Grand Center
I recently attended a meeting of the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group in Grand Center. If you don’t know Grand Center by name, it is the area around The Fox Theater. The two speakers were Ken Christian Director, Real Estate Development Grand Center, Inc and Steve Smith President at The Lawrence Group. The discussion was a very interesting overview of what is happening in Grand Center, followed by a case study of Steve Smith’s entrepreneurial endeavours in the center.
The area is a center for the arts with 12,000 theatre seats within 4 blocks and 12 galleries and museums. The physical beauty of the architecture and the location of the district make it interesting in terms of real estate investment. Grand Center is located between downtown St. Louis and the Central West End. The neighborhoods between Grand Center and Downtown as well as the area between Grand Center and the Central West End have been suffering from disinvestment for years. I asked the presenters about Grand Center’s role in these areas and they indicated they felt the private market would invest in and rehabilitate these areas. I feel they are correct, especially given that Saint Louis University is an anchor in the area, the coretex life sciences district is adjecent, Washington University is near the Central West End, and people are moving back to the city. Look for the area between the Central West End and Downtown to experience substantial development in the next decade. The city government should be actively planning and setting zoning to ensure that existing residents are included in the coming redevelopment. We’ll see.
