The greater St. Louis area is experiencing phenomenal economic development and has benefited from "missing" the real estate bubble that hit the rest of the country. Residential real estate in the St. Louis area only climbed about 30% from 2000 to 2006, compared to an 80% national average, and the prices are continuing to crawl upwards rather than receding like many other areas. These steady prices have encouraged a lot of commercial and residential development in the suburbs, as well as industrial development outside the city core, and downtown itself is also in the throes of "revitalization".
Cordish is seeking to build six blocks of signature restaurants, specialty stores, entertainment venues and office space next to the new Busch Stadium. The developer, which has built similar projects around the country, is partnering with the Cardinals organization, which owns the land.In the midst of the World Series, the city and Cordish announced, to much fanfare, they had reached a deal in principle. Since then, a flurry of last-minute discussions pose potential changes to the project's scope.
In the first phase of the project, Cordish is now committed to 324,000 square feet of space for stores, restaurants and entertainment. That's about 10 percent less than the firm committed to originally. It would still build 100,000 square feet of offices and add 1,200 parking spaces.
They might also build a ton of condos, depending on market conditions (there are already hundreds of new condos going up in the city, and it's not clear how the market will look in 2009). The biggest strike against the city itself is the 1% city earnings tax on residents, workers, and businesses, but there's talk of eliminating it.
I would be less sanguine about the redevelopment if:
1.) I hadn't lived in St. Louis for any period of time and seen redevelopment efforts like the St. Louis Centre and Union Station ultimately not live up to their promises.
2.) Most of the high profile redevelopment comes with various and sundry tax breaks, including the aforementioned St. Louis Centre being redeveloped only after St. Louis co-signed on the loan (even though it's still on the hook for a redevelopment effort near Maplewood that ultimately left St. Louis on the hook for a million or so annually in debt payments).
3.) "Talk" of eliminating the earnings tax comes from sources outside the St. Louis government. Much like "talk" of reuniting the city with the county comes from St. Louis City officials and the Post-Dispatch.
4.) The basic infrastructure downtown is awful; have you driven on the roads down there lately?
5.) Talk of the I64 shutdown is will choke off downtown from county residents. Not even the shutdown, but merely the talk of it. I've anecdotal evidence that people are turning down jobs downtown because of the impending inconvenience. To say nothing of what it will do to shoppers.
6.) The City government is still the city government. The city schools are still the city schools. And so on.
Some hipsters will move downtown to the lofts, but they're not going to bring longterm growth.
Um, someone's a bit negative...
If you must include the qualifier "a bit," I must not have written clearly enough. I'm far more emphatic than "a bit."
Actually, I'm quite positive about St. Louis developing. I grew up here and the changes I see are very exciting (and yes, we've driven all the roads there are to drive around town, even in the bad areas). It's a great change from living in Los Angeles. Considering how depressingly critical you are of redevelopment efforts, you would probably have jumped off a bridge or died of liver poisoning at a local pub if you lived in LA.