Monday, May 05, 2008

The Calmer Tour

St. Louis real estate
This year's loft tour was 'right sized.'

Each year it seems the loft tour is more and more hyped, with more and more new projects to see. Gimmicks, promotions, and lots of hooplah surrounded the fact that a neighborhood is being built. This year was calmer, except for the street level tension of having so many misguided cubs fans walking our streets.


According to Matt Schindler at the Downtown St. Louis Partnership,St. Louis real estate 900 people officially registered for the tour. My guess, based on the number of wrist-bands and blue bags full of information, was that about half the people "touring" had registered for the tour. Many people were just down, walking around, and trying to hit all the open houses. The overall experience is that as each year passes and downtown surges forward, more of the attendees are seriously considering a move downtown. I guess now that there's a Schnucks, its not such a novelty.

Also shared was that the fall tour will most likely be a 1 day event. Welcome news.

This year, my take on the tour changed slightly after being more actively involved with the Downtown St. Louis Partnership. The tour represents a big welcome mat, even for Cubs fans, to see what our downtown living in St. Louis has to offer. I take for granted that people know how great it is to be downtown and what urban living is like. In reality, people judge "what downtown is like" based on experiences they might have had decades ago. Just like being born a Cubs fan, that's just not fair.

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