Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin_Chicago
I did not see many people walking around downtown on the weekend. Maybe it is because St. Louis lacks high rise residential development? I am glad to hear that most of these companies are based within city limits. Maybe we can see some future high rise development.
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Fortunately, the residential population has grown considerably over the last decade or so and continues to grow, albeit gradually. While we have few high rises, many vintage office buildings and warehouses have been converted to residential use, and there are few more in the pipeline. Downtown is running out of historic buildings to renovate, and hopefully new construction will follow.
On the office side, we've lost several major employers over the years, either to the suburbs or through acquisitions/closings. While there have been some success stories downtown, there's generally been more bad news than good. Downtown's employment base needs to grow significantly in order for the CBD to truly turn the corner.