‘Entertainment District’ Replaces ‘Festival Marketplace’ as Latest Trend

In the 1970s and 80s the “Festival Marketplace” was all the rage. This development concept was seen as the savior for many areas, including St. Louis’ Union Station. The Festival Markeplace was seen as a destination spot with entertainment and retail. The retail was often a clever adaptation of an existing building to form a mall space. Grand train stations were eagerly converted to this great new concept:

The fine 1888 headhouse became the grand entrance to the complex, housing an upscale restaurant on the former concourse floor. The eastern half of the shed became a festival marketplace, with specialty stores, bars, and a food court, while the western half was converted into a hotel, with new room modules built in the area occupied by most of the old tracks. Four tracks at the north and south ends were retained, and stocked with old heavyweight Pullmans, which were gutted to the shell and rebuilt with completely new interiors containing two rooms each.

This description is not about St. Louis’ Union Station although many similarities exist, including financial trouble of late. No, the above is about the Union Station in Indianapolis (source).

But after a couple of decades this concept is showing its age.

As city after city experienced trouble with their festival marketplaces, all suffering too little festivities and not enough commerce to pay the debts, something had to be done. Sadly, the solution was to only tweak the concept slightly and give it a new name. So today overblown development projects are called “mixed-use retail/entertainment districts.” Not quite as catchy as festival marketplace but that will give this new name greater longevity. The MUR/ED, as I will call it here, has little difference from failed festival marketplaces.

One primary difference we see, and it is a good one, is the embrace of the street. Gone are the days of multi-level indoor mall configurations of the festival marketplace. These have been replaced with overdone streets. Overdone in the sense of a cheap whore rather than a regal lady in a classic outfit.

The other main difference between the Festival Marketplace and the MUR/ED is the addition of housing. Again, this is a major improvement. With Festival Marketplaces such as our Union Station it was only after the locals and tourists stopped flocking to the attraction that people woke up and realized that if we had some housing there we’d have a built-in base of customers. Wow, these guys are brilliant that they’ve figured out that having residents creates retail customers!

The St. Louis Cardinals & The Cordish Company are planning one of these tarted up districts:

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.

World class? What makes it world class, an ESPN Zone sports bar? And it will “redefine the Gateway to the West” even though the Arch does a pretty good job of that right now. What they really should say is the district will be over-hyped with every chain business that will sign a lease. The developers will make their money in the first 20 years and could care less about creating a sustainable model for development beyond that. Furthermore, I see them creating, like the Bottle District North of the Dome, an internally focused area with little relationship to the surrounding area.

Ballpark Village will be hugely popular when it opens. It will lease the bulk of its retail & commercial space and the residential units will sell quickly. Getting a table at one of the new restaurants in the first year will be a challenge. But, in time what once seemed so new and exciting will age and no longer be the new hot spot. Some of the chains will simply close the location while other chains will go out of business nation-wide. In about 25 years the Cardinal’s owners, whomever that will be at the time, will begin talks with the city about building a new stadium. I’m just not confident in the long-term prospects of the adjacent “village.”

So what would I do differently?

Well, I’d drop the whole “Ballpark Village” name. A village, in my view, is self reliant. Yes, I know it is just a marketing ploy but in the long term such a fixed identity will hurt the area once it becomes passé. Counter to current trends, I would not give the area too distinct a visual look. Instead, I’d do my best to integrate the area with adjacent blocks so as to blend rather than stick out. Having 12 acres controlled and designed by one developer is apt to look too contrived. I’d suggest they create the street grid and then allow other developers/owners to take on various pieces of the total site. This would get closer to how things used to be and with multiple owners we would have great variety.

Chain restaurants & retail stores are typically only interested in a long-term lease whereas a locally owned business might be interested in purchasing a storefront condo. Trying to get local businesses as part of the mix will help with local people having a vested interest in the long range future of the area. Corporate offices of chains simply do not care. Of course, rental rates are often astronomical in these mega projects so chains are the only ones that can afford to locate in them. They become outdoor malls without the charm of Kansas City’s Countryclub Plaza.

Much is happening in other parts of downtown north of Market Street as well as in the Cupples Station area just to the West of the new stadium. It will be very important that residents and visitors all seamlessly walk from area to area but I have concerns the Ballpark Village will attempt to corral people simply to make its numbers work. To be successful, it will need thousands of visitors which is an easy task on game day. Hype will get the area visitors on non-game days as well but I’m concerned it will be at the expense of other parts of downtown. I hope I’m wrong. The rest of downtown needs the village to draw new people downtown, not just steal current ones.

The mixed-use retail/entertainment district is a revamp of the mostly failed Festival Marketplace which was twist on the failed downtown mall idea. The big developers and the city officials they sponsor simply do not understand neighborhood basics. If they do, they don’t feel like they can sell it to the general public or the bankers. In the 1950s cities began tearing apart their cities to accommodate the car and in the process ruined downtowns. Sure, downtowns were tired and dirty before all the demolition and highway construction began but champions of “progress” argued for more parking and wider streets to move traffic. All these efforts over the last 50+ years accelerated the demise of downtowns and aided in the growth of suburbia.

Civic groups have been trying every bloated scheme since to change things. The 50’s saw the first wave with beautiful buildings being razed for parking. The ones that were not razed were stripped of their detailing and modernized in an attempt to look like a new building. This was the first failed trend for downtowns and it has been an expensive downhill ride since.

In the 60’s and 70’s came the pedestrian malls, again trying to compete with the new suburban outdoor mall. The new suburban mall was not much more than a couple of strip centers facing each other but downtown folks had to do it. St. Louis didn’t close off streets, instead we torn down blocks of buildings to create the Gateway Mall. When suburbia moved to enclosed malls cities followed suit. It is really a sad history of failing to understand what makes an urban core special.

Along the way cities decided that every major venue should be located in their downtown. Sports arenas and convention centers were going to revive downtowns. St. Louis’ convention center, despite numerous expansions, is failing to live up to expectations. The dome is less than 20 years old and is already costing millions to stay competitive with others stadiums. The convention hotel is still on the verge of bankruptcy due to lower than expected occupancy.

Forgive me if I am cynical about these new “entertainment districts” but I see too many eggs in one basket for long term sustainability.

– Steve