Businesses consider ditching downtown St. Louis amid gunfire, violence – By Bryce Gray (St Louis Post-Dispatch) / Sept 8 2021
ST. LOUIS — Multiple large employers are considering moving their offices out of the downtown business district, city officials said this week, after more than a year of nighttime violence and gunfire that has struck buildings, broken windows and injured and killed people.
Just this summer, windows have been shot out at the Laclede Gas Building, One U.S. Bank Plaza, One Metropolitan Square and Peabody Plaza, said Alderman Jack Coatar, whose ward covers part of downtown.
“I’ve spoken to a number of large downtown employers who have indicated they are going to seriously consider not renewing leases,” Coatar said Wednesday, based on recent conversations. “You want your workforce to be safe.”
The owner of Peabody Plaza contacted the office of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones just this week saying that at least one of its tenants, Peabody Energy — the nation’s largest private coal company and one of downtown’s most prominent headquarters — has considered moving out, her office said, after multiple office windows there were broken by gunfire over the weekend.
