5 things to know about Square's move to downtown St. Louis

The company, created by St. Louis natives Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, has signed a 15-year lease for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch building.

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Late last month, Square Inc., a Silicon Valley mobile payment processing company created by St. Louis natives Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, announced that it has signed a 15-year lease for the downtown building occupied by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The building was sold to McKelvey's company StarLake Holdings for $3.5 million in September 2018. The move is just one of several recent efforts by Dorsey to put a focus on his hometown. In July, the Twitter co-founder and CEO visited St. Louis with businessman Bill Pulte to announce their initiative to address vacant buildings in the city, the St. Louis Blight Authority, and a pledge of $500,000 toward its pilot program. Here are five things to know about what Dorsey and McKelvey's decision to move Square means for St. Louis. 

1. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch will move to 901 N. 10th Street.

2. Square's move comes with the opportunity to bring more tech-focused jobs to the area. By leasing the building at 900 N. Tucker, the San Francisco company will have space for 1,400 local employees. As reported by the Post-Dispatch, Square plans to move the 500 employees currently located in Cortex to the new facility within the next few years. 

3. St. Louis–based architecture firm CannonDesign will design the space for Square, with plans to create "a cutting-edge workplace equipped to help the company expand its local workforce, recruit and retain top local talent, and fuel growth strategies."

4. The new Square office will be located blocks from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency location, which is set to be completed by 2023. 

5. The payment company's move to downtown could be the first step in more growth north of Washington Avenue. The St. Louis Business Journal reported that John Berglund, co-founder and managing partner of StarLake Holdings, signed articles of incorporation for the NOW Innovation District Inc, which would "bring jobs and job growth to an area North of Washington Avenue."

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has not yet moved.

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