Before taking a look at the new I thought we should first look at the old.
Looking East toward the Arch from the top of the steps at 4th Street, July 2014Looking West toward the Old Courthouse, October 2014Looking North on Memorial Dr from Olive. Luther Ely Smith Square is on the left, July 2010From the Arch grounds, June 2011
Unfortunately. these images don’t give you a good overview. For that we need to look down from somewhere high up — like the Arch.
From the Arch we see Memorial Drive on either side of the depressed interstate lanes and Luther Ely Smith Square, December 2012Tighter crop focusing on the Square — was pretty boring.Construction on the “lid” over the highway, July 2014
Okay, let’s take a look at the new Luther Ely Smith Square (LESS):
The current view looking East from the Old CourthouseFrom the base of the new flagpoleWalkways on either side of a low bern lead you tossed the Arch. The previous flight of steps in the center meant many didn’t go through the Square.Mostly the new walkways are a smooth exposed aggregate concrete, but brick was used in some locations.Modern bike racks, that will support the bike frame, are along the South & North outer walkways.Looking East along the wide sidewalk next to Olive. This will be a drop off point for Arch visitorsEach side has a small oval-shaped space accessed from the outer walks or steps from the centerFrom inside the South ovalContinuing East on the outer sidewalk we see the motorized bollards that can be lowered as needed. These will likely be a maintenance issue.Everything is directing you toward the new Arch entry, now under constructionLooking North over what was the opening down to the highway. A small platform has been built to allow you to see the construction activity.The accessible platform allows to peak over the concrete barrierThe North side just inside the bollards seen to be the new spot where everyone is posing for picsWhat I really like are the views back to the Old CourthouseCloser, from the North center walkwayLooking toward 4th & Chestnut
This Square is an important part of the new plan to have visitors enter the Arch grounds from downtown. It’s well-designed and draws you toward the Arch. The lid over the highway can become the lid over a boulevard in the future.
I recently learned that a traffic study will be done for downtown’s Central Business District (CBT), a good thing. But then I thought about the last CBD traffic study. A search of this blog turned up posts from a decade ago:
I’m a digital packrat, so I saved the presentation:
First slide of presentation, click image to view 53 page PDF on Scribd.
You can view the presentation and draw your own conclusions — I want to call attention to some of my thoughts at the time along with how things have changed, or stayed the same:
Doug Shatto, President of the consulting firm Crawford, Bunte, Brammeier did an excellent job of explaining the tradeoffs between various methods such as one-way vs. two-way streets. I felt he understands what it takes to create a pedestrian & retail-friendly environment. What I didn’t get was a sense that he will fight for that. Instead I think he’ll do whatever the city tells him.
Washington Avenue East of Tucker. While they say that on-street parking has not been ruled out I’m suspicious. They hinted at allowing parking except during peak hours. I pointed out after the meeting to Doug Shatto how KitchenK will not use their sidewalk cafe license until they have a row of parked cars to make sidewalk dining more hospitable to their patrons. I also pointed out that Copia is allowed to take a traffic lane for valet parking. If we can take a lane for a valet we can certainly take the balance of the lane for parking as the flow is already restricted. I still want to see on-street parking all the way from Tucker to at least Broadway.
Ah yes, a decade ago parking wasn’t allowed on Washington Ave East of Tucker. I did a number of posts at the time about this, finally we got limited parking on the EB block between 11th & Tucker and 10th-11th in both directions –except during morning & afternoon rush. On-street parking is still needed East of 10th, but it hasn’t happened. It’s needed to separate pedestrians from moving vehicles, reduce drive lines from four to two. The anticipated long line of WB cars turning right onto Tucker toward the new bridge never materialized, yet the rentire WB right lane from 11th to Tucker remains no-parking. Why?
I asked at the end of the meeting about Cole street being abel to take some of the traffic off Washington Avenue. Shatto did indicate that if Washington Avenue was restricted from four lanes to two lanes through drivers would likely alter their route and use the nearly vacant Cole. Another factor that may reduce some traffic on Washington Avenue is people going around the block due to one-way streets. They are recommending changing 8th & 11th from one-way to two-way (more later).
Streets they deemed “appropriate” to change from one-way to two-way were 8th, 11th (North of Market only), and Walnut (from Tucker to either to 4th or Broadway).
Streets they deemed “inappropriate” to change from one-way to two-way were 9th, 10th and Pine.
Streets they deemed “inappropriate but viable” to change from one-way to two-way were 6th, 7th, and Locust.
One-way streets not even mentioned were Broadway or Chestnut.
Balpark Village did cause portions of some one-way streets to become tw0-way again. Downtown remains confusing with one-way, two-ways, and streets that don’t go through because of vacations of blocks here and there. Decades of butchering the grid has created a nightmare.
The immediate plan (2006) is to change the controllers for the existing signals. This will allow them greater flexibility in controlling the signals via computer. This might include changing the timing for game days or setting the signals to flash after a certain time. I think changing the timing makes sense as this could help with special events. I’m not sure how I feel about the flashing signals after hours. Does this say we have so little going on that we don’t need normal timing? Or does it say that we change over to a pedestrian environment after hours?
Presumably the controllers were changed. Many signals themselves remain the same. Many intersections still lack any type of pedestrian signal, others need countdown timers.
They mentioned trying to change Missouri law to allow a left turn on red on one-way streets. Apparently this is allowed in 16 or so states but not Missouri. It is commonplace downtown to see drivers do this.
I posted about this in June — Missouri law still doesn’t allow left turns on red.
I think they did an excellent job of evaluating pedestrian concerns and will do a good job upgrading the system and reducing conflicts. One of the changes it to go to a simple two-phase system where pedestrians are permitted to cross with the flow of traffic. Currently some intersections are considered scrambled where pedestrians can cross any direction while cars wait. While this sounds good that also means that they are generally not allowed to cross with the flow. It seems more natural to have the simpler system.
The pedestrian experience downtown is horrible — highly inconsistent from one block to the next. With the Arch parking garage gone we’re expecting visitors to parking in garages in the CBD and walk to the new downtown-facing entry. The pedestrian experience doesn’t seen to have been given the scrutiny that traffic flow & space availability has.
Hopefully once a new plan is complete we can actually take some action!
In August it was announced new entry markers would be coming to Forest Park entrances:
The City of St. Louis and the private nonprofit conservancy Forest Park Forever have announced plans to construct the first of eight new arrival markers at key Forest Park entrances. Called for in the 1995 Forest Park Master Plan, these thresholds will more formally welcome visitors arriving by foot, on bicycle and by car, clearly identify the Park’s primary and secondary entrances — especially key for visitors from around the region and country — and create welcoming nodes where visitors can meet and gather.
At the first site selected, the popular entrance at Skinker/Wells/Clayton at the Park’s southwest edge, a temporary mock-up will be installed in fall 2015; this will allow stakeholders and the Forest Park Advisory Board — established in the Master Plan to ensure public involvement in any new capital projects in the Park — to assess scale, positioning and Park context before continuing on with construction, which is planned for 2016. Design and construction costs for this entrance are estimated to be approximately $300,000. Forest Park Forever has raised the private funds necessary to proceed and complete it. St. Louis-based SWT Design has served as the project’s designer. (Forest Park Forever — with images)
I didn’t see the temporary mock-up in person, but late last month St. Louis Public Radio had a story on pushback & support.
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December 4, 2015Downtown, Featured, Real EstateComments Off on Creative Firms Continue Buying Downtown Office Condo Space
Industrial design firm fredsparks is moving downtown from S. Kingshighway, the news of their purchase of an office condo came in April:
On April 15th, 2015, design firm fredsparks acquired the last remaining commerical unit comprised of 3,823 SQ FT for $26/SQ FT. The unit is currently in gray-box condition as one of the only unrenovated spaces in the Washington Avenue loft district. fredsparks plans on retrofitting the space as offices for their headquarters.
Blood & Sand, which still owns its commercial unit next door to fredsparks & The Kelley Group, continues their success as one of downtown St. Louis’s best restaurant venues & favorite Washington AVE neighborhood gathering spots. More recently Blood & Sand owners Adam Frager & TJ Vytlacil opened Death in the Afternoon at City Garden. (King Realty Advisors)
Work in their space has been ongoing since their interior finish permit was issued in late August.
Unit C hasn’t been occupied since the building was renovated into condos a decade ago.
Earlier this year the firm leasing the office condo in my building a block West on Locust Street bought their space. I’m very glad to see small businesses thriving, occupying spaces, and investing in downtown. Actually, seeing smaller local firms investing anywhere in the region is a positive.
Metro St. Louis is busy working on smart cards for paying transit fares, some have been testing the new technology. Meanwhile, we’ve been using the Ventra smart card for nearly 2 years when visiting Chicago. See Contactless Transit Smart Cards from February 2014. Last month I finally decided to apply for a reduced fare card.
Full fare Ventra card (top) and my reduced fare card (bottom)
Both cards are now on one online account, allowing me to login to add value. My husband will use the full fare while I use the reduced fare with my picture. I applied in person in Chicago and the card was mailed to me in about a week. Both are “contactless” which means the user just taps it at the reader, both have a magnetic strip on the back. The same card works for all three Chicagoland systems: CTA, Metra, & Pace. It doesn’t appear my new reduced fare card can be used as a debit card — that won’t matter to me but it might to others.
In St. Louis, our Metro isn’t going to have a debit card connection — deemed too costly. I’m told existing reduced fare ID holders like myself will automatically receive a new reduced fare smart card — once ready. New applicants will apply in person but leave with the card rather than have it mailed. Since my current Metro reduced fare ID expires in February 2016 I’ll need to renew it once more before I get a smart card version.
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