Cortex Adds $170M, Includes Hotel, Apartments
Date Posted: October 24, 2016
Posted In: News, Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: An Aloft boutique hotel, more than 200 apartments, retailers and additional labs are included in the next development phase at the Cortex technology district.
The plans, which will be presented Thursday (Oct. 20) by developers, represent a continuation of Cortex’s strategy to add more than offices for the entrepreneurs and tech companies that have transformed the former industrial corridor of the Central West End and Midtown.
“What Cortex is doing is building a community, not just building buildings,” Cortex President and Chief Executive Dennis Lower said in an interview with the Post-Dispatch.
It takes more than office and laboratory space to attract and keep the talent regional leaders hope will start to make up for lost jobs in fading Rust Belt industries. More restaurants, a fitness center and residences are some of the amenities “our businesses want and need,” Lower said.
The Cortex district already has 4,100 people working for 260 companies, both high-tech and supporting businesses, Lower says. The next phase of development is expected to add another 800 jobs to the district, he said.