Gateway One/Peabody Plaza Is Here To Stay

In the 1970s/80s the City of St. Louis sought to keep the Gateway Mall marching Eastward toward the the Old Courthouse and Arch. However, there was no money to pay for it. There were also historic buildings in the blocks — the owner(s) proposed renovating the historic buildings. Another plan was selected:

Downtown business executives and union leaders created Pride Redevelopment Corp. and successfully pushed for a plan to clear the land between Kiener and Serra. Then, they would develop office towers on the north side, facing Chestnut. The revenue from the towers would underwrite costs for a “half mall” on the south side.

Over the protests of preservationists, the three notable buildings were demolished. But because the economy remained in a trough, only one tower was built: Gateway One, the 15-story sore thumb that has irked scores over the years. (Now it’s Peabody Plaza, home to Peabody Energy.) (Spotlight: Building interrupting the Gateway Mall is a mayor’s regret)

The Buder & International were imploded in August 1984, the Title Guaranty was also gone by the end of 1984. The half-mall plan called for four identical buildings — one on each of the four blocks from 6th to 10th.  More detail here.

In hindsight, most acknowledge the half-mall plan was a mistake. It was already dead by 1993, but demolition continued. Had the buildings on the two blocks West of Gateway One not been razed the one half building wouldn’t have stood out so much. I moved to St. Louis in August 1990 — Gateway One was already complete by then, But in 1992/93 I personally argued with architect Donald Royce, telling him razing the two blocks between the Gateway One and the Serra “Twain” block was another mistake. Fifteen years later Citygarden almost makes up fir the bad decision.

Back to Gateway One.

Over the years many have said it should be torn down. I’m no fan on the building, but that’s not going to happen. Ever.

The building sold in 2006 for $65 million. For many decades the building will be too costly to raze for more park space — we can’t afford to redo the excessive park space of the Gateway Mall — we don’t need more.   Peabody has another decade remaining on their lease and the building will remain viable for decades.

Face the facts — it’s not going anywhere. Just be thankful St. Louis abandons plans before they’re finished, otherwise we’d have a total of four.

— Steve Patterson

Readers: Blue is Favorite of Six Plaza Square Colors

Blue was the favorite Plaza Square color picked by readers in the non-scientific Sunday Poll, with orange second.   Readers were allowed to pick two. Blue & orange are also my top two favorites, though I prefer orange over blue.

Q: The six Plaza Square buildings were restored to their original colors, which are your TWO favorites?

Yellow, which finished fifth, is a close third favorite of mine.

As I said on Sunday, I thought the colors were originally used on the North & South ends but the National Register listing says they were always white.

Though I like a lot about these six buildings, they make no attempt to connect to Olive, Pine, or Chestnut. With Pine & Chestnut being a one-way couplet they’re horrible places for pedestrians, There is zero positive street activity.

Hopefully they’ll do better now that ownership, mission, etc are split up.

— Steve Patterson

Court Documents Shed Some Light On Condemned Parking Garage

For over a year I’ve been posting about the now-condemned parking garage at Tucker & Locust, it closed in the summer of 2014 for structural repairs:

• December 2014: Parking Garage Undergoing Time-Consuming Multi-Million Dollar Restoration; Businesses Closed, Jobs Lost
• April 2015: Parking Garage Repairs Halted, Emergency Structural Condemnation Issued
• July 2015: Car Hit Planters & Scaffolding Outside Condemned Parking Garage
• July 2015: Readers: New Building Should Replace Condemned Parking Garage

On March 9, 2015 CENTRAL PARKING SYSTEM OF MO, LLC sued TUCKER PARKING HOLDINGS LLC & TUCKER PARKING EQUITIES LLC, the two entities that own the garage, Case 1522-CC00532.  That same day Tucker et al countersued.

Later that month the court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to prevent contractor Tarlton from removing the shoring and rented equipment with Tucker et al to pay invoices. “Rental, monitoring, and other shoring related expenses” for April 2015 through October 2015 totaled $894,479. Tucker et al didn’t pay and in November the exterior scaffolding was removed, the interior shoring remains to date.

Last month the court issued a judgment against Tucker et al for the original amount plus an additional $11k in interest for a total of $905,507.05. It’s unclear to me if Tarlton has been fully paid for their more labor-intensive work from July 2014 through March 2015. Regardless, if paid, it was likely in excess of $2,000,000.  Just before the judgment the city filed a motion to intervene, but withdrew it four days later.

Early this month a hearing for February 16th was cancelled. Court records & documents found at Missouri Court’s Case.net.

— Steve Patterson

Lottery Machine Does Not A Casino Make

Late last month a bar owner filed suit to stop enforcement of the smoking ban following the expiration of a previous exemption, which expired on January 2nd. Judge Dowd grated a temporary restraining order (TRO) until a hearing could be conducted — that hearing is scheduled for 10am today.

The exemptions are expiring for bars that make 25 percent or less of their income from food, are no larger than 2,000 square feet and do not allow anyone under 21 inside. But exemptions exist indefinitely for casino gaming areas, private clubs with no employees and tobacco retail stores. Bar owners who participate in Missouri Lottery’s keno program claim they can be considered a casino gaming area. The game requires the bars to be licensed as such. (Post-Dispatch)

So the argument is because they have a Club Keno game from the Missouri Lottery they should be exempt — just like a casino. Judge Dowd will, no doubt, look at St. Louis ordinance and Missouri law. Let’s take a look ourselves.

St. Louis’ Smoke Free Air Act, passed in 2009, can be found here. In the definitions we see:

3. “Casino gaming area” means the area of a state-licensed gambling facility where gaming is allowed for those 21 years of age or older, including any VIP lounge, accessible only through the game floor, whether or not gaming is allowed in the VIP lounge.

Casino gaming area, not lottery area.

Section 7 of the Smoke Free Act is where “smoking is not regulated”, in the list is:

6. Casino gaming areas as defined by this Ordinance.

The ordinance uses the word “casino”, not lottery. Missouri law for the lottery is under different sections than for casinos, the Gaming Commission is totally separate from the Lottery Commission.

As you may know, the number of casino licenses in Missouri is limited to 13, from December 2010:

The Missouri Gaming Commission gave the green light to Creve Coeur-based Isle of Capri Corp. to build the state’s 13th casino just north of downtown Cape. After hearing passionate pitches for months, the commission made its decision quickly, quietly and unanimously. (Post-Dispatch)

The City of St. Louis went from two to one licensed casino when the casino on The President Casino on the Admiral closed.

Judge Dowd will, presumably, consider the legislative intent behind the Smoke Free Act — to exempt the two, now one, casino.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: The Six Plaza Square Buildings Were Restored To Their Original Colors, Which Are Your Two Favorite Colors?

One of the earliest urban renewal projects in St. Louis was Plaza Square — six high rise apartment buildings. Four city blocks were razed — except two churches — to make room for the six buildings. Site selection was made in 1950, but the project wasn’t completed until 1962.

Over the years the ownership on the group has changed numerous times. One was converted to condo ownership a decade ago, the other five are now owned by 2-3 entities. All six have been, or are in process of, renovated. The group are listed as a district on the National Register of Historic Places.  All six now sport their original color schemes, from the National Register listing:

Originally, each building’s enameled panels were painted a different solid color on the east and west elevations, with the panels on the north and south elevations painted white. Specifications and early color photographs are at odds, and conclusive assignments of original colors for three of the buildings have yet to be made. However, evidence shows that Building 20 has orange paint underneath the current coat, Building 30 has green and Building 60 was originally the same blue that it is today. The distinct colors differentiated the individual buildings from each other; this effect was an important balance to the uniform appearances of the buildings. (Section 7 page 6)

I was thinking the owners were too cheap to paint the North & South ends — but that’s how they were originally built!

Today’s poll is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time, I just had to wait  until all six got repainted.

The six colors are presented in random order — please vote for TWO.  This poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson