urbanSTL

And we wonder why St.Louis’s downtown is such a sh*t hole. These companies that gripe about the city & downtown being unsafe are the exact symptoms of why St.Louis will never be more than what it is now. We can do better but we refuse to do better fall into the same habits like a drug addict & alcoholic. All these companies say they want to see downtown prosper but refuse to locate offices in downtown it’s not even comical anymore it’s become a virus with no cure.


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It sounds like they might just be taking a few floors, that's hardly an HQ. Downtown might still be in this.

^ That's what I was thinking. 

The article even says it's unclear what Emerson's intentions are. 

There's very little reason for Emerson to take a chance on downtown when space is available all around. They'd need to get a really good deal. Their employees won't appreciate the crime or extra taxation. Location and commute times could also be affected negatively or positively, but that will always be private info.

My two cents for a West County company, whether it is a HQ move or not, to trend eastward and for office space in a more urban setting with decent transit access with core/St. Louis city itself is a plus.   Ideally, would love Cordish/DeWitt take a gamble on some speculative space for another BPV office building if it meant landing a part of Emerson.   

The flip side is simply playing musical chairs with the multitude of west county suburbia space that is already out there or maybe worse yet becoming an anchor on a new West County stand alone office building, think the new development around Chesterfield mall, etc.. 

Aesir wrote: ↑

May 09, 2023

There's very little reason for Emerson to take a chance on downtown when space is available all around. They'd need to get a really good deal. Their employees won't appreciate the crime or extra taxation. Location and commute times could also be affected negatively or positively, but that will always be private info.

This attitude (which sounds like the St. Charles yokels on the PD comments section) unfortunately also seems prevalent among the corporate community, beginning in the 70s when Edward Jones left downtown for West County (a move that seemed baffling to the corporate community at the time btw) and is the exact reason that we are in this mess to begin with.  You don't have to look too far to see other cities corporate leadership committing to making their downtowns better, we just don't really have that here.  While keeping the corporate headquarters here in the metro is still a net positive, Lal's own editorial in the PD talked about being "here for the long haul, ready to do our part to help the region thrive" and he talked specifically about the business community working together to improve the overall perception of the region.  The perception comes from the city, specifically downtown.  Staying put in north county or locating in Clayton will help those parts of the metro, but it will just be more of the same and will do nothing to solve the very problems he is talking about.  

So while I do agree it's tough to take a risk on downtown (and I don't blame small companies for not doing so), it's companies like Emerson that have the ability (and responsibility IMO) to do so. Quicken Loans stepped up for Detroit, H&R Block did for KC, Northwestern Mutual did for Milwaukee, etc.  While Stifel, Peabody, HOK, etc. all staying helps, downtown (and the region) needs an Emerson to take that leap first to begin the turnaround.  Just think, when Centene pulled out of BPV and built in Clayton, there were ripple effects.  Armstrong Teasdale left downtown for the newest shiny office, Bank of America consolidated operations in new Clayton buildings (some from DT).  

Over time we will see how truly sincere Emerson is about improving the region, it really won't happen without renewed focus on downtown, whatever that looks like for them.

STLEnginerd wrote: ↑

May 26, 2023

to be fair while the jobs may reside in clayton locating in clayton allows the employee to live adjacent to multiple metro stops, many of the most appealing of which are in the city, and can live a car free urban lifestyle if they choose too.  So still a positive for urban metro, and a net positive for the city (just not AS positive for the city as it could have been).

Sure - the region as a whole is better with Emerson than without, that much is true (and obvious).  It also does not help the perception of the region.  No one (even those who live here) thinks about Clayton when they talk about the state of our entire region.  Visitors don't go home and tell their friends how awesome their tour of Ballwin was.  And few are interested in relocating here if we do not have a strong downtown.  If you recall Neidorff's interviews, he talked at length about how Centene, a company not based in downtown, had trouble recruiting because of the bad press about downtown.  I know there are a lot of issues but I truly believe a more lively downtown will go a long way to help our stagnant growth (which presumably a company like Emerson wants to see get better).

I get that, to some extent, it's not their problem.  However, it is also a lot of their own doing when they are complaining about recruiting.  They need downtown to be strong to help their overall businesses.  And it won't take one company, if only Emerson relocates downtown, it will help, but probably not a ton.  But it's a start.  Just think of companies that are/were in motion over the last few years - Bunge, Rawlings, Energizer, Perficient, etc.  Combine those with big names that left downtown, KMOV, Brown & Crouppen, Simon Law FIrm, Polsinelli, etc. If a few of these companies got together and committed, they could really go a long way to change the perception of the entire region.  But that is certainly more difficult than complaining about slow growth, recruiting complications, and working in an office park that looks the same as every other office park in the US.

I don't know how to solve it - I suppose that's what Greater St. Louis Inc is attempting, but there could certainly be a better effort from city hall to help.  Bottom line though, we need the corporate community to step up and take a risk (collectively or otherwise) or nothing will change.  Period.  So the question is how do we, as a region, get their buy-in (literally and figuratively)?

Emerson moving HQ to Clayton:
https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/emers ... m-clayton/

kipfilet wrote: ↑

Jun 09, 2023

Emerson moving HQ to Clayton:
https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/emers ... m-clayton/

To start, let me say this - it's an important win for the region to simply maintain Emerson's presence here.  WIN

However, the unmitigated gall of these people....

Mid 20th century (not sure when), move out of the region's core, contributing the the deterioration of said core.  Move to Ferguson. 

In summer 2014,  Ferguson becomes ground zero for what is wrong's with this region.

2022, tell the world that you're moving from Ferguson and maybe STL because STL sucks so bad.

Summer 2023, move from Ferguson to the highly insulated community of Clayton.

STLEnginerd wrote:Oh geez,

II don't think its fair to conflate the sin of moving out of the core with the people making the current decisions.  The people in the mid 50s were obviously totally different and responding to a totally different set of business pressures and and values.  The current crop didn't exactly threaten to leave St. Louis so much as they said they were not ruling anything out and that was a very short time (weeks?) before they settled on staying in the region AND as far as i know they didn't disparage St. Louis in the statement or in any other way.  Kroenke did for instance and he was a a****t for doing so.

They chose Clayton which I will agree is not exactly a courageous choice but is better for the region than staying put in Ferguson or heading to Chesterfield and reflects a shift in values.  It will also present the most outwardly prosperous image of St. Louis amongst their various employees, customers and suppliers who are visiting their headquarters which make a positive impression which IS in aggregate of immense value.  Additionally not all 400 employees will be able to afford to live in Clayton and Ladue.  Many will choose the city for residence which isn't a bad consolation.

"Unmitigated Gall" is a little over the top IMHO.

Totally agree with the above. Hopefully we can at least get some younger Emerson employees taking the MetroLink from the City to Clayton. I would guess most of their current employee base is out in the County, or even St. Charles.


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Seems to me that if the CEO genuinely wanted to go downtown like he claimed, he would have just done it…who would stop him?