Sidewalks Reopened Around Former St. Louis Centre
St. Louis Centre, the former failed downtown enclosed mall, was an assault on the sidewalk and the pedestrians that use them. Â In typical mall fashion, retail was turned inward rather than facing the sidewalk. Â The walkways over Washington & Locust blocked views on both streets in both directions. 1980s thinking at it’s worst!
In the last year the structure has been transformed ground level retail and enclosed parking. Â The work is nearly complete.
Storefronts now face the public sidewalks on all sides of the building which occupies the city block bounded by Washington Ave on the north, 6th on the east, Locust on the south and 7th on the west. Â During the last year the sidewalks were closed during construction.
Thursday evening I was able to do a complete circle around the building. The only sidewalk not open is the raised part, shown above. Usually you don’t want to place steps between the main sidewalk and retail businesses because that can cut down on foot traffic, but sometimes you have no choice given the grades.
– Steve Patterson