Gateway Mall Announcement in January ’08

Yesterday’s “town hall” meeting at the Downtown Partnership regarding management of the CID (Community Improvement District) produced little new information, other than the fact than the city will be unveiling the final Gateway Mall plan next month.

You will recall that earlier this year, prior to a meeting where citizens were asked to provide feedback on the draft, the city announced final plans for the two-block Sculpture Garden between 9th and 11th (see prior post). That leaves Kiener Plaza/May Amphitheatre, “Twain”, and the blocks from Tucker West to 20th.

Now living only a few blocks away, I can see the failure even stronger. Public space needs to feel like it is surrounded by a vibrant city. The South wall of the Gateway Mall, at 16th at least, is horribly bland. Union Station, down at 18th, is at least a stunning work of architecture. Sometimes, on my walks, I’ll take 16th street to Market —- of course 16th between Olive and Market hasn’t been a street in decades — it was closed long ago during urban renewal.

Our downtown is very linear, very East-West. The focus being Washington Ave. By the time you make it to the too-wide Olive Blvd the synergy has run out. I don’t know that anything can sustain interest in Gateway Mall without appearing too Disneyland. No matter what, the “walls” of this open space are largely lifeless and will remain as such.

Decades ago this area was cleared of the slummy properties that were viewed as unseemly by our elite and to provide some relief from the hustle & bustle of the city. The 500,000 residents we lost (pushed away?) in the last half century took the bustle with them. Will a new Gateway Mall plan bring the hustle back to this section of St. Louis?

Century Building Case Continues Wind Through Court System

Yesterday I spent a half hour sitting in a courtroom listening to lawyers support and counter arguments in the case against two friends of mine, Marcia Behrendt and Roger Plackemeier.  Each filed lawsuits a number of years ago once it was realized developers sought to raze the historic Century Building for a parking garage.

Ultimately the developers got their financing and began demolishing the long-standing building — the very one the city had only a few years earlier told the then owner it should not be razed for parking. That started on the evening of October 20, 2004 — they had to quickly damage the building beyond repair.  As Behrendt & Plackemeier had sought to save the building, the one remaining and active suit was dropped.
In April 2005 the state (via the Missouri Development Finance Board) the city (via the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority), the developers NSG Developers LLC and St. Louis US Custom House and Post Office Building and Associates (aka Steve Stogel and Mark Schnuck) decided to sue Behrendt & Plackemeier, claiming “malicious prosecution.”

Recently they are asking the court to name attorney Matt Ghio as a defendant as well.  By doing so, he could represent himself but not B&P.  Doug Down, now representing NSG and the Post Office Associates, made Ghio out to look like an evil lawyer run amuck – handing out bad advice to B&P.  Dowd then told judge Donald McCullin that they’d sue Ghio individually if he were not added a defendant.  Ghio, in rebuttal, indicated this simply proved the developers, state and city sought to separate Ghio from defending B&P.  Ghio, having been involved in these cases for a good five years or so, knows all the issues quite clearly — that removing him would “prejudice his clients.”

Before Judge McCullin now are motions from each side.  The plaintiffs (developers, city, state) seek to add Ghio as a defendant (a motion to leave) as well as add another charge of “abuse of process” to B&P.  The defendants (B&P) filed a “motion for summary judgment” — asking the judge to throw out the case all together.  I’ll keep everyone posted once the judge makes his ruling on these motions.

[Photo by Alan Brunettin from Remember the Century pictorial.]

St. Louis To Consolidate Some Offices at Former Federal Office Building

Last Friday I posted that I wanted to see the city consolidate various offices into the vacated Municipal Courts building next to city hall. Monday I get a call from John Farrell, Public Information Officer for Comptroller Darlene Green, asking if I had time for a quick meeting. I met with Farrell and James Garavaglia, the Asset Manager in Green’s office.

While they all like the Municipal Courts building they say the cost of the necessary repairs are beyond the city’s budget constraints. Unlike city hall, the Municipal Courts building has not had the incremental upgrades to the electrical service and other systems. Garavaglia said in the last year the building was in operation they had fans blowing on the electrical panels to cool them down.

So when the federal courts moved to their new courthouse the shift began — the city bought the former federal courts building, leaving the old Municipal Courts building vacant. But, at that time, the talk was of a renewed Kiel Opera House with the Municipal Courts serving as a hotel and restaurant space to the east and the Abram federal building becoming a parking garage.

Above: The Abram building as seen from where 16th street used to be, now poorly maintained “open space.”

A couple of issues have come up since then. One, developer Breckenridge died a year ago and it turns out the Abram building is not well suited for a parking garage. Plan B? Consolidate offices from other buildings including the traffic/housing courts on Olive at 15th and the Health Department from North Grand.

Not as ideal as the Municipal Courts — an attractive building adjacent to City Hall. Still, having offices in the Abram is better than using is strictly for daily car storage — we have enough garages already. Sadly, it is really a tragic building from an urban perspective.

It occupies an entire city block yet has only one public entrance — which is set back from the street atop a platform accessed only from opposite ends. The building overhang is suitable space for smokers to stay out of the rain but little else.

Above we can see the little bit of 15th street before it is cut off for the Scottrade Center, with the Abram on the right and the long-closed Kiel Opera House on the left.

From the above vantage point we can see the rest of the field — in the foreground is the vacant Kiel, then the vacant Municipal Courts, the tall building is the new federal courthouse, the dark lower building with the red roof being city hall and behind it, the old federal courthouse now used for state court as well as some city offices.

So where does leave the Municipal Courts building? In July Jake Wagman of the Post-Dispatch did a story on the city’s hope to sell the building. Following that story, says Farrell and Garavaglia was interest from local and out of town developers. The developers that expressed an interest were given an RFP. Garavaglia expects responses early in January. Working with the Slay administration, Comptroller Green hopes to be able to select one of the proposals to sell the building.

At issue for any developer is figuring out ADA access. Such access is currently through a back entrance as the front steps are much to great for a reasonable ramp. Once inside I’m told the original (and historic bathrooms) have steps up into them. Other areas of the building include a number of steps as well.

The eventual purchaser will also get basically the land the building sits on. The parking to the south is a city owned lot. However, I’m told the Treasurer’s Office which manages parking for the city, is open to working with a developer on the construction of a shared new adjacent garage.

Funny how a city that has seen its rebirth based on the renovation of old buildings cannot manage to renovate one of it’s own. A civic gem goes private while we as a city get the abysmal Abram.

What To Do With the Vacant Municipal Courts Building?

The latest plan for the shuttered Municipal Courts building was to be a boutique hotel across the street from a renovated Kiel Opera house. However, two years ago today developer Don Breckenridge lost his battle with lung cancer, he was 73.

The Municipal Courts building was vacated when the federal courts moved to the new Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse.   This allowed our municipal courts and related offices to move into the former digs of the federal courts, at Tucker and Market — two blocks East.

Just across the former 13th Street (now a parking lot for city hall) the building is ideal for city offices.  Currently the city leases office space in at least two other buildings —- 1015 Locust and 15th and Olive.  Traffic court is in space over at 15th and Olive.   The St. Louis Development Corporation and various departments such as the Planning & Urban Design Agency operate on the top two floors of the building at 1015 Locust — about 7 blocks away.  Someone visiting city hall for a building permit might be told they need to talk to someone over at 1015 Locust, say relating to a historic district.  I think Cultural Resources keeps someone over at City Hall even though their offices are on the 11th floor of 1015 Locust.  Eventually you learn the lay of the land and where everyone is located but why not have complimentary departments closer together?

Above is the view of the Municipal Courts building from the Ray Leisure conference room on the 2nd floor of City Hall.  As you can see, it is close!  The parking lot below is the former 13th Street.

The very civic nature of the building, the proximity of it to the existing city hall, and the fact we have leased space spread out in other buildings are all reasons we need to seriously consider using this structure for city government.

Of course, we have no money for renovations.  I don’t even know the minimum it needs to reopen for such purposes, certainly less than what it would need as a posh boutique hotel.  I also don’t know how long our leases run on the other two buildings where we have space.  ADA entrances and security becomes an issue with such an old building, as in city hall.  The city hall entrance facing Market street is no longer open, only the East entrance facing Tucker and the south entrance facing the parking lot are open, with the exception of the ADA entrance into the basement.  Thus someone going from one building to the next has to take the long way.
While the steep pitched roof of city hall eliminates the option of a green roof the Municipal Courts building is ideal for such a green living roof.   A green roof often implies a larger renovation but not necessarily.

I like the notion of taking a look at all of our city departments and various agencies to see how best to use City Hall and the Municipal Courts building as complimentary facilities.  Could we, at minimal cost, use this building?

Where Will the Bowlers Park, The Need for On-Street Parking on Washington Ave

The sign went up last week and the lanes are nearly complete, we are about to have a new bowling alley on Washington Ave. — Flamingo Bowl! I have little doubt that this new venture of the Loop’s Joe Edwards will be successful. People will likely be coming and going during business hours, whatever those may be. The one thing they will not be doing is parking in front of the building.

You see, in our most pedestrian friendly part of town with thousands of new residents we must keep four lanes of traffic free and clear for the rush four hours. On the North side of the 11xx block of Washington Ave, we must keep it open 24/7.

Yes, it is OK to have the intersection of 11th & Washington blocked for a month so that all Westbound traffic is diverted. And yes, construction crews can block the outside lane as needed. But hey, once those are gone we’ve got to get serious about keeping traffic moving. You regular folks can’t even think about blocking traffic here.

Apparently someone at City Hall, the Downtown Partnership or somewhere thinks we have a huge morning and evening rush — enough to warrant two hours of no parking on the street every weekday morning and evening. Any after work folks that want to stop by a place for a happy hour special had best walk or wait until 6pm to do so.

As I’ve indicated before, we do have somewhat of a backlog in the afternoons as drivers head to I-70 and to Illinois. This backlog of cars is caused by poor signal timing as much as anything else. Until the city can manage to time the signals such that cars are not stuck heading Eastbound every afternoon I can see not allowing any parking in that direction. But what about Westbound?

I’ve actually given on-street parking on Washington quite a bit of thought and I want to share this with you. Let’s start over at Memorial Drive and work our way West back to Tucker.

Memorial (3rd) to North Broadway (5th):

In these two blocks, shown above, on-street parking is not currently permitted in either the Westbound or Eastbound direction. Here is what I’d like to see:

• EB Memorial to 4th: Leave this as a right turn only lane, no parking.
• WB Memorial to 4th: Wide area with two lanes going straight ahead and a right turn lane for those going northbound on 4th. I say we allow on-street parking in the current right turn only lane and make the center lane go straight while the other lane would become a right? I’m sure the owners of the hotel that have restaurant/retail space in the base of their building would appreciate it. This would also help create separation from those walking along the sidewalk and passing cars.
  
• EB 4th to Broadway: Allow parking on this entire side of street, but initially prohibit parking for 4:30pm-5:30pm M-F.
• WE 4th to Broadway: Make the area in front of the Missouri Athletic Club a combination no parking/bus stop area. Allow on-street parking on the balance of the block. As Broadway is southbound at this point we don’t need the outside lane for drivers turning right. Potentially prohibit parking for an hour weekday mornings.
• 

North Broadway (5th) to 7th:

• These two blocks are very easy: make provisions for bus stops to connect with the MetroLink stop and allow parking on the balance.
• Consider no-parking for an hour in the AM in the WB direction and an hour in the EB direction in the afternoons.
• Retail space in the buildings on the north side of Washington have not done well. As Pyramid remakes the area into the Mercantile Exchange District we need to think more about the needs of retail business as well as how pedestrians will use the space. On-street parking in these two blocks will help.
• 

7th to 9th:

• EB: Allow on-street parking end to end, except for bus stops and drives. Drivers heading east won’t be turning onto 7th (one-way) so keep traffic moving straight. A couple of spaces just West of 8th could be 15 minute spaces for those running inside the Starbucks. As before, consider a M-F rush hour no-parking provision for the afternoons only.
• WB 7th to 8th: Regular readers know my thoughts on this one. Remove the taxi stand from the sidewalk in front of the convention center and put it on the street, just east of 8th. There is room for a single space between 7th and the circle drive to the convention center — this should be a 15-minute limit “visitor” space for someone wanting to run into the tourist information office on the corner.
• WB 8th to 9th: Place the bus stop between 8th and the exit for the convention center’s circle drive. The remaining space just prior to 9th should be right turn only onto northbound 9th.
• 

9th to Tucker:

• EB 9th to 10th: This is in front of the hotel ballrooms and the retail space at 10th. Put the bus stop anywhere but directly in front of the retail space — in front of the entrance to the ballrooms (seldom used) — just not in front of the retail store. Allow on-street parking here, with the same exception noted about an hour in the afternoon only.
• 
• WB 9th to 10th: Here we have the newly opened Good Works store selling nice furnishings and accessories. Next door we have the Lammert building with the AIA bookstore on the ground floor. These retail entities need on-street parking. I don’t believe their is any morning rush at this point. Anyone heading into the CBD will be in the left turn lane to turn onto 10th so the right lane can be used for parking.
• 
• EB/WB 10th to 11th: On-street parking is allowed here but it is removed two hours each weekday morning and afternoon. We have zero EB morning rush and zero WB afternoon rush. If folks are going to insist on keeping lanes open rather than fixing the timing on the lights at least limit the no-parking provision to something logical — such as the direction of traffic.
• EB 11th to Tucker: Aside from getting the valets at Copia to understand that the meter on the west end of their valet zone is not in fact in their valet zone, this block is pretty good. Same thing as above, there is no morning rush in the EB direction so there is really no reason to keep this free.
• WB 11th to Tucker: Which brings us back to the block with Edwards’ new project, Flamingo Bowl. When parking was permitted from 10th to Tucker they initially put up signs to allow it here as well. That lasted about a week. Construction began on the loft building and once it returned to normal this side of the street was no parking. Hmmm. If you are a retailer would you prefer a space where someone can potentially park in front of your door or a place where traffic speeds by? Much of this lane is marked as right turn only onto Northbound Tucker. Of course, Tucker is now down to one lane up to Cole and then Tucker is closed due to the age of the bridge that creates the underground tunnel. A right turn only lane is not really necessary, especially at this point.

Basically the city is losing money because they are not out collecting revenue off mostly unused street real estate. We can provide convenient parking to help out retailers and make the sidewalks more comfortable for pedestrians without screwing up traffic — we simply prohibit the on-street parking in the direction the traffic is going — Eastbound back to Illinois in the afternoon and to a lesser degree Westbound in the AM. Furthering the retail and restaurant operations toward the river will be welcomed to visitors at our convention center who, upon visiting, don’t necessarily know about the great things happening further West — the lack of parking in the immediate area gives a dead impression. Having on-street parking, even if full, gives the impression that downtown doesn’t have a parking problem.

The Downtown St. Louis Residents Association (DSLRA) is holding a holiday event at the new Flamingo Bowl on the evening of Thursday December 13th.