Save the Boo-Bees

This morning I joined at least 60,000 others in the 2008 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. OK, I didn’t run but I did take the wheelchair for the 5K walk, joining a neighbor (a 6 year survivor) & friends. After finishing the 3.1 mile walk & returning home I still had half the charge on the wheelchair. Of course it helped that the start line was exactly one block South of my loft building.

The best team name was the “Save the Boo-Bees” group. They all had yellow shirts with bees on them, very clever.

It was a constant stream of people as we made our way West on Olive, South on Compton and then back East on Market. While the sun was a bit warm the weather could not have been anymore perfect.  Today marked the 10th anniversary of the race in St Louis.
My goal is to be able to actually walk the walk next year.

My congrats to all the survivors out there.  We all have women in our lives that we love dearly so it is nice to see so many strong women that have survived and beaten breast cancer.

Floodwaters Draws Spectators, Park Service Vehicle Blocks Accessible Route

The Mississippi River is rising but so are the number of riverfront spectators. Saturday night I was among hundreds that found a spot along the Arch steps to take in the vastness of the river.

Some folks were playing in the water which doesn’t seem wise given what is likely in the water.

When I left I headed toward the makeshift ADA route over I-70 at Chestnut.

There in my path is a National Park Service truck. We saw no workers near the truck, just a truck parked between my wheelchair and the pathetic excuse for an accessible way over the highway. My friend pushed her grandson’s stroller through the grass and over a rut. I tested the off road ability of the wheelchair and went a bit wider to avoid the rut in the dirt.

You know the place might be a bit more inviting if they didn’t park three ton vehicles in the direct path of visitors! I can just see us spending hundreds of millions on a “lid” over the highway only to have the NPS screw it all up by parking vehicles as they did the other night. Brilliant!

Don’t Park in Front of Curb Ramps

Earlier in the month I did a post about an illegally parked car block the ADA ramp/curb cut which blocked my flow in the wheelchair and required me to backtrack to get to the other side of 10th street.  I’ve been through the same intersection (10th & St Charles) numerous times since then and it has been clear.  The other day, however, a driver decided to make a space where there wasn’t one — blocking the very same ramp.

This time I was ready — I had programmed the police non-emergency number into my phone.  Thankfully I left my number with the dispatcher as the officer called a short time later and didn’t understand the problem.  After directing the officer to look at the blocked ramp he got it.

I came back through the same intersection two hours later and the car was still blocking the ramp but it was ticketed (the rear tire is centered on the ramp).  A friend suggested it should have been towed.  At first I thought that a bit extreme but upon more thought I agree, had the car been blocking auto traffic they would have towed it very quickly.   Towing the car would have been a better lesson for the owner of this car.

Syndicate/Trust Opens, Developer Hints at Coming Retail

Friday night was an event that at one time looked like it would never happen, a renovated Syndicate/Trust building had gala grand opening with a ribbon cutting by the Mayor. The reason it looked like it might not happen is that a previous owner of it and the former Century building wanted to raze both structures (the entire block) for surface parking. The city refused to issue demolition permits and this owner even got a court ruling to allow the demolitions. The city intervened and purchased both buildings to save them from the wrecking ball.

Of course the city did an about face and advocated the demolition of the Century half of the block in favor of yet another parking garage. No RFP (request for proposals) was issued by the city on the Century, it was just one of those done deals completed behind closed doors. Thankfully due to various lawsuits and flack over the Century an RFP was issued by the city for the Syndicate. Craig Heller’s LoftWorks partnered with Sherman & Associates (of Minneapolis) had the winning proposal over the now closed Pyramid Companies and perhaps others. Thankfully Pyramid didn’t get this project to or it would likely still be full of pigeons rather than downtown residents.

The Mayor in his remarks talked about how the city stepped in to keep both the Syndicate & Century from being razed — he starts to say “how we saved these buildings” — buildings plural. But then he remembered the deal to go ahead and raze the historic Century even though a vacant site was available for the garage. just to the North of the Old Post Office.

Here is a short video with remarks from Mayor Slay & Craig Heller:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUYB9z2tK4Q[/youtube]

Did he say a chocolate cafe? Yes he did! And a fast food place, a sports themed full service restaurant, a hair salon, an “acoustic music venue” and a wine bar. Wine without food? Oh no there goes downtown, where is Craig Schmid to the rescue? And finally he mentioned the inclusion of a “local bookstore” at the space across the street. Seriously, a bookstore? That is huge! All eyes will be on him as they make the official announcement about future tenants. I’m downright giddy about the addition of a locally owned bookstore to our downtown. As long as we can keep the city from giving major tax breaks to then get a Borders to move in and put the local place out of business.

Mayor Slay is correct that Craig Heller has been a downtown pioneer. When we had no grocery store he took a personal risk and helped open City Grocers. Heller was also one of the key drivers behind the push to get car sharing in the St Louis area. His firm, LoftWorks, is a sponsor of one if not two of the downtown WeCars.

Heller assured me this retail will all be in place and open before ballpark village opens.  Congrats to Craig & George and welcome to the new residents, restaurateurs, and retailers.

For Rent: Downtown St Louis

In the past two months we’ve seen the collapse of John Steffen’s over-extended Pyramid Companies and now we have changes to a few high profile downtown projects by other developers. Blue Urban’s stunningly orange GEW project at Washington And Jefferson has switched from for sale units to rental units. The Lawrence Group’s Park Pacific remake of the former Union Pacific building has also gone rental with buyers getting their deposits returned. These adjustments are a good thing in the long term.

A number of downtown projects have been rentals for years such as the Merchandise Mart and more recently several floors of the Marquette, among many others. However the developers usually figure out the mix well in advance of announcing their project. Still the demand for rental units appears strong and by going rental it allows these buildings to get done. I think we’ll see some of Pyramid’s foreclosed projects go rental so the investors can complete the projects and recoup their investments.

By switching all these units to rentals it takes that many potential condos off the market, a very good thing.  By going rental we’ll still get these buildings renovated and occupied.  People are people whether they own or rent.  They still have to buy groceries & other goods.   With fewer new condos coming online we’ll see a renewed interest in existing units that are on the market.  Many renters eventually become buyers.

As long as we continue to renovate old buildings  and add new residents we’ll be fine downtown.