putting money back into St. Louis and a much much better plan. In other words, Nixon cut a deal with Ameren and Terminal Railroad. It is now Slay's turn to come back with a much better parking plan.
3) The MO statehouse did the right thing and gave City back its control the Police Department. Slay and the city have a lot to do on the crime and trust front. Get busy Slay!! Hiding behind your police chief is getting pathetic. Assuming that the only that needs to be done is pension reform is out right dangerous.
4) Not backing Cordish bonds was the right thing to do. But your chance to make something happen on the Landing is now. Find a way to help Drury build a new residential tower on the landing, getting more ballroom space for the convention center and getting a tenant for ATT One Center is priority one for downtown. The region is spending money on Arch grounds and the Riverfront trail. The City needs to come up with a hit or two.
One big city vs. St. Louis County/St. Louis City divide. Especially when county is 1 million vs a city of less than 400k. Why does that matter? Politically it is huge in how things are built and corporate incentives are divvy out.
1) Infrastructure for one - County is and will push for Daniel Boone metrolink extension over North-South that has a better shot over federal funding. Worse yet, county decided to pay off cross county bonds with prop A funding via a nifty loan trick so no foreseeable funding in future to add. KC might have a smaller fixed transit system but talk about a good and well placed first start.
2) GSA is another example of city position in the political structure of the region. The city simply doesn't have the political pull from keeping VA jobs from moving out of the downtown. This is being played out on a bigger scale with NGA. While most might agree that the city picked for a NGA site sucks. Part of the issue is the city is reacting because it simply doesn't have the political pull in the region to bend the requirements or drive the bus. So city found a big swath in the heart of an established TIF area and declared eminent domain.
3) Corporate expansion for St. Louis in the last decade has been with companies in the county. To put it simply, the county has no incentive and or political desire to move companies into the city. It comes down to the hard cold fact that a Corporate Executive makes that call. So far, outside of Centente, how many Corporate execs have even tried?
So that is my political structure issue. But, I also agree that Slay as well aldermen is far from being bold and lacking clear leadership in a couple areas.
1) Infrastructure. Yes, city is not getting North-South handed to them on a silver platter. However, what about central corridor streetcar? or even a phased plan that would take the streetcar into the heart of north and south neighborhoods on the proposed North-South alignment? I also think Slay messed up by not embracing the low hanging fruit of demolishing raised section of I70 freeway downtown for boulevard. The idea looks even better with a new proposed N. Riverfront stadium. Finally, aldermen need to get of their rump and put together the bond bill for voters. Let things fall apart is not a plan for bringing back growth.
2) Push back on the Rams Stadium proposed sea of parking. With some tweaks you save Broadway, a lot of grieve from local businesses putting money back into St. Louis and a much much better plan. In other words, Nixon cut a deal with Ameren and Terminal Railroad. It is now Slay's turn to come back with a much better parking plan.
3) The MO statehouse did the right thing and gave City back its control the Police Department. Slay and the city have a lot to do on the crime and trust front. Get busy Slay!! Hiding behind your police chief is getting pathetic. Assuming that the only that needs to be done is pension reform is out right dangerous.
4) Not backing Cordish bonds was the right thing to do. But your chance to make something happen on the Landing is now. Find a way to help Drury build a new residential tower on the landing, getting more ballroom space for the convention center and getting a tenant for ATT One Center is priority one for downtown. The region is spending money on Arch grounds and the Riverfront trail. The City needs to come up with a hit or two.
I think we should all remember that Kansas City's recently completed stadium is not exactly a resounding success story.
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Which one are you referring to? Sprint Center is doing well and I've only heard positive things about the Sporting KC stadium.
Sprint Center still has no sports team, and simply took most of their convention business from the Kemper Arena. KC is now probably going to just tear down the Kemper Arena as it is basically vacant and decaying at the moment. Really a gigantic waste of money that KC is not going to recover from the convention business that they were pretty much already getting.chaifetz10 wrote:Which one are you referring to? Sprint Center is doing well and I've only heard positive things about the Sporting KC stadium.
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Completely disagree. It's doing fantastic hosting concerts and special events. In a way, not having a professional team is allowing it to host more events as they don't have to schedule around home games.
The tax revenue from those conventions is not nearly enough to justify building the Sprint Center, according to the Kansas City planner interviewed by Elliott Davis.
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Just a few questions:
Could KC be going through it's Downtown revitalization, just as we did in STL in the 2000's up to the recession? These 'boom times' come in cycles. I think KC was due for some growth Downtown, especially since I'm sure Google Fiber gave them a bump in start-ups and younger residents. Not sure how sustainable that will be, as Google expands its presence in other cities. I think Austin, already booming and experiencing epic growth, will really benefit from Google's presence.
Will the 'boom' going on in our central corridor eventually spread into Downtown? I think more people coming to town because of IKEA, Midtown Station and development that piggy-backs off of that, could lead to the 'boom' spreading to Downtown and the Grove. The presence of Webster U's expanded campus and SLU Law School will help with younger college students moving down there. The addition of a streetcar connecting CWE and DT will help.
One place I've seen slow down is the Midtown Alley area, which is kind of a connector area between CWE and DT. Anyone know what is going in that area and why it is lagging.
What are the projections for Downtowns population in 2020? Anyone?
Could KC be going through it's Downtown revitalization, just as we did in STL in the 2000's up to the recession? These 'boom times' come in cycles. I think KC was due for some growth Downtown, especially since I'm sure Google Fiber gave them a bump in start-ups and younger residents. Not sure how sustainable that will be, as Google expands its presence in other cities. I think Austin, already booming and experiencing epic growth, will really benefit from Google's presence.
Will the 'boom' going on in our central corridor eventually spread into Downtown? I think more people coming to town because of IKEA, Midtown Station and development that piggy-backs off of that, could lead to the 'boom' spreading to Downtown and the Grove. The presence of Webster U's expanded campus and SLU Law School will help with younger college students moving down there. The addition of a streetcar connecting CWE and DT will help.
One place I've seen slow down is the Midtown Alley area, which is kind of a connector area between CWE and DT. Anyone know what is going in that area and why it is lagging.
What are the projections for Downtowns population in 2020? Anyone?
Is the Sprint Center in a better location to spur more nearby developments than Kemper?Ebsy wrote:Sprint Center still has no sports team, and simply took most of their convention business from the Kemper Arena. KC is now probably going to just tear down the Kemper Arena as it is basically vacant and decaying at the moment. Really a gigantic waste of money that KC is not going to recover from the convention business that they were pretty much already getting.chaifetz10 wrote:Which one are you referring to? Sprint Center is doing well and I've only heard positive things about the Sporting KC stadium.
Yes, it is, but as of right now the Kemper costs the city of Kansas City one million dollars a month to sit empty, and there has been shuffling back and forth for months over plans for the site. The figures I have seen is that the Sprint Center brings in 1.8 million dollars a month in revenue for the City, so most of the $800,000 not being sucked up by the Kemper goes to paying down the debt left over from the construction of the Kemper as well as the 296 million (estimated to shoot up to 500 million dollars with interest) taken on to build the Sprint Center. How many years is it going to take for the City of Kansas City to break even on it? I doubt the Sprint Center will even be standing by the time that happens.
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Downtown already is part of the residential "boom" and likely has remained the leading neighborhood for population growth. It is starting to see more competition from other neighborhoods, but I'd argue it still is doing okay when you look at the numbers. I agree on Midtown Alley; I'd like to see more going on there and in Downtown West to help create a more seamless Central Corridor.DogtownBnR wrote:Just a few questions:
Could KC be going through it's Downtown revitalization, just as we did in STL in the 2000's up to the recession? These 'boom times' come in cycles. I think KC was due for some growth Downtown, especially since I'm sure Google Fiber gave them a bump in start-ups and younger residents. Not sure how sustainable that will be, as Google expands its presence in other cities. I think Austin, already booming and experiencing epic growth, will really benefit from Google's presence.
Will the 'boom' going on in our central corridor eventually spread into Downtown? I think more people coming to town because of IKEA, Midtown Station and development that piggy-backs off of that, could lead to the 'boom' spreading to Downtown and the Grove. The presence of Webster U's expanded campus and SLU Law School will help with younger college students moving down there. The addition of a streetcar connecting CWE and DT will help.
One place I've seen slow down is the Midtown Alley area, which is kind of a connector area between CWE and DT. Anyone know what is going in that area and why it is lagging.
What are the projections for Downtowns population in 2020? Anyone?
I think what midtown and downtown west need more pedestrian orientated lights it looks kind of scary after dark. That could be a cheap way to get the ball going. Did any one saw the new pedestrian lights around US bank plaza those would look nice when it is done. Did US bank put them in or is it part of a larger project?
I think west downtown really needs the failed 22nd street parkway to go away and the investment into the new blvd, street grid as envisioned. The one part of McKee's northside plan that makes sense if he can pull off a bookend Class A office tower on the West end of the Gateway Mall.
That would be the best thing to happen but I am just saying something that can be done in weeksdredger wrote:I think west downtown really needs the failed 22nd street parkway to go away and the investment into the new blvd, street grid as envisioned. The one part of McKee's northside plan that makes sense if he can pull off a bookend Class A office tower on the West end of the Gateway Mall.
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^fixing the Larry rice situation would probably help too. Making it much more comfortable to be a pedestrian going from downtown west to the CBD.
NLEC should be closed or highly regulated by may. I am surprised Larry Rice had not try to sue the city yet.STLEnginerd wrote:^fixing the Larry rice situation would probably help too. Making it much more comfortable to be a pedestrian going from downtown west to the CBD.
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roger wyoming wrote:
I agree. I've also noticed the 'gateway' areas from Downtown to Midtown are dark, desolate and empty, especially at night. There is a great deal of work to do, to connect the west end of Downtown, to Midtown. It would have been nice for the Wells Fargo campus to be in the middle of Downtown, instead of creating that island almost dividing Downtown from Midtown. I still think Midtown Alley has the potential to be a great destination area. It was getting there and seems to have lost steam. Institutions like Pappy's really help that cause. The added traffic in the area due to the IKEA, Midtown Station and new residential, should present opportunities for that area, I hope.
I guess I can see that. I guess that's because most of the Downtown residential boom consists of rehab of old buildings, versus new construction. As we always say, Downtown needs to get all of it's old buildings done, fill them up and get to the point where new construction can become a reality. With midtown, we are seeing new construction and that paints a better picture of a boom to some. What I want to see is a big increase in population. As mentioned, that is what is going to bring life to Downtown, people!Downtown already is part of the residential "boom" and likely has remained the leading neighborhood for population growth. It is starting to see more competition from other neighborhoods, but I'd argue it still is doing okay when you look at the numbers. I agree on Midtown Alley; I'd like to see more going on there and in Downtown West to help create a more seamless Central Corridor.
I agree. I've also noticed the 'gateway' areas from Downtown to Midtown are dark, desolate and empty, especially at night. There is a great deal of work to do, to connect the west end of Downtown, to Midtown. It would have been nice for the Wells Fargo campus to be in the middle of Downtown, instead of creating that island almost dividing Downtown from Midtown. I still think Midtown Alley has the potential to be a great destination area. It was getting there and seems to have lost steam. Institutions like Pappy's really help that cause. The added traffic in the area due to the IKEA, Midtown Station and new residential, should present opportunities for that area, I hope.
It would be great if Wells Fargo could follow in Wash U or SLU's foot steps and invest directly in the neighborhood. Put up street lighting, buy properties, etc. But they are a for-profit business, so I get why they don't.
We should rebuild the street grid and try to get downtown downtown west, midtown, carr square the the area between downtown, soulard and Lafayette square. With a combine population of 100,000 by 2040 that would be a huge serge of growth that would make it that hart of the region. I feel this goal can be done.
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I would bet money that he will. But he's going to hold out as long as possible before suing to get as much of a delay as possible. Why sue now when you can wait closer to May and get that extra few months of no regulations (assuming he get's a judge to put a TRO on any city regulations).True_dope wrote:NLEC should be closed or highly regulated by may. I am surprised Larry Rice had not try to sue the city yet.STLEnginerd wrote:^fixing the Larry rice situation would probably help too. Making it much more comfortable to be a pedestrian going from downtown west to the CBD.