Local legal powerhouse Thompson Coburn has extended its downtown St. Louis lease at One U.S. Bank Plaza for another decade.

The firm employs some 500 people at its headquarters in the 36-floor building at 505 North Seventh Street. Thompson Coburn has the largest number of local attorneys among big firms here, with 239 local lawyers and some 380 across the firm. Its new lease stretches into 2026.

Thompson Coburn has helped keep a healthy employment base and pedestrian traffic in the area. While other firms were leaving downtown for Clayton, it chose to stay in the building, persuaded in part with a package of $700,000 in loans and tax breaks and an agreement from the state to build a garage next door. Since then, the Blues Museum, the MX Movies & Bar, the Embassy Suites, and restaurants like Robust, Sugarfire, Pi Pizzeria and Porano have also opened nearby, revitalizing the eastern edge of Washington Avenue.