I put it here because his detailing (see the whole thread) of the development strategy is beyond Iron Hill which I felt was relevant to the current discussion of Cortex and its amount of auto-orientation.
^^^ I'm honestly more interested in mixed uses than a "24/7" neighborhood, but that's just my opinion. I live in a somewhat dense urban neighborhood right now and the last thing I would want is it to be bustling 24 hours a day lol.
^ Gotcha. I don't do Twitter, so I didn't bother looking through the thread.
aprice wrote:Is anyone else concerned that they changed the design? That rendering doesn't have that token sandcrawler look to it.
The rendering appears to be a different perspective from the West that we haven’t seen. I hope they kept the same design, it would be a shame if they didn’t.
PLEASE let an outside company with a large employee presence get this building full. Cortex needs a new anchor tenant. One that can inspire a new subset of startups.
I'd be really surprised to see the new group including Koman walk away from that project. Optimistically, the signage is gone because they're about to pull in site prep or the signage was worn and needed to be replaced.
Don't forget that Koman merged with Keeley Development Group, and is now known as KDG. Cortex K is listed on their "Pipeline" page. https://www.kdgi.com/pipeline
addxb2 wrote:PLEASE let an outside company with a large employee presence get this building full. Cortex needs a new anchor tenant. One that can inspire a new subset of startups.
Looks like tic-tac Tech (t•t•T) will be adding a significant presence.
As this is office and lab space, this could potentially push close to 200'. I would expect a tower crane, depending on the length of the building and how aggressive the construction schedule is we may see 2.
addxb2 wrote:PLEASE let an outside company with a large employee presence get this building full. Cortex needs a new anchor tenant. One that can inspire a new subset of startups.
Looks like tic-tac Tech (t•t•T) will be adding a significant presence.
Biz Journal interview with Dennis Lower was real interesting. Lots of good stuff in there including: potentially expanding the footprint of Cortex, either where they are now, or another location (downtown and the county were mentioned), an emphasis on geospatial technology, and excitement over the new WashU neurosciences research building - which will be 600,000 sqft - and how more companies and/or buildings will come because of that.
Really wondering if the "expansion of Cortex", and the addition of geospatial technology go hand in hand with the new NOW innovation district downtown...
^ I read that Biz article today as well, great article. But here's the key in my humble opinion and that is finding the right person to take his (Dennis Lower) place....that's the challenge.
Here's an excerpt that this Forum would certainly like:
In terms of the 200 acres here at Cortex, what's going to drive future physical development of this district?
I think there'll be three things. I think the geospatial consortium and the cyber consortium could really attract a lot of startups and established companies. The neurosciences research center, which is 600,000 square feet, was a wonderful decision that was made by the Washington University medical school to bring that research into the district. I think that building itself is going to drive additional buildings adjacent to it, of companies that are in the neuroscience field who want to be co-located across the street next to that seminal basic research. There are two or three very strong and globally recognized research initiatives that Wash U has, and neuroscience research is right at the top. The opportunity to commercialize that research could really drive one or two new buildings and attract established corporations that want to be next to it. Also, it can drive new startup companies in the neuroscience area. Then of course, the companies that are already here, We have a lot of IT companies and they're going to continue to spin out new tech.
We have confirmation that the new Wash U Neuroscience Building will be 600K sq.ft. Perhaps the two sites "adjacent" and "co-located across the street" are the two parking lots across the site's footprint along Duncan, east of the Facilities Building? Including the one behind Cortex One?
Regarding Cortex' expansion opportunities, I see potential for the current site's expansion and for a new location...
Current site expansion: I see them eventually working in the north side of Forest Park Parkway for office buildings, specifically between Sarah and Boyle. There's a couple smaller buildings (a print shop, a car restoration shop, a Salvation Army shop, and a Wash U Med facility for kidney disease) that all could be supplanted by either office space or residential. Concurrently, I see them actively furthering new residential coming on along Vandeventer between the 64/40 overpass going south to Manchester at the Chroma building. That's how you get the place into a mixed-use neighborhood, by building new residential along a further periphery to the current dedicated uses as a business office cluster, and rededicating the spaces between the current Cortex and the hip neighborhood surrounding it.
New location: Downtown West and the NoW Innovation District are key here. Dennis Lower mentioned how there is a great opportunity for non-coastal cities to bring in tech companies to new digs that don't cost as much as Boston, the Bay Area, and Sandy Eggo, and that maybe don't fit in with the "innovation culture" that Cortex has created. Perhaps they could attract some companies to locate operations proximate to Cortex in the Central Business District in new buildings that are related to the Cortex mission? I'm thinking of the empty lots that are currently all around the future Square offices at the old Post-Dispatch building as well as how the new MLS stadium will spur considerable demand in Downtown West, noting how many blocks nearby have either buildings minimally utilized and under-capacity (Butler Brothers) or remain empty and ready for new builds. Downtown West could readily get new buildings coming online similar in scale to either the Cortex K proposal or even the new WWT building in Westport, just got to harness that demand.
Read this article about Microsoft putting $250 million towards housing in Engineering News Record link and couldn't help think that Microsoft could easily expand CORTEX/St. Louis presence by giving up to 2500 employees a $100k bonus for either relocating to St. Louis and or new hires by offering student load debt forgiveness bonus (for x years of employment). Probably accomplish a lot more for its employees in terms of affordable housing by actually putting employees in areas with a lot of empty building stock and building plots. Another way to put it, businesses could do a lot about housing affordability crises by looking at new places and new ways to build their workforces when you got CORTEX and proposed NOW innovative districts gaining steam and recognition.
Instead, we see more of these big dollar housing proposals from big tech. Microsoft proposing $250 million in Seattle. I think Google, Facebook and Apple have proposed $3-$4 billion towards housing in Silicon Valley/San Fran where you have some of the highest land and construction costs in the world. Imagine what employees could do with those numbers in St. Louis and or other metro areas in fly over country
Current site expansion: I see them eventually working in the north side of Forest Park Parkway for office buildings, specifically between Sarah and Boyle. There's a couple smaller buildings (a print shop, a car restoration shop, a Salvation Army shop, and a Wash U Med facility for kidney disease) that all could be supplanted by either office space or residential. Concurrently, I see them actively furthering new residential coming on along Vandeventer between the 64/40 overpass going south to Manchester at the Chroma building.
All the chatter I've been hearing is that they plan to put residential right in the heart of the district, near the new med school building and the old printing plant they just rehabbed. Going north of FPP, I think Cortex will be limited due to the borders of their redevelopment area (if people are unwilling to sell, that is).
Seems like plenty of infill can happen even within current footprint when you account for CORTEX East and CORTEX K. A logical expansion to me is if CORTEX can focus on a couple of infrastructure projects to east, specifically new Pedestrian crossing between Foundry & Armory as well as an at grade intersection of FPP & Grand Ave, and go in with SLU on redrawing CORTEX boundaries to include Foundry & Armory footprints. From there look south along Vande & Sarah corridors into Grove with railroad freight tracks beings your natural boundary, or hard boundary. I think a few people have noted the underused railroad property for the old freight houses will be prime spot for future development.
I think the idea of somehow coming together on marketing, sales, shared development between CORTEX and future Downtown NoW District is a great idea. CORTEX can keep its tech/life/biosciences core while Downtown NoW District with Square becomes your geospatial/fintech focus