Another downtown exit: 60-person law firm to head west but stay in city of St. Louis

The latest law firm to decide to leave downtown St. Louis has moved into an office building located in the Cheltenham district of the city.

The Simon Law Firm PC will be moving from Bank of America Plaza 800 Market St., to Highlands at Forest Park 1001 Highlands Plaza Drive West. The firm employs 60 people, including 14 attorneys. Angela Louis is the director of administration at the firm. She said that it will happen next year but she didn't know what month.

John Simon Sr. was not available for comment on Monday. Louis said that the location between Clayton and downtown St. Louis of the new office appealed the plaintiff's law firm, founded in 2000 with practice areas such as medical malpractice and personal injuries.

Louis said that Mr. Simon is always looking for new opportunities when his lease expires. This time, Mr. Simon found a place that he liked. It's for that reason we are moving. Nothing more sinister than that.

Research shows that the recovery of downtown St. Louis after the pandemic, measured by mobile phone data is weak compared to other North American markets. It only ranks ahead of San Francisco. According to JLL, the central business district office vacancy in St. Louis increased from 19.2% to 24.0% during the first quarter of this year.

The Simon Law Firm leases 20,000 square foot of space at the Bank of America Plaza's 17th floor. This 30-story building is owned by Positive Investments, through a limited-liability company. The principal of the Arcadia-based firm did not immediately respond to messages requesting comment. Louis stated that the law firm would occupy roughly the same space on The Highlands at Forest Park's third floor. Altus Properties owns the five-story building.

The company declined to disclose the financial terms of a 10-year lease. Louis stated that the move will not result in cost savings for his firm. Michael Roberts was a vice-president with Gundaker Commercial Group and the broker of the Simon Law Firm.

Louis stated that the company has been located at the Bank of America Plaza since about 18 years. Prior to this, the office was located in Peabody Plaza 701 Market St.

Polsinelli PC has announced that it will be moving to Centene Plaza C, Clayton, in January 2024 from the Deloitte Building, downtown St. Louis. Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard PC, a law firm in downtown St. Louis, announced last month that it signed a lease for a long-term move to Centene Plaza C. The firm will bid farewell to One City Center on Washington Avenue by mid-2024.

In recent years, several companies have moved out of the downtown area or plan to.

Knowink, a St. Louis-based firm that specializes in election technology, relocated in March to a Creve Coeur building of 16,000 square feet. Knowink has moved to its new headquarters located at 460 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, moving from the 2111 Olive St. location in Downtown West St. Louis.

Elasticity, a marketing firm, officially relocated Jan. 1, from the two floors of a building it leased in downtown at 1008 Locust St. to 3333 Washington Ave. within the Grand Center Arts District. Aaron Perlut, co-founder of Elasticity, criticised public safety in the city last year. He cited employees' cars that were broken into.

CBS affiliate KMOV announced in December that it would be moving to Maryland Heights in May from downtown. Missouri Lawyers Media announced in October 2022 it had moved its eastern Missouri offices from downtown St. Louis, to Fenton. Publisher of Missouri Lawyers Weekly, and five daily newspapers in the state, stated that they had been operating from the Security Building downtown at 319 N. Fourth St. since 2007.

ShipWorks, which develops software for warehouses and high volume e-commerce retailers, moved its office from Gateway Tower to The Hill in August 2022 so that employees can do remote work. In July 2022, law firm Brown & Crouppen announced that it would relocate from Metropolitan Square to a renovated building in The Hill. Co-working company WeWork also closed its 60,000 square-foot Met Square office in August 2022.

The most dramatic example of this is the opening game in March at CityPark, Downtown West Stadium for Major League Soccer team St. Louis City SC.

The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern opened in February at Market & 20th Streets, on the northwest corner, of St. Louis Union Station. The Pitch Athletic Club & Tavern is located across from CityPark.

In January, the Gateway Arch Park Foundation announced that it would remain in downtown. The nonprofit works to preserve and improve the Gateway Arch National Park, as well as other attractions downtown. The foundation announced that it will move from its current office space in Gateway Tower at 1 Memorial Drive to a 7,800 square foot office at Peabody Plaza.

Legal Services of Eastern Missouri was founded in the early part of this year. The group's headquarters had been located at 4232 Forest Park Ave., in St. Louis, Missouri for 28 years.

Peabody Energy announced in October 2022 that it would maintain its downtown headquarters. Scale AI, a San Francisco-based tech startup, decided to open a downtown office, adding 215 jobs. Larson Capital Management relocated from Chesterfield to the downtown area in early 2022. This move included an $18 million renovation to 100 N. Broadway.