ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown

[Arch City]

West Pine Lofts are under construction in the Central Corridor.

"Hallmark Campus Communities, a developer that specializes in student-oriented housing, will construct the 206-unit, 4-story all-residential building. Current plans call for storefronts to face Sarah Street, but these storefronts will be filled with community space and a leasing office—not retail or restaurants. Several small scale industrial buildings on West Pine will be demolished to make way for the sprawling development." (Source)

[animatedmartian]

St. Louis has some great momentum going on here. It feels somewhat under the radar at the moment, but things are looking good.

[Arch City]

Here's progress on another Central Corridor/Central West End project.

CityWalk On Euclid will be a $75-million, 177-unit luxury seven story building.

Whole Foods will occupy 28,500 square feet on the first floor plus 10,000 square feet of space below street level for a total of 38,500 square feet.




Photos by Wabash, urbanstl.com


Photos by Wabash, urbanstl.com

Photo below with crane demonstrates proximity to the Washington University Medical Center.

[Arch City]

Tiger grant paves way for new Cortex MetroLink station
Sep 9, 2014, 1:18pm CDT UPDATED: Sep 9, 2014, 1:38pm CDT


A partial aerial of CORTEX - St. Louis' emerging innovation district.

More than $10 million in federal funding will help MetroLink build a new station for the Cortex innovation district at the intersection of Boyle Avenue and Sarah Street.

Metro will receive $10.3 million through the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (Tiger) grant program, which helps fund transportation projects across the country and was announced Tuesday.

That funding will cover a majority of the projected $12.9 million project cost, according to Metro Transit’s Tiger application. The rest of the money is expected to come from matching sources that have already committed but haven’t been disclosed.

The funding is a big win for Cortex officials. Dennis Lower, president and CEO of Cortex, said a MetroLink station that feeds directly into Cortex is essential for achieving Cortex’s goal to be an international standard for innovation communities.

He called the funding a “game changer” for the Cortex district.

“This allows us to add a very important magnetic amenity to the district and continue to appeal to the workforce that prefers an urban environment,” he said. “It also advances our recruitment activity for future businesses.”
Lower said he hopes for the station to be operational by the end of 2016 or early 2017.

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill said the funding means more jobs and economic opportunities for the St. Louis area.

The station is initially envisioned as a single-center platform with direct pedestrian access to the Cortex Commons. The station would accommodate nearly 900 total riders per day from the get-go and as many as 2,000 per day by 2035, according to a feasibility study paid for by the Citizens for Modern Transit and researched by Bernardin, Lochmueller & Associates.

Read More

[Arch City]

Public Media Commons

Opens September 13 in St. Louis Grand Center Arts District
A Collaboration of the Nine Network of Public Media,
St. Louis Public Radio and the University of Missouri-St. Louis

St. Louis, MO — August 15, 2014 — When the Public Media Commons opens to the public on September 13, 2014, the unique open-air media environment in the Grand Center Arts District of St. Louis will bring people together for experiences that stimulate creative thinking and serve the community as an incubator of arts and ideas.

“The possibilities are endless,” says Jack Galmiche, president and CEO of the Nine Network of Public Media. “We’re inviting individuals and organizations to participate in the creation of experiences that bring the arts and dynamic digital video together to help us see things as we have never seen them before.”

Bordered by the Nine Network, St. Louis Public Radio and the Sheldon Concert Hall in the heart of the Grand Center Arts District, the Public Media Commons will provide a playground for the mind and the senses.

The 9,000-square-foot space is flanked by large-screen video walls—two stories high—on two sides. Equipped with the latest audio/visual technology, the space will encourage the community to explore what can be created and experienced in a dynamic cityscape conducive to collaboration and experimentation.

The scale of the walls, the vivid quality of the imagery and sound, the surrounding urban architecture, and even a landscaped knoll for quiet contemplation will provide an environment like no other—an urban environment for shared creative experiences.

Read More

[Arch City]

Here's a teaser video for the new Public Media Commons in Grand Center - St. Louis' Arts and Entertainment District - located in Midtown.

It's opening September 13th, 2014.

• Video Link

[Arch City]

More imagery on St. Louis' Grand Center Arts & Entertainment District's interactive Public Media Commons scheduled to open this weekend.

"This will be the only place in the country where arts, education and public media come together in an interactive outdoor space specifically designed to engage people in the cultural life of the community," said the Nine Network’s Jack Galmiche. "We envision an energetic space that attracts and engages people of all ages. It will be a powerful expression of how we envision the future of public media." (Source)

[Arch City]

Midtown St. Louis (Central Corridor) has been adding a lot of residential and now here comes more retail. No tenants have been officially announced.

Read more about it here.

A lot of the Central Corridor projects are driven by the rapidly-expanding CORTEX innovation district as well as by expansions at Washington University Medical Center and St. Louis University.

[Arch City]

Also located in the Grand Center Arts and Entertainment District, here's fairly recent progress on The Harold & Dorothy Steward Center For Jazz, which is due to open late October 2014.

It will be among the nation's premier centers for jazz music and jazz education.


• Video Link

[mousquet]

^ Lol, St Louis as New Orleans seems incorrigible in a best way. This seems fine, cozy and valuable like upper culture.

[Arch City]

Wexford Science & Technology is planning to build a $140-million research, lab, office and residential TOD complex in CORTEX.

Plans are for up to 700,000 square feet of space including a massive garage. Plans are being worked out.

In addition, the new MetroLink station, which recently received a $10.3-million TIGER grant, will sit near CORTEX Phase III.

An RFP for a mid-rise residential structure also has gone out.

Read more here.

[Arch City]

The grand opening of Public Media Commons in Grand Center was Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014.

"New to the Grand Center arts district, the Public Media Commons is a unique, open-air media environment designed to stimulate creative thinking. The 9,000-sq.ft. space -- bordered by the Nine Network, St. Louis Public Radio and the Sheldon Concert Hall -- is flanked by two-story-high video walls on two sides and features four interactive touch screens and a performance stage."

See more photos here and here.


That's one big video screen by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Plugging in by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Preparing for premiere by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Multi-story video wall by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Look, there's the Arch by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Mingling and watching by Current Public Media, on Flickr


First live music performance by Current Public Media, on Flickr


Rocking with The Reverbs by Current Public Media, on Flickr

[Arch City]

Progress on Washington University's $75-million Scott McKinley Research Lab at WUSTL Medical Center.

[Arch City]

St. Louis College of Pharmacy's new research, lab, classroom and library building has topped out.

The school's campus is nestled within WUSTL Medical Center. St, Louis' Central Corridor is busy with development.

Notice the three cranes in a row along/near this one street.

[Arch City]

Progress on West Pine Lofts, a 206-unit, 4-story apartment complex under construction in the Central Corridor.

[Arch City]

The brick is applied on 245 Union (Central West End City Apartments) 88-units new luxury residential unit in the West End.


West End City Phase II 9/16/2014 by rgbose, on Flickr


West End City Phase II 2 9/16/2014 by rgbose, on Flickr

[Arch City]

Arcade 'groundbreaking' set for Tuesday
September 24, 2014 2:40 pm • By Tim Bryant



Construction began weeks ago but the official start of the $118 million renovation of the Arcade building downtown is set for next Tuesday.

When fully rehabbed, the half-million-square foot building at Eighth and Olive streets will have 282 apartments and Webster University's expanded downtown campus.

Heavy work got underway in August after U.S. Bank completed the project's financing. The bank invested $77 million through federal New Markets Tax Credits, federal and state historic tax credits and federal low-income housing tax credits.

Additional financing includes bridge and permanent construction financing from BMO Harris Bank, a permanent loan from Cornerstone Permanent Mortgage Fund and a $4.8 million loan from the city. Paric Corp. is the general contractor.

Webster will lease the first two floors of the 18-story building for classes, a 170-seat auditorium, community kitchen and an art gallery. The university said it plans to keep existing space it leases at the Old Post Office across Olive from the Arcade.

The Arcade, comprised of adjoining buildings constructed in 1906 and 1919, is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been vacant for years.

Read More

[Arch City]

Here's progress on The Standard in the Central Corridor.

The Standard Apartments - a $40-million 164-unit 465-bed residential apartment project - will sit catty-corner to the new IKEA at Forest Park and Vandeventer.

1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 bedroom luxury apartments.

Located just steps away from St. Louis University, CORTEX and the proposed Midtown Station retail center, The Standard provides students with a residential option unlike any other. Its prime location, adjacent to campus, lets residents indulge in a vibrant, urban and walkable environment.

[Arch City]

Today, CIC-STL finally opened in the @4240 science and technology building bringing some 21 new companies and start-ups to CORTEX/Central Corridor.

Nestle Purina headlines founding tenants at Cambridge Innovation Center
St. Louis Business Journal
Sep 29, 2014, 11:26am CDT

Nestle Purina Petcare’s Emerging Growth Group was one of 21 companies to move into the Cambridge Innovation Center on Monday morning.

The CIC’s first expansion outside of its Cambridge, Massachusetts-headquarters opened Monday on the second floor of the @4240 building, located in the Cortex innovation district.

The opening is the culmination of a two-year buildup hyping the CIC as one of the big wins for the Cortex district.

Other companies moving into the CIC include: Synek Draft System, Frienedy, Oral Genomics, Stone Carlie, Twain Financial Partners, Azimuth Energy, The Mission Center, IdeaLab, Champio, Elasticity, Polsinelli, OG Systems, CTY.io, Grove Properties, Workgroup Connections, PharmaRen, Lemnatec, Treloar Enterprises, Corrigan-Jones, Cortex and Venture Café Foundation.

Purina was added at some point over the weekend. And nearly half of the founding tenants were added in the last month or so as excitement began to build for the CIC’s opening.

The @4240 renovation is part of Cortex’s $186 million second phase, which also includes the $45 million BJC HealthCare office building just down the street and a new Interstate 64 interchange to direct traffic to the area.

Boeing’s Ventures unit, Manifest Digital, Husch Blackwell, Washington University’s Office of Technology Management and the Washington University School of Medicine are also tenants in the building.

AB Mauri is still expected to move in on the first floor with other entities like coffee shops expected to take space as well.

Read More

[Arch City]

Economy the focus of new Fed museum in downtown St. Louis
September 28, 2014 12:15 am • By Lisa Brown
St. Louis Post-Dispatch


Exhibits at the new "Inside the Economy" museum.

St. Louis’ newest museum doesn’t have the appeal of the Arch or a sports theme, but it does give visitors a bag of money at the end.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis opened its "Inside the Economy" museum Monday on the ground floor of its office building at Broadway and Locust streets downtown. Admission is free.

The bag of money each visitor gets as a souvenir contains shredded bills no longer fit for circulation. The St. Louis Fed and its branch in Memphis, Tenn., shred more than 110 million bills each year, with an eye-popping value of $2 billion.

Design and construction of the museum cost $3 million, and employees from other areas of the bank volunteer a few hours a year to be museum ambassadors who greet visitors.

With the opening, the St. Louis Fed became the 11th out of 12 Reserve banks that make up the nation’s central bank across the country to house a museum, and the museums have different focuses.

In Kansas City and Denver, for example, the Fed’s “Money Museums” display historical currency and teach visitors how to identify counterfeit bills.

With the Great Recession seared so deeply in the public consciousness, the St. Louis Fed designed its new museum to focus on the economy, with information about scarcity, markets, unemployment, inflation and banking.

Read More