ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — Ballpark Village is rising. From Kiener Plaza, to across the river, to your seats inside Busch Stadium, you can't miss the new additions to the St. Louis skyline.
"Do you have a view of this construction site from your office in the stadium?" Michael Calhoun asked Bill DeWitt III. "I do. It's right up there. So I see it everyday. I've likened it to watching water boil."
Right now, activity on the district could be compared to a rolling boil.
RELATED: Cardinals postpone home opener to Friday
DeWitt is hoping all the cranes have downtown visitors craning their heads to check out the progress.
"Fans are just going to have that feeling that downtown's on the move," he said.
The team's development partner is Cordish. Vice President Nick Benjamin says parts of phase two will be done in short order.
RELATED: Check out 360-degree virtual views of new One Cardinal way apartments
"The office building will be the first to open," he said. Accounting firm "PWC will be moving in this summer, early September. The next element to open will be One Life Fitness. They'll be opening early winter this year."
One Cardinal Way, the 33-story luxury residential tower, won't be done until next year, but already a third of the units are spoken for. We got a tour of their model unit and a 3-D look at the actual views.
We asked him: "You look at cities like Chicago and Boston and their companies are really moving into the urban core. St. Louis, not so much. But could this be the project that gets St. Louis' companies to consider moving back downtown?"
DeWitt's response: "I certainly hope so. We've done a lot with our office leasing, created a really cool space, as well as all the other things that create a lot of foot traffic and energy."
Neither he nor Benjamin could confirm rumors that Rawlings may move its headquarters from west county to Ballpark Village. Both are confident the office building will be full when it opens.
What about phase three? DeWitt says this $300 million phase two is not the end.
"More importantly, for this region, what we need to do is get businesses to come to St. Louis from outside the region," he explained. "Our goal is to generate activity from outside the region, of people saying 'wait a minute, St. Louis is on the move.'"
Benjamin also sees market interest for more, including a possible second "Cardinal Way" residential tower.
"We're expecting it to be about as transformative a project we've ever done," Benjamin said.
© 2019 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.
Parts of Ballpark Village phase 2 set to open this summer; more plans in the works 1
Michael Calhoun/KMOXParts of Ballpark Village phase 2 set to open this summer; more plans in the works 2
Michael Calhoun/KMOXParts of Ballpark Village phase 2 set to open this summer; more plans in the works 3
Michael Calhoun/KMOXParts of Ballpark Village phase 2 set to open this summer; more plans in the works 4
Michael Calhoun/KMOX
