Today I was fortunate as a local CWE Realtor to get attend a presentation and get a brief tour of the City Foundry project from the Lawrence Group. Located at Forest Park Avenue - just east of Vandeventer and Ikea St Louis - this is part of the Cortex Innovation District and will make a great addition to the whole area and the east end of the Central West End.
The project calls for redeveloping the main building - the foundry - into a “food hall” with stalls for local, non-chain restaurants and chefs + 20,000 square feet of seating - with an additional 78,000 square feet of office space - it is a big building and site!
A streetscape is planned with retail opposite the foundry building and there is even talk of a 24 story apartment building with incredible views of downtown St Louis and Forest Park. Above is the view down the future streetscape looking west toward Ikea St Louis.
Speaking of Forest Park, my favorite park is the reuse of the existing elevated rail lines over Vandeventer (akin to the High Line in New York). This will all then be incorporated to the Great Rivers Greenway project to connect downtown and the Gateway Arch to Forest Park. Check out some additional renditions below and check back with Central West End Living for updates!