According to a report from St. Louis Construction News and Review, Wexford Science & Technology will break ground this year on a $165M mixed-use project within the Cortex Innovation Community. Cortex is located in the city’s Central West End neighborhood and represents a collaborative effort between Washington University in St. Louis, BJC Healthcare, University of Missouri – St. Louis, St. Louis University, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Wexford is by far the largest developer within the Cortex district.

The mixed-use project is shown across immediately north of the 4240 Duncan building. The site is east of the building under construction at 4260 Forest Park, which will be home to TechShop and AAIPharma Services Corp. (Alcami).

Among the new development planned is reportedly a parking garage, hotel, 250 apartments, and 40,000 sf of retail space. Images obtained by nextSTL show a slender 150-key hotel of about six stories adjacent to TechShop.

To the east of that is a District Hall, something of gathering place for Cortex. It is expected that this may become home to gatherings and events which are beginning to outgrow the common space available in 4240. The function, if not the form, may mirror that of the 12,000 sf District Hall in Boston’s Innovation District, where Cambridge Innovation Center and Venture Café will oversee operations.

To the east of the District Hall development, and appearing to share a parking base, is a high-rise residential tower labeled at 250 units. The majority of added retail is expected to be in this building.

Across Duncan to the south is 4200 Duncan, an additional five-story, $45M project planned by Wexford. A 1,000-car parking garage sits immediately to the east. In addition, the surface parking lot to the south of Cortex I is labeled for 150 residential units, but does not show a rendered building as do the other sites.

{4200 Duncan}

Sources tell nextSTL that the 4200 Duncan building is likely to home to 200 new Microsoft jobs as the company establishes a new innovation center at Cortex. The St. Louis Business Journal also reported today that Microsoft is likely to set up shop soon.

4260 Forest Park is a three-story, $24M building. Wexford also developed 4240 Duncan, a $73M project. At the U.S. Metals and Supply building site, demolished this past year and currently used for parking, Wexford is planning up to half a million square feet.

To the east of IKEA and across Vandeventer Avenue and Cortex proper, Lawrence Group recently unveiled Cortex East, a $232M vision that would include office space, residential development and retail, to be branded an “Idea Market”.

East of Cortex:

Along Clayton Avenue at Sarah Street, significant demolition has cleared the way for additional development, and perhaps interim surface parking and development continues to claim other surface lots:

On the other side of IKEA, planning continues for the Silo Loft development, though no timeline or confirmation of development plans have been revealed at this time. Silo Lofts rendering:

And at Boyle, work is finally underway on a new MetroLink station at the heart of Cortex. This image is from a planning document now several years old: