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PostMay 20, 2020#151

Miss Shell wrote:Work for Square and just got the news today. WFH is only approved for employees meeting expectations, so we'll still have the office available for those who aren't as well as for people who feel more productive outside their homes. It's also my understanding that we'll still be adding employees in the STL region.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
What percentage of the workforce is meeting expectations? 80%?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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PostMay 20, 2020#152

The developer behind the NOW Innovation District is still very optimistic about the future, regardless of Square’s WFH plans.

Square also told the BJ today that it has no plans to “change its footprint” locally. So for now I assume things will continue as planned, just slower.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... e=facebook

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PostJun 07, 2020#153

One box of old bones discusses another:
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/col ... op-story-1

There is a video of Square's current progress on the PD building included, though.

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PostJun 09, 2020#154

^Hey, they're good bones. I for one always enjoy Bill McClellan. None of that has to the do with the fortune he wanted to give my grandfather. (Not his fortune to give, of course. Peggy Crane's. And she did give grandpa a little, but the bulk went to her nieces and nephews. No idea how the estate really got settled eventually, as the will ended up in court, which is how McClellan got involved. He thought the whole thing was tragically funny, I guess. I am, of course, inclined to agree. Peggy might well have felt the same way . . . but I expect she'd still have given the money to her nieces and nephews.)

Anyway, I'm off topic. Who better to see the old girl off than McClellan? He's about as emblematic of what the Post Dispatch once was as anyone.

And if you don't think he's funny . . . Go read NextSTL or something you Square techie. ;-) 

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PostJun 09, 2020#155

I enjoy McClellan. The key is not to take him too seriously; it's all strictly tongue in cheek. I get a kick out of they way most of his stories start something like "John Doe was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1932". 

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PostJun 10, 2020#156

^Right. It's all light-hearted humor and human interest.

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PostJun 10, 2020#157

framer wrote:
Jun 09, 2020
I enjoy McClellan. The key is not to take him too seriously; it's all strictly tongue in cheek. I get a kick out of they way most of his stories start something like "John Doe was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1932". 
Every single story he writes is the same story and just a few words re arranged.

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PostJun 11, 2020#158

^Oh, maybe. But it's a funny story. It's a well worn old pair of slippers of a story.

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PostJun 17, 2020#159

I have seen and heard a few stories like the one below from San Fran Biz journals noting some of the new proposed business taxes that San Fran is contemplating over the last week.   In some respects, I really do think Square's investment back into St. Louis has something to do with how San Fran  has been changing under the new mayor London Breed and simply the cost of living and business.    I also wonder if Twitter will consider moving part of its workforce out of the city.

I think Charles Schwab will go all in on relocating HQ to Texas after moving out a big part of business already.   I wonder if Wells Fargo is entertaining any or partial moves out

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisc ... s_headline

A bevy of business tax hikes and new levies could send more headquarters and jobs out of San Francisco, the group warns.

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PostJun 18, 2020#160

Future lobby from a couple days ago

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PostJun 18, 2020#161

Is that a new addition, or an original part of the building? 

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PostJun 18, 2020#162

From Google Maps it looks like that's the rear building that used to not have any windows. Wonder if those windows were behind those bricks, or if they had to cut them out? 

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PostJun 18, 2020#163

UrbanReviewSTL - Ugly Addition Being Transformed Into New Entrance To Former Post-Dispatch Building, Square’s New St. Louis Offices

http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/2020/06/u ... s-offices/

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PostJun 18, 2020#164

framer wrote:
Jun 18, 2020
Is that a new addition, or an original part of the building? 
Its always been there but you better believe i was confused as hack this past weekend when i walked by there and saw windows.

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PostJun 18, 2020#165

addxb2 started a thread under Stl Tech Scene, 'NOW Innovation District', back in May showing a dated master plan for the district. Page 3, along with his post, shows some renderings of this portion of the building.

now-innovation-district-t11887.html

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PostJun 18, 2020#166


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PostJun 19, 2020#167

Okay. I am impressed. Good luck to them!

Now . . . they really need railroad deliveries, right? They really want to print all their literature there, and maybe make plastic gadgets . . . How difficult will it be to dissolve a stadium's worth of styrofoam?

PostJun 19, 2020#168

^No wait !!!! I got it! They want to be green and modern and transit ready, right? Oh yeah! Hook that right on in to N/S, baby! And hop right across the McKinley to Venice, Madison, and Granite. Bingo baby! That'll get you some serious urbanist cred right there.

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PostJun 19, 2020#169

I understand the symbolic move to a North facing lobby, but I have to wonder how many will actually use it compared to the original rear lobby. Tucker and Cole are some of the widest streets in the city at this intersection, and there really isn't much to speak of around save for the McDonalds.

Columbus Square could be such a pleasant neighborhood if it just had some added mixed use elements. It wouldn't even take much to make the area feel safer and increase rents and granularity. Just some reasonable development up Tucker, build something nice on the old Learning Center Lot, and maybe replace/retrofit some existing corner buildings into shops. Bottle District would be a big help too but that is understandably a much larger undertaking.

Same thing with Carr Square. I look forward to seeing what Preservation Square does with their 14th street interface.

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PostSep 02, 2020#170

Not directly St Louis related, but Square is doing very well during the pandemic:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cash-apps- ... 1599039003

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PostFeb 25, 2021#171

Interesting article in San Fran Biz Journals talking about Square's current lease commitments, costs and how work from home changing things ups for company.   From San Fran HQ, to a major Oakland Lease to St Louis expansion.   From lease/real estate perspective it makes sense for long term to quit San Fran and either move its HQ to Oakland or St. Louis.   I doubt they would pull anything out of New York considering its status and presence to world financial markets, etc.    But I do think Square might consider a move out of San Fran and forthcoming taxes that have been voted and approved upon.    Between Oakland, St Louis and WFH they could easily accommodate everyone and then some with future growth.   

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisc ... space.html
  • Its 469,065-square-foot corporate headquarters at 1455 Market St. in San Francisco. That lease expires in 2023.
  • Uptown Station, a 355,762-square-foot building at 1955 Broadway in Oakland. The company entered into the lease there in December 2018 and had barely moved some of its employees into the building before the pandemic hit. Since early 2019, about a third of the space has been listed on the sublease market. The lease expires in 2031.
  • A 59,905-square-foot office in New York City, where its lease ends in 2025.
  • A 226,185-square-foot office in St. Louis, which it leased for 15.5 years in July 2019. The landlord is an affiliate of one of Square’s co-founders, Jim McKelvey, who is also a company stockholder and a member of its board, per the SEC filing. Square may terminate the lease for up to 50% of the space between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2026, and has the option to terminate the lease for the entire property on Jan. 1, 2034, but would be subject to penalties. Total minimum lease payments over the term of that lease are valued at roughly $42.7 million.

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PostMay 10, 2021#172

Square’s new North facing entrance. 
C031D84A-2D3A-4145-BB50-B0D4693ECC04.jpeg (2.22MiB)

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PostMay 10, 2021#173

argh... i hate the seams.

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PostMay 10, 2021#174

urban_dilettante wrote:
May 10, 2021
argh... i hate the seams.
What's that all about? The masons who built Bologna, Amsterdam, Cincy, St. Louis, and every other great brick city, didn't need seems (or at least not of that sort). Is it because it's easier (cheaper) to maintain the brick section-by-section over time? I don't think those are panels like Busch, I think it's actual brick. 

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PostMay 10, 2021#175

i just assumed it's brick veneer. otherwise not sure what they would be.

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