urbanSTL

I mentioned it in another thread but it will be interesting to see how the low energy prices negatively impact certain regions....thousands are being laid off; the diversification of the Texas economy may prevent the boom/bust cycle but it will certainly hurt growth if things continue. And even areas rather new to the energy economy like Pittsburgh may see growth slow because of the fracking slow down. North Dakota had a good run though.

Anyway, I think Saint Louis is rather well-positioned to capitalize on the low energy prices and isn't significantly exposed to the downsides compared to some other regions.

^ good point... I also think low oil costs but a bump in the road for FarmWorks which was going to build a methane production plant as their first initiative but seems stalled. With respect to coal, though, that industry really is on the way out in the long term regardless of oil prices.

edit.... I also posted the Fed report on the Saint Louis Metro Market Reports thread.

The landing is struggling mightily.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 0224c.html

^Agree. Easy way to liven things up. It would be even better if some actual garment production and sales found their way back to Washington Avenue little by little. Adding some visual energy, though, would be a welcomed start.

shimmy wrote:The landing is struggling mightily.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... 0224c.html

All that one really needs to know about the Landing, and really all of downtown, is in this excerpt:

Taylor opened Hannegan’s 37 years ago. Five floors of Ralston-Purina executives rose above him. They packed into the cushioned wooden booths with brass lamps and ornamental florets. He had to have four bartenders working lunch just to keep up with drink orders.

“It was so busy down here in the early ’80s,” Taylor said. “But that’s gone.”

Over the last decade, the Landing has subsisted largely off tourists, parking at the Arch garage and wandering across Washington Avenue into the Landing for lunch or an afternoon beer. It still serves a small business crowd. And it has gathered a reputation for bar hops, late nights and messy drunks.

Until we attract more downtown office jobs and increase residential at a faster rate, downtown is just going to progress at a glacial pace. We need that virtuous circle of more jobs creating more residents creating more jobs creating more residents. Relying on stadia and tourists, etc. as a primary downtown economic development strategy is folly.

Is it gone already? I was under the impression the garage and Washington were still there, even if they do have the sword of Damocles hanging over them. If so how could you blame this for lacledes landing struggles.

My opinion is its a combination of reduced arch traffic due toco strict ion projects, the reconstruction of the cobblestone streets. The landing has always been a little hard to get to and wash Ave has been siphoning patrons for years. Now the nail I the coffin is Ballpark Village, which has captured the one remaining market the Landing still held on too; late night drunks. I don't mind that much because the landing desperately needs to grow beyond that demographic. It needs to become a premiere residential district. It could be painful for them in the meantime.

^ I believe they began earlier this week and the garage closed in December. Still confused about whether the Drury garage is going to move forward on Third.

^ No, we need more green space! (/sarcasm). It would have been great to cede that part back to the City and put in even something modest but nevertheless more activated like what they are doing with the Smale Riverfront Park on the Cincy Riverfront as part of the Banks project.... they'll be opening an enclosed structure with a edit: carousel and event space, etc. They are even using the guts of the bridge for . Having kind of a function of the Forest Park Visitor's Center to serve the Riverfront would be great. As for an Aquarium, I'd love to see something like that or other decent attraction go into the Union Electric Building.

Also, that webcam picture makes me want to hurl with all that emptiness on the Landing side. Too bad the Switzer didn't work out, but we need mixed-use infill to get on those empty lots.

per Biz Journal, some good news for a couple of the Wash Ave tech companies.... start-up RoverTown at T-REX raised $875,000 from local investors and has Dave Peacock joining the board. And the more established LockerDome continues to hire and should surpass 50 employees by fall.

Pittsburgh has it going on...

Peduto Pledges $35 Million to Complete Streets Project Downtown

Mayor Bill Peduto pledged to dedicate $35 million over the next five years to pursue a complete streets strategy for downtown Pittsburgh.

Peduto announced the financial pledge at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership's annual meeting as part of a strategy to establish a new public-private collaboration called Envision Downtown, a new organization to operate within the PDP to focus on complete streets priorities for land-use and infrastructure that would make the roads of downtown and beyond more accommodating to bikes and pedestrians along with cars.

“The $35 million is the seed money,” said Peduto, unveiling a plan to seek corporate and foundation funding sources as well...

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/n ... l?page=all

We need to get our downtown streetscaping program going and implement robust complete streets treatments.... my p.r. campaign would be to hype the lid project and stress we need to build on that success by making all of downtown more attractive and bikeable/walkable.