St. Louis’ real estate market is decreasing rapidly in value, with several vacant and locked-up structures. Other key metropolises, such as San Francisco, also raised concerns regarding the downward slope. Still, a new account by the Wall Street Journal revealed that St. Louis is experiencing a more alarming situation.
According to the Journal report, a case study of the forty-four-story AT&T building, which was worth over $205 million in 2006, was recently sold for about $3.500,000, with an astonishing 98% decrease in value in less than 20 years.
The Decline of the Railway Exchange Structure
The once bubbling and lively Railway Exchange Structure, known for its commercial activities in the city, well-known shops, and sprawling offices, is now vacant with worn-out paintings. A 2022 report by St. Louis Business Journal revealed that the majority of the skyscrapers in various metropolises have experienced over 24% decrease in market value since 2022.
In light of the current situation, the news media has adopted a new phrase in the midwestern metropolis theme: “real estate apocalypse,” following the reduction in the value of the assets accumulating to $150 million from 18 of the 25 huge facilities.
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Real Estate Apocalypse in St. Louis
For a city that was ranked the 4th largest in America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the downward slope is difficult to accept. However, St. Louis was seriously affected by the pandemic, which reduced its population to below three hundred thousand people for the first time in almost three centuries.
According to a New York Times report, this can be likened to the four hundred thousand people who lived in the city in 1990.
Historical Context and Population Decline
Amongst the key metropolitan areas in America, St. Louis’ comeback has been far from recovery in human traffic since the pandemic in 2019. Statistics published in 2023 by Toronto School of Cities University compared the traffic into St. Louis to key metropolitan areas in North America for a four-month duration in 2019 to 2023 with the same duration.
Of the sixty-six metropolitan areas monitored from 2019, St Louis was the last on the list. The only city that experienced some level of growth in traffic inflow was Las Vegas. The city’s large buildings are unoccupied, and the once lively streets are quiet, making it unattractive to sojourners.
With fewer activities in the city area, it gives rise to overspeeding, which can be dangerous for visitors.
Economic Impact and Traffic Decline
In 2023, an instance happened when a teenager named Janae Edmondson, a volleyball star, was hit by a car at high speed as she crossed an intersection. The young girl lost her legs in the incident. The current situation in St. Louis is not new, as the trend started with the Macy store shutting down operations in the Railway Exchange Facility in 2013.
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The departure of the Macy’s store resulted in a vacant space in the Railway Exchange building, which has also affected business activities in the city area, leading to their shutdown. The Wall Street Journal also stated that businesses left in the area often suffer from burglary, theft, and insecurity.
Efforts to Revitalize and Persistent Challenges
A Professor of Economics at Washington University said that people don’t frequent the city as there is no activity to engage them. Despite the affordable rent and measures the government and local authorities have invested in to rejuvenate the city area, they have not yielded positive results.
In another effort to bring the bustling vibe back to the city, the authorities decided to turn the business space into residential outlets. However, the developer’s finances were exorbitant. A statement by the New York Times in December 2022 revealed that a project of such magnitude requires up to $500 per square foot.
In 2017, four years after Macy’s store shut down, the owner of the Railway Exchange revealed plans to revive the iconic structure as residential outlets and retail shops. Unfortunately, the plan failed because the owners couldn’t keep up with the mortgage payments.
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