Metro plans to make a lump sum payment of $400M to pay down its outstanding debt, according to KMOX. The remaining $100M debt will be refinanced. The payment is made possible by the April 2010 passage of Prop A in St. Louis County, which levied a 0.5% sales tax to support Metro. Its passage also meant that a 0.25% sales tax approved by City voters years prior finally went into effect. Prop A passage promised to put Metro on stable financial footing in a state that provides virtually no transit funding.

The agency found itself deep in debt following construction of the $676M Blue Line, which opened in 2006. Overall system service was drastically cut following the failure of St. Louis County voters to pass Prop M, a 0.5% transit sales tax. Prop A restored much of that service and Metro once again looked toward expansion. Then Metro initiated the Moving Transit Forward initiative to gather public feedback regarding future MetroLink and MetroBus service.

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With the news that Macy’s is closing its downtown St. Louis store this summer, the era of downtown department stores comes to a close. The past decade has seen many positive trends in downtown development. From 2000-2010, the city experienced the largest percentage increase in college-educated 25-34-year-olds moving to with three miles of the central business district of any city in the nation. Nearly 2,700 people in St. Louis fit that description, an increase of 87% over the past decade. The Central Business District population increased by nearly 3,000 over that same period. The retail demographics are changing quickly.

It’s not just downtown where retail development struggles. The only Target within the city limits is at Hampton Village is south city (there's a JCPenny there as well). Walmart? There isn’t one? TJ Maxx? Nope. Best Buy (yeah, they’re dying everywhere, but…)? Nope. Old Navy? Uh, uh. If you want to buy a broom, some shorts, a light bulb, soap, a towel, contact solution and a coffee maker without five stops, there are very few choices in the city.


{Macy's=pink circle, BPV=red, Bottle District=blue, 21st Street=green, Federal Mogul=purple, CORTEX=orange, Pruitt-Igoe=yellow}

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American historic preservation is unique. We value an exacting maintenance of form and materials. It's often an all or nothing. This isn't without reason, but it leads to interesting challenges in a city like St. Louis, where sometimes perfection can be the enemy of good. Requiring exacting standards can sometimes prevent investment. Ultimately, historic preservation guidelines are a local issue as neighborhoods set standards. In St. Louis, the result is sharp edges between neighborhoods such as Lafayette Square and Peabody Darst Webbe and between Soulard and Kosckiusko. It would seem that a graduated preservation standard could go a long way toward creating a better city - though that's a topic for another post.

Next week's City of St. Louis Preservation Board agenda aptly highlights the various challenges of historic preservation in St. Louis: high-end yoga clothing retailer seeks to add flash to a Central West End storefront, vinyl windows installed without permit, proposed demolition and reconstruction of the Swedish Society Building and a covered patio structure in historic Soulard. There's a little of everything this month.

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(@4240's first tenant, CIC, will occupy nearly a full floor}

The official news that Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), a premier business incubator will take up residence within the St. Louis CORTEX district is big news. The center plans to lease one floor of 4240 Duncan Avenue, a former home to Southwestern Bell. The unlikely renovation of the building, and plans to preserve others was first reported by nextSTL in January 2012. Wexford Science & Technology owns the building, which will be renamed the @4240 building. CORTEX will be CIC’s first location outside of Cambridge where it houses more than 450 companies.

 “We were struck by the breadth and energy of the startup community in St. Louis,” Ranch Kimball, CIC Partners’ president and chief executive, said in a statement, as reported by the Post-Dispatch. “We saw that energy in the dynamic companies we met and the university campuses we visited. When we decided to expand, we felt we could play an exciting role in the innovation environment in St. Louis.”

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