urbanSTL

I thought somebody made a bid on the Chemical building?
The Arcade and Chemical buildings are prime TOD opportunities. It always makes me sad to get off the Metro and see the empty buildings, but I really think developers and banks are underestimating the rental market downtown.

goat314 wrote:I thought somebody made a bid on the Chemical building?
The Arcade and Chemical buildings are prime TOD opportunities. It always makes me sad to get off the Metro and see the empty buildings, but I really think developers and banks are underestimating the rental market downtown.

They wanted to purchase it, but after further due diligence, the economics didnt make sense for them.

Developers are not underestimating it, but banks are. Local banks have current loan limits below $10M which makes it pretty difficult to do anything. Once the Park Pacific (60% occupied) and the Laurel get filled, we'll see more residential development.

Honestly, if city officials were able to sell downtown like they should, companies like Post wouldnt buy a building for a HQ in the suburbs. I mean c'mon, even Post's parent company is downtown. Obviously they didnt see a benefit for Post being here which is disheartening.

And if companies like Post didn't leave, more residential construction would happen.

stlien wrote:Honestly, if city officials were able to sell downtown like they should, companies like Post wouldnt buy a building for a HQ in the suburbs.

How are they not able to sell downtown as they should? Do you mean capable or allowed?

Where is Post locating?

Post bought the former KV pharmacuetical building in Brentwood off Hanley.

quincunx wrote:

stlien wrote:Honestly, if city officials were able to sell downtown like they should, companies like Post wouldnt buy a building for a HQ in the suburbs.

How are they not able to sell downtown as they should? Do you mean capable or allowed?

Capabilities. They should be selling the strengths of being located in the CBD.

I don't see how being a consumer brand located outside of a CBD is better than being located within one; other than operating costs (in this case). Post also plans to invest heavily on innovation and increasing their ad budget. Imagine them being a lead tenant at BPV. Having their logo on the outside of their tower where its seen by millions of people during Cards games. Thats what the city should be selling them on. The type of thing you can't get in the county.

That's all the space they need?

Its about 30k sq ft. Should handle their needs for the time being if they dont plan on having more than ~200 employees.

The city should have been assertive in finding them some space downtown. There are plenty of spaces that could have accommodated them.

doug wrote:Were Post employees at Ralcorp's building on Market?

Yea, they are/were. I dont know when they plan to move.

And I do believe that employees will be relocated from Parsippany, NJ. If they haven't been already.

Most of Post's employees are in Parsippany, NJ, which has been their operational headquarters. If they do end up bringing all of those employees to St. Louis from and need more space, the 120,000 sq. ft. GenAm building would be a great candidate. High profile, directly between Busch & City Garden, 1 block from Metrolink, iconic (if goofy architecture), and a big red Post sign atop of it would nicely complement the Hilton and Macy's signs.

^Which I would think they will be looking to do if this is indeed going to remain their headquarters. In addition to the operational efficiencies of having everyone in the same place, I would imagine they could recognize significant cost savings in locating their employees here as opposed to the East Coast. Furthermore, the midwest is a much more competetive market for cereals and food products, with many companies in the same industries here making the acquisition of talent more readily available.

newstl2020 wrote:^Which I would think they will be looking to do if this is indeed going to remain their headquarters. In addition to the operational efficiencies of having everyone in the same place, I would imagine they could recognize significant cost savings in locating their employees here as opposed to the East Coast. Furthermore, the midwest is a much more competetive market for cereals and food products, with many companies in the same industries here making the acquisition of talent more readily available.

Yes competitive, but a very big aspect of any food biz is shelf space. If most of the employees are involved on the distribution/foot soldier then it might not very advantageous to take your employees from a huge market in the Northeast. If most of the employees are back office, then a move to St. Louis makes a lot sense.