Big Step for Downtown

 

   👍🏻 👍🏻

Downtown continues to move forward, as another major upgrade is announced today, pending county council and board of aldermen approval.  

In talking about the Ram's departure, most downtown residents didn't feel like we were really loosing anything.  Some of the Explore St. Louis staff seemed to think we really had a net gain, loosing blackout dates at the stadium and  allowing more room for conventions.  Unfortunately that didn't translate.

The current plan seems to address a lot of the complaints I've heard over the years about the convention center, particularly the unsightly exterior facade along 9th Street and Cole.   Many convention centers are like that though.  Aside from the plans to boost the convention economy, which is definately important, the benefits to downtown residents are worth celebrating too.   Having improved streetscapes, removing unsightly surface parking and generating more activity on the north side of downtown is long overdue.  

The picture above seems to be the new view from the Dorsa Penthouses, which like Banker's Lofts, will have a definate improved view.   

St. Louis is an awesome convention city!   Located in the middle of the country, easy and affordable access, plenty of hotels and an improved downtown with a continuous stream of development needs to work hard to compete against other midwestern cities like Indianapolis and Memphis that have recently completed upgrades to their convention centers.