Urban Review on Busch Stadium III & Ballpark Village
The new Busch Stadium, the third to wear the name, hosts the Cardinal’s season opener today. Some didn’t want to the the 1966 stadium raze, others didn’t care as long as this private business funded their own facilities the way most businesses have to. I’m not going to get into those debates. I am however, going to look at the design of the stadium and what I’m already seeing emerge on the old site where the Ballpark Village, a mixed use development, is to be constructed.
Gate 3 as seen here from Spruce is probably the most urban approach to the stadium. The entry arch aligns nicely with the street grid. This view is clean and uncluttered, the exact opposite of the East view from Spruce.
Approaching the stadium on foot I noticed something seldom discussed, pedestrian crossings. The intersections surrounding the stadium are using the latest technology.
The crossing button gives off a slight noise to help the visually impaired find the button. For those of us that have more sight than patience we can see a little red light that confirms the button was pressed. Nice, that will save that endless pressing of the button that others do (ok, I’ve been known to go OCD on a few pedestrian crossing buttons).
Coupled with the crossing buttons are the type of crossing signal we need all over the downtown area. Actually, make that the entire city. After flashing for a few seconds it begins to count down from 16 to zero to tell you how many seconds you have to complete the crossing. These are nice as it will often prevent someone from starting across the street when it is flashing 2 seconds or so.
This is an important safety measure, I’m glad to see cheaper crossing signals were not used.
I was surprised to see so many people checking out the new stadium last Friday when I took these pictures. People enjoyed reading the sponsored bricks.
Seating has been provided on the East and West sides of the stadium. Plantings are also quite nice and will likely be kept up. Trees are a nice size, not too tiny.
Clark Street, closed for the prior stadium, has been reopened. This was simply a trade off as Spruce, continuous since the city’s founding, was closed.
The North edge of the stadium along Clark St. has a nice feel to it. I think the openings will be popular for those that want glimpses of the game but don’t have tickets. Tree spacing and such is nice.
OK, have I been nice enough yet? Overall I say they’ve done a nice job. The architecture is still way too retro for my taste but urbanistically speaking I’m pretty pleased. I do, however, have some criticisms. If you are a rabid baseball fan please don’t get defensive. This is about design and planning issues, not the sport, the players or the fans. OK?
Buildings along the sidewalk on both Clark & Broadway look a bit on the cheap side. This is due to an overall flatness of the buildings. The windows are in nearly the same plane as the masonry walls. Recessing the windows in a few more inches would have made a huge improvement in the visual appearance of these buildings. Some sort of modern awning over the windows would have also helped give the building a third dimension.
The biggest complaint I’ve heard so far is this view from Spruce looking West at Gate 6 (along Broadway). That is some serious advertising and it contrasts greatly with the wonderful entrance on the West side (Gate 3).
I rather like the billboards on the corner of Clark & Broadway seen in the right of this image.
The surface parking lot in the left of the image needs to be developed as it seriously detracts from the overall feel of the area. Just to the East of the lot the old PET building is getting new life as high-end apartments. It would be nice if the Ballpark Village concept of mixed uses could spill down to the surface parking lot bounded by Broadway, Spruce, 4th and Poplar.
Miracle of miracles they have bike racks. These two racks are designed to hold 5-7 bikes each. I’m very pleased they provided bike racks. I just wish they had used some of the blank recessed spaces around the building to have some smaller two-bike racks. Someone cycling to the stadium may not be aware these racks even exist and try to lock to a street lamp or signage, potentially blocking the sidewalk.
On the plus side the under the highway location will ensure the bikes are protected from foul weather and with a guard house for the VIP parking next to the racks any bike parked here should be fairly safe. And for once we’ve seen the wave rack actually installed properly so it can be used as intended.
One problem I have with the East & West streetscapes (Broadway & 8th, respectively) is how narrow the sidewalks are adjacent to the curb. To make matters worse sign & lamp posts really make this a challenge. With all the sidewalk next to the stadium you might ask what the big deal is and it would be a valid question.
On game day everyone will be focusing on the main sidewalk. But on non-game days the folks that park to the South of the stadium will be using these sidewalks to get to their offices. The path for most non-game pedestrians is closer to the curb line where little consideration was given. Maybe that was on purpose so pedestrians would either walk on the other side of the street or closer to the building.
As mentioned above, Clark Street is once again open. The first time in 40 years. But as folks walk or drive along Clark they’ll get this view when they reach Broadway. We’ve got the ugly stadium parking garage and a horrible vista ahead, the hotel retaining wall. Hopefully we can see some changes down the street.
The parking garages, this one East of Broadway and its twin West of 8th are horrible. Bright white concrete just doesn’t cut it. Ideally we’d raze these garages and start over but fiscally that probably won’t happen. At the very least they need to lose the bright color scheme that makes them stand out like a sore thumb. Even better would be a new skin of metal or even a grid for growing vines. Anything to cover them up.
The bulk of the former stadium location will be turned into the “Ballpark Village.” From the developers’ site:
Ballpark Village is a $450 million mixed-use retail/entertainment and residential district being developed in partnership by The St. Louis Cardinals and The Cordish Company. Ballpark Village will cover six city blocks that will directly connect to the new Busch Stadium, which will be unveiled Opening Day of the Spring, 2006 season. Ballpark Village will feature approximately 450,000 square feet of retail/entertainment, 1,200 residential units, 400,000 square feet of office and 2,000 parking spaces. Located in the heart of downtown St. Louis, MO, Ballpark Village will be a world class district that will redefine the Gateway to the West.
This is in fact not six blocks but three city blocks being broken into six tiny pieces. They run the risk of having too short of blocks but I’ll wait until more detail is available before drawing that conclusion. I think they are calling it six blocks simply to make it sound bigger than it really is. However, they may have recognized that three blocks is insufficient to create a village and needed to slice it into smaller pieces to give the a more substantial feel to the area.
Looking North along Broadway from Clark Street we can see the first of the new sidewalks for the BPV. Boring huh? The wonderful street trees from the stadium are nowhere to be found here. Yes, it is still a construction area but they managed to get the sidewalks in place.
Three possible conclusions can be drawn. 1) These sidewalks are temporary and will be redone as buildings are constructed, 2) Tree holes will be cut into the sidewalks once they know where they want trees, 3) The sidewalks are complete and they don’t plan on having any street trees between pedestrians and the curb.
Along Clark we can see plenty of evidence they are already set in their thinking. This is the intersection with the future 6th Street (please let it be called 6th and not some cute vanity name). We’ve not had a 6th & Clark intersection in 40 years!
Heading West on Clark Street’s new sidewalk we can see permanent installations like the fire hydrant, street grates and street lighting. This leads me to believe the sidewalks are complete and they don’t intend to come back later and cut them open and dig out places for street trees.
If it is true that they will not have any street trees along Clark it will be quite unfortunate in my view.
Clark Street looking East from the old pedestrian crossing. The street is narrow, generally a good thing. During game days the intention was to close off these three blocks of Clark for special events. While I’m not fond of closing off the street grid I think for special events it is not a big deal provided the balance of the street grid lets you get through.
But my main problem with the street width will most likely be the lack of on-street parking on one or both sides of Clark St. on all those non-game days when the BPV is supposed to be happening. I would have preferred to see the sidewalk line pushed to the north so that on-street parking with curb “bulbs” at pedestrian crossings could have been done. Again, from the looks of these they are done with the street.
In summary I think HOK Sports did a good job given the parameters they had to work with. Given the scope of the project it could have turned out to be a disaster. I’m looking forward to attending my first game in the new stadium next month.
Check out more pictures on Flickr.
– Steve
FYI, there’s a nice photogallery featuring the new stadium over at the ESPN site: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/flash/zoomGallery?section=gen&photoGalleryId=2403785
Check out image #6 for a straight shot west down Clark — hard to believe that’s out downtown.
[REPLY – Wow, those are some nice images, especially the #6 you mentioned. Does have a decidedly urban feel about it and that is without the Ballpark Village in place. – SLP]
Regarding your picture next to the paragraph beginning, “One problem I have with the….”. Surely they jest — is that *really* a sidewalk? The one with street signs, light poles, and fire hydrants right in the middle? Is that not a public sidewalk? Aren’t they supposed to be accessible? I can’t imagine even an able-bodied pedestrian maneuvering around those barriers.
[REPLY – They are going to argue that if you walk ten feet toward the stadium you can use that sidewalk. However, on the east side the main walkway has steps so if you are in a wheelchair you’ll need to use the outer walkway. Again, if you are just trying to get to your office you want the shortest route so this is really a poor compromise. – SLP]
Steve,
Glad to hear you on KDHX this evening. Disturbed to hear that your questioner was kind of an idiot. Don’t get me wrong: I love KDHX. But there’s got to be a better format for your appearance on the radio.
All this guy did was react with incredulity at virtually everything you said. Tear out the highways? Ridiculous! NOT have an ugly ass McDonald’s? Absurd! His tone said even more than his words, which were both short and few.
I called in to ask a question on the air, but whoever answered hung up on me.
Questions are these:
Can you please apply for your OWN weekly show on KDHX, not as guest, but as host? Once you’ve done so, could you please solicit and receive calls from the audience? We want to talk about this. We need to talk about this. We don’t need to hear a DJ put in his two cents.
What’s up with the St. Louis Centre redevelopment? I know you’re not a big fan of Pyramid right now, so I wonder what your take is on their proposal to convert SLC into lofts. Personally, I can’t imagine what they could possibly do to make that thing look good. But I did hear that the skybridge over Washington was scheduled to be torn down in Spring of 2006. Well guess what. It’s Spring of 2006, and I don’t see even a buildup to tearing down that bridge. What gives?
Was at the game today, and think that overall, very nicely done. Certainly fits in much better with downtown, and doesn’t turn its back on the city like the old stadium. Views from the upper deck are great, and lots of niches to look out over the city, river, etc.
Also like the smaller scale and open air feeling of the park. I think that for a lot of people, it was an eye opening experience to see downtown in this light – and will serve as a catalyst for further expansion/development. Obviously the stadium is not in a vacuum, but I think it’s come along at the right time in downtown redevelopment.
Why would having small blocks be a bad thing? Portland has blocks that are 200ft square, which is very small, and I’ve generally heard this celebrated as something that makes the area more pedestrian friendly.
If those new sidewalks lining broadway are indeed the final product then it’s a shame. One of the most luxurious public spaces a city can have are wide sidewalks. I hope the St. Louis Cardinals LLC are not cutting corners on the ballpark village aspect of the development. They put up a lot of their own money for this project, and I can appreciate that, but they stand to make a lot as well and new development of this type should be of the highest standard. The city needs some guidelines for things like this so we’re not relying on developers to make the right decisions. Calling Rollin Stanley…
[REPLY Generally shorter blocks are better but I think you can get them too short. For example, I like our blocks where you get 2-3 buildings per block face. You make the block small enough then you are talking about a single building per block which alters the dynamic somewhat. Hopefully we’ll see some specific site plans soon.
The new sidewalks South of the highway, where 7th was re-routed, has the same plain jane sidewalks. Up to the curb and no street trees. This does not bode well for their planning of the Village. – SLP]
Great Post Steve — I can’t wait to visit and see a game in the new ball park … I’m checking the schedule as soon as I post this to see if St. Louis plays the Red Sox at home this season. Glad to hear you were on the radio and I second the notion that you should have your own show. Start local and move big — we need to hear about urban issues and smart development.
So the practice of locking bicycles to signposts is bad now?
[REPLY – Locking a bike to a lamp post when you have 46,000 people going to an event can be a hazzard. During non-game days it wouldn’t be a big deal. However, I hear the stadium guards are not fond of bicycles anywhere near the stadium except for the designated racks. – SLP]
You’re right about bike parking. At Coors Field in Denver, cyclists overwhelmed the available number of original racks and started locking their bikes to fences and lamp posts, which did create a hazard for the large number of pedestrians. Fortunately, the result was more bike parking – hopefully both happens here (a lot of cyclists and more parking). The worst outcome will be build it and no one shows up . . .
My take on things is that the new Busch is nearly a carbon copy for Coors Field. While there are many minor detail changes, the basic concept, including how it sets in the city wasn’t changed much. Substitute the arch for the Rocky Mountains, use red seats instead of green, and have redbird medallions instead of columbines and you’ve covered most of the major detail changes. This isn’t all bad, either. Coors Field is a major asset. I just would’ve prefered a bit more creativity here, especially given HOK’s local presence, instead of just another “copy”. I still have my hopes up for the Ballfield Village – it’s a great opportunity that shouldn’t be squandered!
as the proud owner of http://www.ballparkvillage.com, I keep wondering when someone’s going to contact me. How can they be serious about this when they haven’t even considered the website? (only halfway kidding here.)
And the bike racks are great. It was always a hassle to park at the old stadium, to say nothing of the funny looks that Cards fans gave me when I rode up on a bike. It was as though I were landing in a flying saucer or something.
I thought the same thing when I saw the short buildings on the sidewalk. They cheap to me. But, I couldn’t put my finger on the problem until I read your comments. It is funny how a little detail like windows flush with wall and lack of awnings can make a huge difference.
Yes, I work east of Clark and Broadway, and yes, they should tear that garage down. I’d lose a place to park for a bit, but they are horrible.
Interpark is always working on it but I’d bet new ones would be much safer.
I will voice the other perspective on those new sidewalks. While clear that they are narrow and lacking in street trees, I also do think they are tempoary. Why? Just a guess, but in tearing down the stadium and removing all of the sidewalks, my guess is that the Cardinals are legaly required to put sidewalks back in place along the streets they are creating, therefore, these sidewalks had to be in place now, not in 2 or 4 or 10 years. New sidewalks can always be put in later, even with the hydrants in place (probably another legal requirment).
I too hope the sidewalks are a temporary solution. The sidewalk on Broadway between Clark and Walnut was not even poured the Friday before the exhibition game (Apr 4). They were there by the following Monday. Judging from the streetscape work the Cardinals did for the area surrounding the ballpark, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to stop all of a sudden.
I agree about the sidewalks too. They were put in only a week before the park opened, probably so fans from the north had access without walkinbg in the streets. On the seventh side they just filled in the tree cuts and reused the old sidewalk.
I too couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the out buildings, but now it makes sense to me.
And finally, Cordish owns http://www.stlballparkvillage.com
Since we are critiquing, what about those obnoxious alien light poles? Since they are going retro, couldnt they have found fixtures that would match more closely to the new ballpark?
[REPLY – I actually like the light fixtures and the fact they are not some reproduction 19th century fixture. I need to see how good of a job they do to actually light the sidewalk. – SLP]
In response to “Michael”‘s post above, I was working the board last night and I didn’t hang up on you. Knock off the drama.
I took a bunch of pictures on opening day from the top of the Stadium East parking garage, where I watched the game. See them here.
I think the 1960s-era street lighting on new Clark Street is another indication that the sidewalk configuration along Clark Street is only temporary. The side of the street by the stadium is much wider and has smaller decorative light poles and trees.
The narrow sidewalk on the north side of Clark allows for necessary street grates, fire plugs, and additional lighting while providing a generous setback for the buildings that will be constructed there. I agree with Steve, it is a poor compromise, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the setbacks relate to the present sidewalk to determine whether or not the current arrangement is temporary.
three-one-four, nice psuedonym. I use something similar (ThreeOneFour) when I post on the Urban St. Louis and Skyscraper Page forums. 🙂