Thinking of relocating (St. Louis, Chesterfield, Benton: rentals, safe neighborhood, buy)

[MissMets]

Hi. A family member was offered a job at Anheuser Busch. Has anybody here worked there? What is the neighborhood like? Are rentals affordable?

Thank you.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I've heard very good things about Soulard (where Anheuser-Busch is located). Soulard also has Mardi Gras every year.

Lafayette Square is also very nice, though probably more expensive.

You could browse the listings here:
st louis, MO apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist
STLtoday.com - For Rent (http://realestate.stltoday.com/RealEstate/rentals/SearchIndex.asp - broken link)

Sorry I can't give you much more info than that.

[CarrieNeno]

Hi Miss Mets~

AB is a GREAT company to work for!! It's actually quite difficult to get in, so your family should consider himself lucky! Yes, Soulard is a very desirable area along with the bulk of the rest of south city. People who work at AB, however, live all over the city/county. THough downtown, AB has easy access to 4 major highways (40, 44, 55, 70). Hence, you can get to most other regions of the central corridor/south county/northcounty/west county within 25 minutes =). If you are more of a suburbanite at heart... AB is still a GREAT place and location to work. Per rent, that varies according to the area that you are searching and the space that you need...

Carrie
www.movewithcarrie.com

[maellmo]

Rentals in St. Louis are reasonable. I used to work for A-B. Here is a great rental listing 5 minutes from A-B in a very safe neighborhood. I lived there when I worked at A-B:

Excellent City Rental (http://stlouis.craigslist.org/apa/1403187460.html - broken link)

Check out the listing.

[zach_33]

Soulard is cool, as long as you stay north of the brewery - south of the brewery gets dicey. Over in Benton Park (the neighborhood just west of Soulard, separated by I-55) the section north of Arsenal is probably most desirable, south of Gravois. I would generally avoid Benton Park west of Jefferson. There are some decent pockets of Benton Park down between Arsenal and Cherokee (east of Jefferson), but its a little more hit-or-miss. Few people I know at the brewery live in the immediate area (Soulard or Benton Park), though some do, mostly under 30 yrs old.. Lafayette Square is very close (within a mile or two) and a pretty classy hood, a little pricier I think. Central West End is a popular choice for many of the younger white collar employees there, its a 15 minute drive and it is pricier than most any other inner city neighborhood. what

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by MissMets

Hi. A family member was offered a job at Anheuser Busch. Has anybody here worked there? What is the neighborhood like? Are rentals affordable?

Thank you.

My wife worked at AB (Corporate) in Human Resources from 1999-2005. According to her, it was an overall decent place to work, but it started to get a bit dicey and she left in 2005 to take a better position with a company in Chesterfield. AB was/is notorious for hiring employees as a higher-than-average market wage, then trickling down the raise progression to a point where it no longer keeps up with inflation. We know a few people there that are desperate to get out of the post-InBev environment, and the majority describe it as a very tense, pressure-cooker environment, with management wanting more hours from their employees with less compensation. Please be aware that (1) the nepotism and politics at the STL campus are of the most sickening level and (2) InBev management, particularly Carlos Brito, are slash and run operators, cutting costs at every opportunity possible. A plethora of benefits (free beer for employees, free tickets to Busch Entertainment Properties, sporting events etc) are all gone now.

Yes, this is a sign of the times for all corporations in this country (my employer is doing the same), but coupling cutbacks with pressure to recover $45 billion in debt financing can present a very unpleasant working environment. I'm just relaying what our friends at ABInBev told us.

Congratulations and good luck, but I would definitely do my homework. As long as they keep making Michelob products and Rolling Rock, I'll support them.

[DinsdalePirahna]

I no longer buy Inbev products (there are plenty local products on the market that are far superior to anything INBEV puts out) What AB/InBEv did to Rolling Rock borders on sacrilege. The key ingredient of Rolling Rock was the local Latrobe Water. What they are calling Rolling Rock now can't be anything more than Budweiser or Busch. Its just not the same.

[STLMetro]

You do realize that Inbev owned Rolling Rock since 1995, right? They sold Rolling Rock in 2006 to AB, which excluded the plant from the sale, so AB couldn't maintain the original brewing facility.

[sixtwobaldguy]

I think all beer tastes like crap. I don't drink any of it. Have a glass of wine if you want alcohol.

[Marksman84]

Originally Posted by sixtwobaldguy

I think all beer tastes like crap. I don't drink any of it. Have a glass of wine if you want alcohol.

Ah, yes, wine is definitely for the more upscale and refined palate. Here are some of the more popular contemporary urban standards: