The Intriguing Story of How Part of St. Louis’s Skyline is Empty

Did you know that a significant part of the St. Louis skyline ended up empty? It's the story of a building that was erected during the 1980's that ended up being a real estate disaster.

Get our free mobile app

I saw the story of the AT&T Center in St. Louis just shared on YouTube. I had no idea of the backstory of how it initially had a value of over $200 million only to plummet to a mere $4 million:

One AT&T Center, a 1.4 million square foot office building in downtown St. Louis, represents one of the biggest real estate investment losses over the past decade. Originally purchased for $204.9 million in 2006, the building sold for $4.05 million in 2022.

This short video explains how and why it happened.

The graph shared showing how AT&T reduced its workforce from thousands to 0 is incredible.

I saw recently that KSDK is reporting that the company that bought the building back in May is already reportedly considering selling it again. Initially it was reported that they might develop it into apartments, but that does not appear to have become reality.

The St. Louis skyline never fails to amaze me every time I go to the big city for a Cardinal game. I had no idea that a significant footprint of that skyline is empty and is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future.