urbanSTL

Coming from DBs post regarding GSL revamp of Gateway Mall and need for $3M to complete demo of parking garage.

Why hasn’t GSL or its real estate arm found a way to close the $3M gap for SLDC? It seems like a high priority project considering their involvement in 7th street and $3M is so relatively low. Are there politics here or is the business arm of GSL that weak?

I was also hopeful that GSL would find vision for the canceled convention center plaza. Orchestrate a corporate sponsor or propose something.

I appreciate the Gateway Mall and would like to see a new vision implemented but I hope there is more in the pipeline for GSL downtown.

GSL feels like that it already invests enough money and some things needs to be done by the City

Expansion of a 1100 Washington CID requested by Alex Oliver and team. Looks like $500,000 over five years for "Support business activity and economic development in the District"
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/c ... bined2.pdf

Just feels like it would be a win for the city and downtown if aldermen could commit at least a portion of the Rams funds for TIF like support of Railway Exchange (say demo garage above) or 909 Chestnut development (in lieu of state incentives) or just even some good of infrastructure such as more sidewalk/trees/mobility improvements.   

Feel the same way about committing a portion of Rams  funds to getting Convention Center Phase II over the finish line even though it sucks that you carrying the county's water.   But as noted by the recent AI convention.   Downtown is clearly benefits with strong convention bookings.   Plus, maybe it help support argument for JW Marriot Live downtown, say at the Cordish new development site.  

Law firm Knight Nicastro MacKay moved from the Security Building to 100 South Brentwood in Clayton. I'm not sure how many employees they have in their St. Louis office, but I don't think it's more than a dozen.

The latest Rams legislation called for $10Mish out of $75Mish for the Railway. And the other $65M would be part of a downtown infrastructure package. DB, is this right? 

I see this infrastructure package as a part of funds that could go to Olive Street, 14th, and Tucker, in addition to street-level experience upgrades. (wider sidewalks, dedicated cycle lanes, expanded tree lawns, paint, art, seating, displays, road diet, etc).

I'd love to see a part of the funds offer bridge grants for these projects. (really any new construction or preservation of existing buildings). 

jonkleinow wrote: ↑

Dec 02, 2025

Law firm Knight Nicastro MacKay moved from the Security Building to 100 South Brentwood in Clayton. I'm not sure how many employees they have in their St. Louis office, but I don't think it's more than a dozen.

it was a pretty small team, now of the 3 namesake partners were local

You hinted a few months back to this thread becoming more active soon. Are the city/gsl proposals the root of that optimism or do you have other things you’re looking forward to?

I think it will be a big Q1 2026 for downtown

Sounds exciting!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

jonkleinow wrote: ↑

Dec 02, 2025

Law firm Knight Nicastro MacKay moved from the Security Building to 100 South Brentwood in Clayton. I'm not sure how many employees they have in their St. Louis office, but I don't think it's more than a dozen.

100 S Brentwood was pretty much completely vacated recently so looks like 50,000ish sq feet of office has come onto the market for Clayton.  Hoping it's filled by companies that are further out west vs. downtown but it will likely get filled.

The weekend of March 20-22 is going to be very busy for downtown stl

15,000 person volleyball tournament at the Dome, 20th to 22nd

Round 1 and 2 of March Madness at Enterprise (8 teams and 6 games, 4 on 20th and 3 on 22nd)

City SC at CityPark on 21st

23-27%, depending on which report you look at. 
CBRE, the one cited in the report for Louisville, has downtown at 25% in Q3

I can't imagine how more brutal Louisville metric is depending on what is being counted.    Believe the numbers that DB stated above exclude the likes of Railway Exchange and 909 Chestnut.  Only buildings actively seeking tenants and or has some type of tenant.    

Hope Dylank is right about have some Ram Funds set aside and committed to Railway & downtown.   A great opportunity to reinvest for the future.   And yes, can't help myself. but I really do think that having 909 Chestnut or Railway exchange partially occupied by a data center is not a bad idea.  I think we are literally talking close to 2 million square feet.   Time for a reality check of a lot of empty space that a lot of downtowns including St Louis and Louisville are up against, and not enough demand from traditional commercial sectors & residential will go so far.   

Yes you’ve made it quite clear that you think server day cares are a good use for our urban core. Luckily almost no one agrees

dredger wrote: ↑

Dec 04, 2025

I can't imagine how more brutal Louisville metric is depending on what is being counted.    Believe the numbers that DB stated above exclude the likes of Railway Exchange and 909 Chestnut.  Only buildings actively seeking tenants and or has some type of tenant.    

Hope Dylank is right about have some Ram Funds set aside and committed to Railway & downtown.   A great opportunity to reinvest for the future.   And yes, can't help myself. but I really do think that having 909 Chestnut or Railway exchange partially occupied by a data center is not a bad idea.  I think we are literally talking close to 2 million square feet.   Time for a reality check of a lot of empty space that a lot of downtowns including St Louis and Louisville are up against, and not enough demand from traditional commercial sectors & residential will go so far.   

Vacant buildings in Louisville that arent marketed are also excluded. 

Louisville has real bad office vacancy downtown. I think they got one win recently with Yum moving downtown (I think 500+) so that will be a huge jump.

They got a nice main street (Whiskey Row) that’s healthier than anything we have downtown StL right now with the Slugger Museum, some distilleries, bourbon bars and restaurants. Their BPV equivalent (4th street live) is probably less busy but has somehow kept some names that BPV has lost,

Overall Louisville’s urban development has not been a model for success. Very poor urban policy and development with limited reversing (some solid progress in the eastern portion of downtown). So not surprised they are struggling

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Dec 04, 2025

Yes you’ve made it quite clear that you think server day cares are a good use for our urban core. Luckily almost no one agrees

Yep, glad to be the nagging annoying posting lone wolf on this one.   

Maybe I will even get a few converts at some point who believe like i do that that the holy grail of remaining white collar jobs remaining, residential and entertainment will not fill all the empty space in a lot of the existing built environments let alone fill the empty lots of mid tier cities.  In meantime, empty space is way more problematic in my opinion as witnessed by how Gateway South went backwards with loss of built environment over the Thanksgiving weekend.   Rather have a tech company overspend and pay taxes into city coffers to revitalize built environment even though it is filled with servers at end of day.  

dredger wrote: ↑

Dec 04, 2025

JaneJacobsGhost wrote: ↑

Dec 04, 2025

Yes you’ve made it quite clear that you think server day cares are a good use for our urban core. Luckily almost no one agrees

Yep, glad to be the nagging annoying posting lone wolf on this one.   

Maybe I will even get a few converts at some point who believe like i do that that the holy grail of remaining white collar jobs remaining, residential and entertainment will not fill all the empty space in a lot of the existing built environments let alone fill the empty lots of mid tier cities.  In meantime, empty space is way more problematic in my opinion as witnessed by how Gateway South went backwards with loss of built environment over the Thanksgiving weekend.   Rather have a tech company overspend and pay taxes into city coffers to revitalize built environment even though it is filled with servers at end of day.  

It’s hard not to be supportive of the data-center proposal. The idea that the site would otherwise be developed in the next twenty years is unrealistic—there are well over a hundred stronger, more market-ready sites in the central corridor that remain untouched. Those will all see multifamily development long before anyone breaks ground on the parking lot at the Armory. We need to be pragmatic about where the region is and what it can realistically attract until we have real population growth. The data center would generate significant tax revenue that could be used to support city services.

Can y’all imagine the discourse if the news broke tomorrow that the only way to save RX was to convert it to data center. Free entertainment on UrbanSTL. The 2025 UrbanSTL beat down.

I think it could be a winner if the first through third floors were activated by non-data center uses. (ie. retail, activity space, housing units, a design firm...). Not sure if models exist for that kind of split. 

very busy weekend in Downtown

Thursday to Sunday, 30,000 at Dome for Gateway Dirt Nationals
Saturday and Sunday, 17,000x2 at Enterprise for PBR Bull riding
Hot Chocolate Run 15k Sunday, 7,500-10,000

Google Gemini is getting pretty good. A concept of a monument for the I-70 entrance. I was thinking about the City's effort to redevelop this corner of land. I couldn't decide what would work well here strangled by the interstate. Then considered it would be a great place for a monument and entrance to the City. Red(Missouri), Blue(Illinois), Yellow(River), brought together into a fleur-de-lis representing St. Louis. Adding it to my lottery list.