For buildings like '100' and 'Albion' the macro economy may not be as important as what is happening to job growth at Wash U/Barnes/SLU/BioSTL/Cortex/et al. Medically oriented research jobs in the area are facing the real risk of job declines over the next 3-4 years.
As an example Wash U has for two consecutive years been the second largest recipient of NIH funding - approx $700M per year.
Although the issue has yet to play out fully in the courts and in congress, the Trump administration is pushing for ~45%-50% cuts in the 2026 funding of both the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). They have already changed the approval process at both - putting newly installed staff flunkies (instead of science-based panels) in charge of grant approvals.
Wash U has a salary freeze on now - and I assume a hiring freeze. They have stated that if the proposed NIH cuts were in place in 2025 they would have had to cut 1,100 jobs. These would be staff and grad and pre-med students, many of whom house themselves in the central corridor. This does not even count the serious problems facing the new neuroscience center from proposed NSF cuts. They have already scaled back their ambitions. Add SLU and Cortex to the mix (and the risks in the economy) and you appear to have the real possibility of a disastrous climate for the CWE rental housing market for at least the next 3-4 years.
As an example Wash U has for two consecutive years been the second largest recipient of NIH funding - approx $700M per year.
Although the issue has yet to play out fully in the courts and in congress, the Trump administration is pushing for ~45%-50% cuts in the 2026 funding of both the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). They have already changed the approval process at both - putting newly installed staff flunkies (instead of science-based panels) in charge of grant approvals.
Wash U has a salary freeze on now - and I assume a hiring freeze. They have stated that if the proposed NIH cuts were in place in 2025 they would have had to cut 1,100 jobs. These would be staff and grad and pre-med students, many of whom house themselves in the central corridor. This does not even count the serious problems facing the new neuroscience center from proposed NSF cuts. They have already scaled back their ambitions. Add SLU and Cortex to the mix (and the risks in the economy) and you appear to have the real possibility of a disastrous climate for the CWE rental housing market for at least the next 3-4 years.
