Two Buildings Being Razed in Clayton for St. Louis County Court Project

Work has started on an addition to the existing St. Louis County Courthouse:

On October 15, 2013, the St. Louis County Council awarded a $122 million Design-Build contract to St. Louis-based KCI Construction Company, Inc. (KCI) to design and construct improvements related to the County Courts Project. KCI’s work will include construction of a new addition and substantial renovations to the existing Courts Building and the parking garage beneath it. Once work is complete, all family/juvenile court and detention operations currently conducted at the Family Courts Center (501 S. Brentwood) will be permanently relocated to the new, unified Courts Complex. (St. Louis County)

The new addition will be built on top of the existing parking garage. Two buildings to the west, across South Meramec Ave, will be razed to make room for staging the constriction project.

The two are connected via a walkway over the alley.  The building at 111 S. Meramec Ave has nearly 72,000 square feet and was built in 1957. The taller of the two, 121 S. Meramec Ave, was built in 1964 and contains nearly 210,000 square feet of space. Both buildings have a negative impact on the Meramec sidewalk, neither will be missed from an urbanist viewpoint. I don’t know the architect of either, a preservationist might object to their planned demolition.

I need to find out if St. Louis County has a long-term plan for the land. Selling to a developer or keeping for surface/structured parking are the two obvious future uses.

— Steve Patterson

Culinaria Responds To Competition From Fields Foods, Improves Produce Department

When Fields Foods opened in January on the near south side, just south of downtown, those of us who’ve regularly shopped at Culinaria at 9th & Olive were envious of the produce selection. Culinaria also noticed, prompting changes in their produce department.

The selection is still lacking compared to Fields Foods, but greatly improved over what it has been.  Glad to see management is willing to change when a tiny upstart opens not far away. It’ll be interesting to see how both respond when Whole Foods opens in the CWE late next year.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Paul McKee’s “Northside Regeneration” Project is Slowly Moving Foreword, Pick Your Top 5 Priorities

Paul McKee’s “Northside Regeneration”  has been controversial since before it became public, it has faced court challenges and has experienced delays. Now, however, it seems to be ready to move forward.

The question for the poll this week is what qualities should be priorities of the project?  Please select your top from from the list provided in the poll in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Washington Ave Sidewalk Reopened

The last part of filling in the old railroad tunnel under Tucker was the NW corner of Tucker & Washington Ave. In January I posted the Last Remaining Corner of Tucker Project, at that time, 

The basement of the Bogen lofts extends under the Tucker & Washington sidewalks, requiring more work to to create the concrete top over the basement vaults. Up top the Washington Ave sidewalk looks the same as it did before, the bricks were reset on top of the concrete. I’m glad I can finally use the north side of Washington.

— Steve Patterson

Update: Chippewa Road Diet, Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Lane

Last month when I posted Chippewa Road Diet, Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Lane the project wasn’t finished, I was holding out judgement until complete. The project now appears to be complete, but I’ve only experienced it as a passenger in a passing vehicle.

I’ll take MetroBus there this Spring so I can check it out end to end using my wheelchair, paying close attention to the transitions from the sidewalks at each end. On the reverse trip we noticed lots of water covering the sidewalk on the south side of the street.

— Steve Patterson