Downtown St. Louis looks rundown, with lots of empty buildings and streets. The Wall Street Journal describes it as a place where sidewalks are empty, many offices and shops are closed, and there are lots of car break-ins.
This isn’t just a problem in St. Louis – it’s happening in other cities across the U.S. too. According to the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, foot traffic in downtown areas of big U.S. cities dropped a lot since the pandemic started until last summer.
Decline Spiral
The decline of Downtown St. Louis is highlighted by the sale of the 44-story AT&T Tower for only $3.5 million, a huge drop from its $205 million price in 2016.
This sale shows how bad the situation is, with the building now being the second-largest empty office building in the country.
The area has been struggling for a while due to people moving away, poor city planning, and many businesses closing, even before the pandemic. The city is trying to turn things around by offering incentives to shops and making public spaces better, showing they’re determined to stop the decline.
Urban Dilemma
The problems in St. Louis are part of a bigger issue affecting other cities like San Francisco and Chicago. They’re all trying to prevent their downtown areas from declining like St. Louis.
The pandemic has made things worse, with fewer people visiting and lots of businesses shutting down. Cities are trying to fix this by turning office buildings into homes and making public areas safer.
But it’s not easy – it costs a lot to make these changes, and they need to make downtown areas attractive to both residents and businesses.
Innovation and Revival Call
The troubles faced by Downtown St. Louis and similar cities highlight the need to rethink how urban spaces work.
The big drop in people visiting and the cheap sale of the AT&T Tower show that we need to change things fast. It’s a wake-up call to be more creative and make things better. Even though it’s tough, there are chances to grow and make things new again.
We’ve seen success in places like the Downtown West neighborhood of St. Louis, which shows that we can make cities better.
To make this happen both the government and businesses need to come together to make downtown areas more lively and enjoyable for people to live in, work in, and visit.
