Previous Message

From the story. Downtown San Francisco and some other cities have a chance of revival because of some positive factors. What does STL have?

* * *

The Railway Exchange Building was the heart of downtown St. Louis for a century. Every day, locals crowded into the sprawling, ornate 21-story office building to go to work, shop at the department store that filled its lower floors or dine on the famous French onion soup at its restaurant.

Today, the building sits empty, with many of its windows boarded up. A fire broke out last year, which authorities suspect was the work of copper thieves. Police and firefighters send in occasional raids to search for missing people or to roust squatters. A search dog died during one of the raids last year when it fell through an open window.

“It’s a very dangerous place,” said Dennis Jenkerson, the St. Louis Fire Department chief.

It anchors a neighborhood with deserted sidewalks sprinkled with broken glass and tiny pieces of copper pipes left behind by scavengers. Signs suggest visitors should “park in well-lit areas.” Nearby, the city’s largest office building—the 44-story AT&T Tower, now empty—recently sold for around $3.5 million.

Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save their downtown office districts from spiraling into a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one....

The price for the AT&T Tower, three blocks from the Railway Exchange, was a sliver of the $205 million it sold for in 2006. Its value has been falling for years. In 2022, it changed hands for just $4 million....

As in other Midwestern cities, the St. Louis office district has suffered a slow demise for decades. Population loss, competition from newer offices in the suburbs and failed urban planning left behind a glut of dreary, empty buildings and wide, dangerous roads. The business district has few apartments. There are some tourists, but not enough to make up for missing office workers....

-- more grim stuff follows --

Some cause for hope is a short walk away. To the office district’s immediate west, the Downtown West neighborhood boasts loft apartments, a new soccer stadium and a train station-turned-amusement park. These developments have revived a once-abandoned industrial area, proving that people want to be in downtown St. Louis if it’s pleasant.

To the south, a cluster of bars and restaurants around the Cardinals’ ballpark is often crowded, especially on game days. Visits to the Gateway Arch east of downtown are up. These neighborhoods show how big developments and apartment conversions can attract residents, which in turn attract bars and restaurants, slowing or even reversing the doom loop....

Previous Message

From the story. Downtown San Francisco and some other cities have a chance of revival because of some positive factors. What does STL have?

* * *

The Railway Exchange Building was the heart of downtown St. Louis for a century. Every day, locals crowded into the sprawling, ornate 21-story office building to go to work, shop at the department store that filled its lower floors or dine on the famous French onion soup at its restaurant.

Today, the building sits empty, with many of its windows boarded up. A fire broke out last year, which authorities suspect was the work of copper thieves. Police and firefighters send in occasional raids to search for missing people or to roust squatters. A search dog died during one of the raids last year when it fell through an open window.

“It’s a very dangerous place,” said Dennis Jenkerson, the St. Louis Fire Department chief.

It anchors a neighborhood with deserted sidewalks sprinkled with broken glass and tiny pieces of copper pipes left behind by scavengers. Signs suggest visitors should “park in well-lit areas.” Nearby, the city’s largest office building—the 44-story AT&T Tower, now empty—recently sold for around $3.5 million.

Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save their downtown office districts from spiraling into a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one....

The price for the AT&T Tower, three blocks from the Railway Exchange, was a sliver of the $205 million it sold for in 2006. Its value has been falling for years. In 2022, it changed hands for just $4 million....

As in other Midwestern cities, the St. Louis office district has suffered a slow demise for decades. Population loss, competition from newer offices in the suburbs and failed urban planning left behind a glut of dreary, empty buildings and wide, dangerous roads. The business district has few apartments. There are some tourists, but not enough to make up for missing office workers....

-- more grim stuff follows --

Some cause for hope is a short walk away. To the office district’s immediate west, the Downtown West neighborhood boasts loft apartments, a new soccer stadium and a train station-turned-amusement park. These developments have revived a once-abandoned industrial area, proving that people want to be in downtown St. Louis if it’s pleasant.

To the south, a cluster of bars and restaurants around the Cardinals’ ballpark is often crowded, especially on game days. Visits to the Gateway Arch east of downtown are up. These neighborhoods show how big developments and apartment conversions can attract residents, which in turn attract bars and restaurants, slowing or even reversing the doom loop....

Previous Message

From the story. Downtown San Francisco and some other cities have a chance of revival because of some positive factors. What does STL have?

* * *

The Railway Exchange Building was the heart of downtown St. Louis for a century. Every day, locals crowded into the sprawling, ornate 21-story office building to go to work, shop at the department store that filled its lower floors or dine on the famous French onion soup at its restaurant.

Today, the building sits empty, with many of its windows boarded up. A fire broke out last year, which authorities suspect was the work of copper thieves. Police and firefighters send in occasional raids to search for missing people or to roust squatters. A search dog died during one of the raids last year when it fell through an open window.

“It’s a very dangerous place,” said Dennis Jenkerson, the St. Louis Fire Department chief.

It anchors a neighborhood with deserted sidewalks sprinkled with broken glass and tiny pieces of copper pipes left behind by scavengers. Signs suggest visitors should “park in well-lit areas.” Nearby, the city’s largest office building—the 44-story AT&T Tower, now empty—recently sold for around $3.5 million.

Cities such as San Francisco and Chicago are trying to save their downtown office districts from spiraling into a doom loop. St. Louis is already trapped in one....

The price for the AT&T Tower, three blocks from the Railway Exchange, was a sliver of the $205 million it sold for in 2006. Its value has been falling for years. In 2022, it changed hands for just $4 million....

As in other Midwestern cities, the St. Louis office district has suffered a slow demise for decades. Population loss, competition from newer offices in the suburbs and failed urban planning left behind a glut of dreary, empty buildings and wide, dangerous roads. The business district has few apartments. There are some tourists, but not enough to make up for missing office workers....

-- more grim stuff follows --

Some cause for hope is a short walk away. To the office district’s immediate west, the Downtown West neighborhood boasts loft apartments, a new soccer stadium and a train station-turned-amusement park. These developments have revived a once-abandoned industrial area, proving that people want to be in downtown St. Louis if it’s pleasant.

To the south, a cluster of bars and restaurants around the Cardinals’ ballpark is often crowded, especially on game days. Visits to the Gateway Arch east of downtown are up. These neighborhoods show how big developments and apartment conversions can attract residents, which in turn attract bars and restaurants, slowing or even reversing the doom loop....