urbanSTL

^^ yeah there's zero chance of a 25-story anything. like Mayor said, lab space is expensive--lots of specialized systems and backup systems that you don't have in an office building. i'm guessing this development will comprise 2 or 3 six-ish story buildings similar to the McKinley Research Bldg at Taylor and McKinley on the med school campus.

^ gosh I'm so old I remember when that McKinley Building was such a big deal when built and now it'd be just another day of the week in a booming area.

Indeed, no way a tower. The site is about 4.5 acres.
300,000,000/4.5/43560 = $1530/ sq ft of land.
Lab space is $500/sf? So three stories. 4-5 to account for the land they'll waste on green space.
Remember NGA is a "$1.7B" project wherein $700M is the building and the rest in equipment.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 03, 2019

Indeed, no way a tower. The site is about 4.5 acres.
300,000,000/4.5/23560 = $1530/ sq ft of land.
Lab space is $500/sf? So three stories. 4-5 to account for the land they'll waste on green space.
Remember NGA is a "$1.7B" project wherein $700M is the building and the rest in equipment.

Can you explain your math? What is the "23560" number? And how did you get to 3 stories?

Oh sorry typo
$300M / 4.5 acres / 43560 square feet per acre.

This is what I was thinking that a 20+ floor building would be very out of context for Cortex.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 03, 2019

Indeed, no way a tower. The site is about 4.5 acres.
300,000,000/4.5/43560 = $1530/ sq ft of land.
Lab space is $500/sf? So three stories. 4-5 to account for the land they'll waste on green space.
Remember NGA is a "$1.7B" project wherein $700M is the building and the rest in equipment.

I still think it will be taller. This 130,000SF Neuroscience Building was completed in the Twin Cities area (St. Paul MN to be specific) in 2017 for $75 Million. It is 5 floors. A 3-floor parking garage is connected to it...
https://www.twincities.com/2017/04/03/7 ... -corridor/


Then this one started in late 2017 in Pasadena California at Caltech. This is 135,000SF spread out over 3 floors. This one has no parking garage. Cost: $175 Million
http://www.saifulbouquet.com/portfolio/ ... h-building


This next one is 12 floors, includes two wings and is under construction at the University of California San Francisco. The cost is $237 Million. There is an existing parking lot next door that will not be developed as part of this project in San Francisco.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisc ... n-bay.html


Because ours is expected to be $63 Million more than UCSF and include a parking garage, my final guess is a 8-10 floor building with a parking podium meaning that actual lab space is 6 floors. The design will be ok. Nothing breakthrough or special. It will be more along the lines of the Mid Campus Center.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 04, 2019

Oh sorry typo
$300M / 4.5 acres / 43560 square feet per acre.

I still don't understand how this math shows how large the building will be. Do you mind explaining further? I don't mean to be irritating, just want to understand.

I'm putting a lower bound on the building height from the parcel size and an estimate of the per sq foot costs of the building.
A $500 per square foot building that covers 100% of the parcel would be 3 stories
75% 4 stories
60% 5 stories

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 04, 2019

I'm putting a lower bound on the building height from the parcel size and an estimate of the per sq foot costs of the building.
A $500 per square foot building that covers 100% of the parcel would be 3 stories
75% 4 stories
60% 5 stories

Very clever. Thank you for the explanation.

The garage could take up a big chunk of that site. Will be around 2k spots.

Oh boy, more wealth thrown away. I hope some TIF money pays for it so once again SLPS school kids loose out for parking that drivers refuse pay for.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 05, 2019

Oh boy, more wealth thrown away. I hope some TIF money pays for it so once again SLPS school kids loose out for parking that drivers refuse pay for.

Not a fan either, but Washu does charge for parking (around $80/month), unlike BJ.

^ also there won't be any property taxes paid regardless of parking garage size.

gopherlou wrote: ↑

Mar 05, 2019

The garage could take up a big chunk of that site. Will be around 2k spots.

And all mere blocks from a shiny new public mass transit stop.

When will it end?

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Mar 06, 2019

gopherlou wrote: ↑

Mar 05, 2019

The garage could take up a big chunk of that site. Will be around 2k spots.

And all mere blocks from a shiny new public mass transit stop.

When will it end?

The same transit stop that isn't open yet?

The Mayor wrote: ↑

Mar 07, 2019

The Cortex station opened last year...

The CWE platform is only partially closed. Both nearby stations are operational.

Gotcha. Thanks.

Permit issued for parking lot at 4353 Duncan. $615k plus $142k for demo.

I won't say that the building is all that, but . . . grr. Four of the eight surrounding parcels are already surface lots. That's just dumb.

Yesterday (March 9th)...

Aloft Hotel



Crescent Building

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Mar 10, 2019

I won't say that the building is all that, but . . . grr. Four of the eight surrounding parcels are already surface lots. That's just dumb.

Optimistic spin on this, if I got address right in Google Maps, is this lot is in part to replace surface lot for Cortex I in the anticipated mixed use residential going in. Bigger lot getting a bigger building and a smaller building being replaced by a small surface lot.

Understand, plenty of surface lots to go around but thinking in terms of the possibility that both Cortex I mixed use and the next Wexford building are coming together sooner than later.

I hope you're right. (And that does make a bit of sense.) But man, it's past time to ditch the parking minimums. And also to maybe go more structured right around there.