St. Louis probably doesn’t come to mind when most people think about the music industry. Cities like Nashville, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles are the likely suspects, but Gateway Studios and Production Services will change that narrative for St. Louis when it constructs its 330,000-square-foot music production and rehearsal facility slated to open in 2023. Built on a 32-acre campus, this state-of-the-art project will accommodate the development and creation of arena-size or outdoor stadium tours and movie and television productions. The campus will also include a hotel that will support most of the production crews.
When Gateway Studios opens in early 2023, it will help shine a spotlight on music in St. Louis and our entire region. St. Louis competed against other mainstream music destinations like Nashville for this one-of-a-kind facility, but with the help of the city, county, and state, ultimately the site in St. Louis was deemed the best fit. St. Louis’s central location makes it easily accessible for musicians and their production crews to travel from both coasts. Spirit of St. Louis Airport is an added convenience for travelers coming to or from the facility, located across the street from the new studio.
St. Louis has always had a great music scene with well-known local venues like BB’s and Old Rock House downtown, McGurk’s in Soulard, Off Broadway in the Cherokee neighborhood, and Blueberry Hill in the Delmar Loop, where rock and roll legend Chuck Berry (RIP) could often be found. St. Louis also has several larger venues that support bigger acts that come through St. Louis such as The Pageant in the Loop, The Fabulous Fox Theatre in Midtown, Enterprise Center downtown, Hollywood Amphitheatre in Maryland Heights, and Busch Stadium, which is now a popular venue that attracts some of the top touring artists during the summer.
Over the last decade, there has been a demand for entertainment in the St. Louis region, specifically live music. More and more municipalities in the area are hosting “Parties in the Park” where live music is played monthly and sometimes weekly throughout the summer, and music lovers can enjoy jazz fests, blues fests, and music/ art festivals nearly year-round. Local cities are looking to add public amphitheaters to their city centers, and developers have recognized the desire for more live music and are incorporating music venues and other music related entertainment concepts to their centers.
Although Gateway Studios will be a private facility, the city, region and, most importantly, the commercial real estate community will benefit from their operations. It will help garner more interest and more development on the west end of Chesterfield Valley and will propel the music scene here to even greater levels.
