THF Big Box vs. Planned Creve Coeur Downtown

This story caught my eye back in July:

THF Realty, a major developer of Walmarts and other big-box stores, is sniffing around the Orchard Lakes subdivision just north of Creve Coeur and near busy Olive Boulevard and Interstate 270.

A company representative met with subdivision trustees on June 3 to discuss a potential buyout of the entire subdivision, according to a subsequent letter from the trustees to subdivision homeowners. (STLToday)

Not surprising since vacant highway-adjacent parcels no longer exist. The subdivision of 256 single family homes is adjacent to I-270, extending more than half the distance from Olive to Page.

THF Realty wants to make sure all those motorists driving on I-270 can see the generic big box development they are planning.

I knew where the subdivision was located but had never driven any of it’s streets, so last month I drove each street in the subdivision.

I grew up in a subdivision of similar vintage as Orchard Lakes. From a check of St. Louis County records these houses were built between 1961-66.   There is nothing particularly unique about the homes or the subdivision itself. With a few exceptions, all the homes looked well maintained. Many have newer windows and roofs.

Few sidewalks exist in this subdivision, it’s not at all urban. Not rural either, decidedly suburban. There is no orchard, probably never was.

There are lots of very nice mature trees though.

Orchard Lakes is in unincorporated St. Louis County – barely. Creve Coeur has annexed commercial property along Olive Blvd but they didn’t want the adjacent residential areas. For a while now Creve Coeur has been planning to remake Olive & Ballas into their downtown.

In April 2002, the City of Creve Coeur adopted the Comprehensive Plan. Together, with the Pedestrian Plan and Design Guidelines, these plans set a standard for protecting community assets and strength- ening community character. Among the numerous recommendations made in the Comprehensive Plan are several for the Central Business District. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan recommends the creation of a downtown (or town center) in the vicinity of the Olive-New Ballas intersection. (Plan PDF)

Orchard Lakes is just north of their proposed downtown/central business district:

The strong real estate market in Creve Coeur is anticipated to continue to be a basis for strengthening residential areas while at the same time stimulating major reinvestment in aging or underutilized commercial areas.

Clearly Creve Coeur’s planners didn’t envision the surrounding residential getting replaced by high traffic big box. To a degree this is what Creve Coeur gets for incorporating only the commercial areas along Olive, but not the adjacent residential to the north. Will be interesting to see if either gets built.

– Steve Patterson

A Decade Ago

A decade ago I was excited about an upcoming 19-day vacation with a friend. Our itinerary would begin in Washington D.C., with a drive through the Pennsylvania countryside to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water, on to NYC for a few days and then back to D.C. before flying home. Our flights, car rental and hotel were all booked. We would fly into Dulles Airport on October 19, 2001.

For both os us it would be our first trip to Manhattan, iconic buildings like the Empire State and World Trade Center were on our must-see list.  Then it happened.

The morning of September 11, 2001 I was driving to a client’s house in St. Louis County when I heard the report on the radio of the first plane hitting the first tower. When I arrived they had their television on, we watched the reports…and the second plane hitting the second tower. Like the rest of the world, we were stunned. It seemed unreal, so unimaginable.  Death & destruction like we’d never seen before.

For a while it looked like we would cancel our vacation, but then it became clear these areas needed tourists dollars. We went, and had a great time. Returning to D.C. after New York the Pentagon, still damaged, at least had most of the debris  removed.

Remember the Post 9/11 anthrax scare? A person on NYC’s upper east side died of anthrax poisoning the day we were walking through the area. We visited a friend on the upper west side, a week earlier he could see hazmat crews in the offices of ABC just across the alley cleaning after an anthrax scare.  It was a surreal vacation.

The families of all who died that day, and of first responders who are ill, it was more than surreal. I can’t begin to imagine what they felt then, or now.

On Sundays I introduce a new poll for the week:

The number of Americans who say the government should do whatever it takes to protect its citizens against terrorism —even if it means violating civil liberties — has dropped almost in half since the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. (Source)

This seems like a good topic, the poll is in the right sidebar.  Those on mobile devices will need to switch to the full site to vote in the poll.

– Steve Patterson

Kiener Plaza Helped by Gateway Greening

The other day I strolled through Kiener Plaza and I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful plantings.

Gateway Greening really provides a great service to the city, the parks department could never do such plantings.

– Steve Patterson

May 1, 2012 Will Mark the 30th Anniversary of Richard Serra’s ‘Twain’

Richard Serra’s controversial metal sculpture “Twain” was installed on March 15-17, 1982 and dedicated on Saturday May 1, 1982.

According to a August 25, 1985 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, by the late George McCue, “the formal name arrived late; at the 1982 dedication it was simply “Quadrilateral.”” I know many of you don’t like Twain, see Readers split on Richard Serra’s “Twain” from April 2010.

The following is what I’d like to see accomplished by the 30th anniversary of “Twain’s” dedication:

1) Extend the wide “hallway” that runs next to Market St in Citygarden. Narrow 10th & 11th streets where the hallway crosses both as was done at 9th.

2) Replace the narrow broken sidewalks on the other three sides of the block with new wider sidewalks.

3) Place landscaping grids around the sculpture so grass can grow without having foot traffic create holes that get muddy and collect water.

Guest Post: Old Man of Armour: A Last Look at The Armour Plant

by Chris Andoe

I’ve spent a great deal of time documenting the collection of ruins that make up much of the East St. Louis area. It’s fascinating to see what happens to large masonry structures after fifty years of abandonment. The first couple of times the decay seems static but after a few seasons your eye begins to measure the steady progression.

The site urban explorers find the most intriguing is the Armour Meat Packing Plant, which was the first of East St. Louis‘ big three plants to shutter, closing in 1959. Visiting this behemoth is a religious experience for many with its smokestacks, towering ornate machinery – some circa 1902 – incredible views, and endless areas to discover.

With a few flashlights you can descend into the labyrinth basement complete with deep watery pits, climb multiple levels taking in the glazed brickwork, and one explorer even documented his journey to the top of the smokestack where bricks came loose in his hands and he nearly fell to his death.

The mystique around this place is accentuated because it’s long been difficult to find. You head north through East St. Louis, past the prostitutes strolling Route 3, make a right at nowhere, park along the isolated potholed road. Once on the property you trek the long convoluted pathways through thick vegetation before you reach it.

Nature has taken back the site, inside and out. Trees are firmly rooted on the roof, vines climb through windows, and a giant white owl waits in the rafters.

In recent years the natural decay has been accelerated by the metal scrappers who have removed much of the flooring and disassembled some of the ornate equipment. On an intellectual level I’ve wondered why the thefts bother me so much. After all the building has been steadily falling for decades and is well past the point of being converted into a new use. The condition is terminal, and after half a century development is encroaching with the new I-70 slated to skirt the site. This hidden, mysterious treasure- long a beacon for explorers and thieves will be laid bare as a dangerously accessible, intolerable eyesore on newly visible, valuable property. Its days are numbered but the dismantling bothered me nonetheless.

After being away for seven months I was eager to see the ruins. I visited the neighboring Hunter Plant, slated for demolition, several sites in Downtown East St. Louis, and I saved the best for last. Sure enough the scrappers had stripped away even more of the personality but in light of recent severe weather I was surprised that the structure hadn’t fared too poorly.

As I was looking around my eyes locked with an old black man in an official looking uniform.

“Who told you you could be in here?” he demanded. I’ve always had ready-made replies in the event this would happen but in that moment I felt like one of the twelve year old kids in the movie Stand By Me. I simply replied “Nobody. I was just taking photos”. He instructed me to “get my crew and get out of here”.

I realized he thought I was a scrapper. He followed us closely as we walked the long overgrown road to the main street. I shared that I knew about the scrappers and also thought it was a shame. He then opened up. “They’re who I was hoping to catch!” he began. “They’re tearing this place apart”.

I had found a kindred spirit. This man loved this crumbling monstrosity even more that I did. After inquiring further I was astonished to learn that he had been one of the employees of Armour during its heyday, and when the plant shuttered he was the lone employee kept on as the caretaker for the site. Since 1959 he’s watched his coworkers leave for the last time, watched as sections of the roof crashed in, walls crumbled, supports failed, and people like myself climbed the building with abandon.

I had so many questions for him and asked if he’d speak with me for this piece. “I can’t really say nothin’, I’ve gotten in trouble in the past” he said. He did point to a few areas and told us how many people worked in each. He spoke of all the jobs that were there.

The overgrown lot littered with brush, bricks and debris gave way to the blinding white pavement of the brand new road. We were off the property. The old man with gray stubble, one blind eye and a sharp, pressed uniform had done his job.

A few years back I had a dream that after a storm I went to check on the plant. As I approached I heard a snap, like a lone firecracker, then watched as the whole structure collapsed in slow motion before me- a spectacular sight- so vivid with the smokestacks splitting and the fire escape landing just feet from my body. That would have been a demise worthy of such a structure. Nestled in quiet vegetation and in the company of someone who loved it.

Just before we got in the car the caretaker pointed to a nearby dirt pile and said “That’s where the new highway’s comin’”.

All of us understood what that meant.

– Chris Andoe

Chris Andoe is a writer and community organizer who has divided his time between St. Louis and San Francisco for the past decade. He earned the moniker “The Emperor of St. Louis” as the crown wearing Master of Ceremonies for the zany Metrolink Prom, where hundreds of transit supporters pack the train for the city’s biggest mobile party. Andoe writes for St. Louis’ Vital Voice.