SLU + Grand Center; The Intersection of Asphalt & Demolition
Saint Louis University (SLU) President Fr. Biondi, a member of the Board of Directors of Grand Center, thinks a new basketball arena will help Grand Center by bringing thousands of people to midtown. Others apparently agree. However, they are all wrong. Yes, thousands will come to basketball games — all driving cars on the highways and streets. Some will come to the games via mass transit while some students will, it is thought, walk from their nearby dorms. The notion, however, that thousands attending a sporting event in a single indoor facility will have net positive impact on surrounding areas is unproven at best. This is the Reaganomics of urban planning theory.
A few years back Fr. Biondi and SLU VP Kathleen Brady wanted to locate their massive arena on the western end of the emerging Locust Business District, adjacent to Grand Center. SLU bought a number of buildings but could not get the huge quantity of land they needed, some owners thankfully refused to sell to SLU. Unable to get their first location they shifted gears and decided to locate the arena south of Laclede and west of Compton. The Locust Business District, many thought, was safe from SLU’s over worked wrecking ball.
At the ground breaking for the new arena last August I spoke one-on-one with the Alderman for the area, Mike McMillan (since elected License Collector). McMillan had this to say to me at the time:
“If there had been a lot of demolition over in the Locust Business District it would have had a significant negative impact on the long-term success of that area so this project being here is a lot better for the surrounding community.”
A very astute observation the part of former 19th-ward Alderman McMillan, demolition can indeed have a negative impact on areas in the long term. The problem is his hand-picked successor, Marlene Davis, seems to think demolition in the Locust Business District is OK. Unfortunately this area is conveniently excluded from any oversight by the city’s Preservation Board, a group appointed by the Mayor to review demolition permits and other preservation related matters. Yesterday the city issued a demolition permit to Bellon Wrecking to raze one of numerous buildings owned by SLU in the Locust Business District. The plan, as far as we know, is more surface parking for the new arena being constructed four blocks to the south.
This is the part where I get confused, how exactly is this area to rebound when it is the repository of cars for big events blocks away? Can Fr. Biondi, Kathleen Brady, Ald. Davis or former Mayor and currently Grand Center’s President Vince Schoemehl please explain this trickle over theory to me? Can they cite examples where large surface parking lots have helped neighborhoods thrive? I’ve visited many cities and studied many more and I personally am at a loss for a single example. Oh wait, the surface parking for Busch Stadium spurred activity in the form of Al Hrabosky’s Ballpark Saloon, a pre-fab metal building. People drink there before, during and after baseball games.
The building SLU is currently razing in the area is an old 19th century livery stable, a rather unassuming building in its coat of white paint (see map). Cleaned up, renovated and adapted for modern use the building could be a showplace. For more on the history of the building see Michael Allen’s Ecology of Absence. The key to this building is not its long history (although that is important) or its very simple detailing (although that too is interesting). No, the key to this building is location. I believe this building, if it were to remain standing, would play an important part of the Locust Business District which is doing an excellent job of connecting downtown to midtown (aka Grand Center). The area is already parking heavy but some good infill buildings could quickly reverse that. Instead of edging toward infill and reconnection, we are moving toward increased parking and further separation. The city, university, and Grand Center are making this area a no-man’s land.
SLU owns the next two buildings in the block to the east. Are these next?
Across Locust to the south of the livery, SLU owns the above building which fronts onto Olive.
Thankfully SLU does not own the 6-story building on the left, in the same block as the livery currently being razed. Signs indicate the possible conversion to condos, an excellent reuse of the building and an ideal location. However, the the city vacating the alley on half this block this building’s alley will be a dead end — not ideal for trash, fire or general use. By cutting off the alley they are ensuring the fate of this building will not be good. The buff brick building on the right is a new motorcycle museum while the old livery can be seen in the middle of the picture.
As I indicated, the 6-story warehouse building with an excellent reuse potential for housing is about to be located on a dead-end alley. The back of the building, at right in the above image, is perfect for indoor parking for resident’s cars (the livery is on the right of the alleyin the background). With the alley terminated by SLU’s parking lot, access and services for this warehouse will be greatly reduced, ditto for a property facing Washington.
The streets and alleys of the city are one of our greatest assets yet we continue to give this land away. Car advocates cite greater mobility as a wonderful thing yet we keep reducing mobility options by closing off public rights of way. We are probably paying SLU to take the alley away the citizens of the city forever. Remember that the arena is a private venture receiving $8 million in public subsidy.
Let’s go for a stroll eastbound on Locust to see what is happening in the area.
The three story building on the left, located at 3327 Locust, is one of 8 parcels owned by SLU on this block (city block 1043). The other seven, such as the two in the middle, are owned by others. This block would have been completely razed for the arena but the parts SLU owns may all get razed due to Biondi’s worship of the places we temporarily store cars. The old firehouse above is a private residence and the buff building, I believe, is used as a recording studio. These two are bookended by SLU owned buildings.
The area’s flavor comes from the interesting variety of buildings, ironically many once used as car dealerships in earlier days of motoring. This grouping, have all been renovated or are in the process of. A sudden influx of generic and lifeless surface parking might kill off what is naturally occuring without the aid of fancy streetscape projects or other similar over-the-top incentives.
This lovely moderne building is getting new windows and new life.
The far right building (above) is a private residence which I saw a few years ago on a Rehabber’s Club tour while it was being created out of an old building. It is exceptionally nice inside with a comfortable courtyard space behind.
One of my favorites on Locust, recently renovated and available for lease.
The fine building above, at 3039 Locust, will open this fall as The Fountain on Locust. The Post-Dispatch indicated a few days ago that, “Tom Brady’s black box theater will be located at 3001 Locust.” Great things are occuring in this area, something we should not mess with.
Building after building is getting renovated for new uses although this former car dealership is a classic car dealership.
The far right building, at the NW corner of Locust & Garrison, is currently undergoing a major renovation. The next block to the east (block 1013) is entirely vacant and ripe for redevelopment to support the efforts underway. However, with the lack of any demolition review and no design standards for the area that block might just end up as more surface parking or even worse, a suburban-style Walgreen’s. The potential exists but I don’t believe for a moment our leadership has the ability to realize that potential. With the right developer, they might luck into a good project(s) for the vacant land.
Across Locust from the vacant city block is one of the most interesting collection of facades in the entire city. Although the storefronts have been unfortunately altered over the years, the future potential is great — assuming they are not razed, surrounded by surface parking lots or suburban type development.
Again, great old bones in need of some new storefronts. As the market naturally progresses, these two can be renovated if they are not razed first.
The YWCA renovated this old and long vacant YWCA at their local headquarters.
This building was just renovated and is used for offices.
We are nearly to Jefferson now on our tour where many more warehouses have or are being renovated and reopend for new uses. Washington Avenue, just a block north of Locust, also has interesting things happening between Jefferson and Grand. Sadly, as you head west toward Grand (and thus the Grand Center area) you encounter massive areas of surface parking which kill the options of creating a good connection between the emerging Locust district with some of the cultural amenities in Grand Center. Massive surface parking lots, no matter how neatly stripped or beautifully landscaped, are barriers not connectors.
One such massive dividing parking lot, at Theresa and Olive, remained vacant yesterday while the streets were occupied with people attending Circus Flora. This is adjacent to the block where SLU is razing the livery building for more parking.
More parking, recently repaved, was vacant although a popular circus is happening right behind me. The livery building is in the background. You see, each group or entity with enough money and clout is creating their own parking area. Grand Center has been for some time, and is increasingly, a small island of fine cultural institutions surrounded by ever larger acres of surface parking. SLU, it seems, cannot risk sharing parking because what if they have a basketball game on the same night as the Symphony or a theatrical performance at the Fox. Rather than coordinated schedules and wise parking management we simply raze structures at will and create more surface parking. Grand Center’s slogan should not be The Center of Art and Life but instead the Center of Asphalt and Demolition.
Former Mayor Schoemehl, you will recall, was a co-conspirator in the razing of numerous historic structures to create the failed Gateway Mall. He, along with Grand Center’s Board which includes SLU’s Fr. Biondi, are working hard at clearing mid-town of buildings and life. But, don’t forget that the arena is going to benefit Grand Center somehow. I find it rather odd that Grand Center’s website fails to mention this new exciting addition to the area (the arena or more surface parking). If the arena will do so much for Grand Center, why not shout it out on the organization’s website? Well, they really know the truth so they are keeping quiet. After all, what would cultured patrons of the arts think about Grand Center if they read about a new arena in the area — it would ruin the idea of an arts district. Emily Pulitzer, another board member, is probably not convinced basketball fans 6-8 blocks from her museum will somehow take an interest in modern art.
The city’s lack of planning for contiguous neighborhoods & districts is never more evident than in this area. The big boys are allowed to do as they please while individual residents and business owners, creating a very interesting area despite the city, are left on the sidelines hoping what they do will not be destroyed. This is the exact opposite of how you build a city.
