ESRI and Block join other global geospatial and fintech leaders…
ESRI AND BLOCK JOIN OTHER GLOBAL GEOSPATIAL AND FINTECH LEADERS locating in st, louis’ newest innovation district
St. Louis’ Geospatial and High-Tech Ecosystem continues to blossom — as Esri has recently moved to The Globe Building, joining a diverse array of key Geospatial Intelligence, FinTech, MedTech, and other High-Tech firms in St. Louis’ newest and fastest growing innovation district, the 18-square block Downtown North Insight District.
The District also is the St. Louis home of BLOCK (formerly called Square), co-founded in 2009 by St. Louis natives Jim McKelvey and Jack Dorsey, which is one of the leading fintech, mobile payments, and point of sale firms in the world. The San Francisco-based global financial technology leader serves some 56 million users, and 4 million businesses, with an annual payment processing volume of US$228 billion as of 2023.
The emerging Downtown North Insight District consists of 18-square blocks in St. Louis’ downtown.
Esri is the 6,000-employee global market leader in geographic information systems (GIS) software, location intelligence, and geospatial analytics --- what they call “The Science of Where.” Their new St. Louis offices are located in the 720,000 SF high-tech renovation of The Globe Building.
The District, The Globe, The Post, and Esri’s new offices are just blocks from the National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) new $1.75-billion, 1-million square foot, 100-acre new headquarters employing 3,100 employees, opening in 2026.
In an interview with St. Louis Public Radio, Esri Director for National Government Patty Mims commented, “there is really no place in the U.S. or the world that has the enthusiasm, dedication and interest in developing a geospatial community than St. Louis.”
The Downtown North Insight District also includes the largest multi-tenant secure (705 compliant) facility outside the D.C. area --- a 75,000 SF multi-tenant specialized secure facility built and managed by Westway. This particularly relevant for firms doing classified national security work.
With regard to St. Louis’s competitive advantage here, Founder, Owner and Principal Consultant at PLUM RUN, LLC (and former CEO of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation), Keith Masback has observed:
“There is a ‘secret weapon’ that St. Louis can and must fully bring to bear --- a 75,000 SF multi-tenant secure compartmented information facility, or SCIF, located on a full floor of The Globe Building, it is the only facility of its type outside of the Washington, D.C. metro area.”
“The unique multi-tenant SCIF model means that Westway provides the upfront capital and manages ongoing operations of the SCIF, while offering tailored solutions to both large corporations and small firms alike.
Ersi’s Director, Global National Government Patty Mims.
While it is prohibitively costly in terms of both money and time for most small and medium businesses to build and operate their own SCIFs, the multi-tenant model significantly lowers the barrier to entry with its turnkey service...”
“...It’s a huge competitive differentiator for the city and region.”
As the owners of The Globe Building have undertaken the stunning high-tech adaptive reuse of this landmark building, they’ve described the “new Globe Building” as providing, "Big Space, Big Power, and Big Fiber."
The Globe Building’s unique physical attributes have also provided the necessary conditions for attracting and growing 150,000 SF of Data Centers, as well as attracting and growing Geospatial and other tech firms. From the mid-1990s to today, The Globe has become a preferred location for data center companies, as well as creative agencies, video production firms, and now Geospatial Intelligence, advanced manufacturing and other tech related firms. They are each taking advantage of being wired into a hub of connectivity with data centers with massive access to redundant power transporting data in and out, and being securely stored.
Further highlighting the significance of this secure facility to St. Louis, Sanjay Kumar, Editor-in-Chief of Geospatial World Magazine, noted in his publication that the new secure facility “at The Globe Building is the first of its kind outside the National Capital Region and underscores the importance of the emergence of St. Louis as the National Geospatial- Intelligence Hub.”
The Geospatial Intelligence industry continues to grow dramatically. FORTUNE BUSINESS INSIGHTS projects the sector “to grow from USD $89.81-billion in 2024 to $262.73-billion by 2032.”
St. Louis, the Downtown North Insight District, The Globe Building, The Post Building, and its District civic partners are actively pursuing St. Louis’ aspirations to become a Global GEOINT Hub, and to capture its share of this massive industry sector.
For readers of FDI International Alliance International Magazine --- including Site Selection Consultants, Corporate Real Estate Decision Makers, and Investors --- indeed, the emerging St. Louis Downtown North Insight District affords a unique opportunity to become part ofthis growing ecosystem.
St. Louis’ Downtown Insight North District includes two major anchor buildings: the Globe Building (above) and the Post Building.
The Post Building is a stunning 271,000 SF adaptive reuse of the previous St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, by The Starwood Group partners, John Berglund and Jim McKelvey.