Four months ago today I noticed work going on at 1424 Washington Ave., so I began documenting exterior changes, mistakes, fixes, etc. as I’d pass by. Check it out…
A lot of concrete & money was wasted, if only they’d done it right the very first time! A quality development by the Three Stooges McGowan Brothers.
— Steve Patterson
On this day in 1902 the St. Louis Board of Aldermen approved legislation to construct a new library, a little more than a decade later the St. Louis Library opened. In 1928, sixteen years after the library opened, a wealthy St. Louis couple donated their collection of rare books on architecture. A current exhibit celebrates this collection:
The Steedman Exhibit features images selected from some of the most beautiful and influential architecture-related books in the George Fox Steedman Architectural Collection.
Donated to St. Louis Public Library in 1928 with the express purpose of exposing local architects to the great published works on architecture and the allied arts, volumes from the Steedman Collection are rarely displayed to the general public. (The Steedman Exhibit)
Use the link above to see the online exhibit, visit the library to see the exhibit in person!
There are four related lectures this year, the first in less than two weeks:
Free and Open to the Public
SLPL Steedman Architectural Library & The Society of Architectural Historians – St. Louis Chapter Presents
Architecture Around the World
Central Library, 1301 Olive, 63103
On Lecture Nights:
6:00-6:30 – Steedman Architectural Library Open for Viewing
6:30-8:00 – Lecture
- “From Abbeys to Street Art: Germany and Austria along the Danube” presented by Paul Hohmann, at the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, Carnegie Room, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63103, Thursday, April 16, 2015, 7:00 pm.
- “The Works of Eero Saarinen” presented by John Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP, at the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, Carnegie Room, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63103, Wednesday, September 16, 2015, 7:00 pm.
- “The Architecture of Scotland” presented by Esley Hamilton, at the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, Carnegie Room, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63103, Thursday, October 22, 2015, 7:00 pm.
- “Josep Lluis Sert and Urban Design” presented by Eric Mumford, at the St. Louis Public Library, Central Library, Carnegie Room, 1301 Olive St., St. Louis, MO 63103, Thursday, November 19, 2015, 7:00 pm.
Hopefully you can check out this exhibit in the Grand Hall.
— Steve Patterson
Walmart will soon be expanding in the St. Louis region with the addition of its smaller format Neighborhood Market stores:
Currently, the Neighborhood Markets are as large as 45,000 square feet. With the new strategy, they will range from 15,000 to 45,000 square feet in size. The company intends to continue testing with the “Wal-Mart On Campus” and “Wal-Mart To Go” models, and believes that the expansion of the Neighborhood Market banner will not hamper the growth of the new stores, which are still in the testing phase as of now. (Goodbye Wal-Mart Express Stores, Hello Neighborhood Markets!)
By offering grocery basics, pharmacy, and other essentials these stores compete with Walgreens/CVS, Target, etc.
From a Walmart press release:
In February 2014, Walmart U.S. increased its original fiscal 2015 projected capital investment by $600 million to a range of $6.4 to $6.9 billion due to an acceleration of approximately 150 small format openings. However, as a result of the timing of certain planned small format openings, Walmart U.S. now expects to open approximately 240 small format units in fiscal 2015, and carry over approximately 20 units into fiscal 2016.
The company also indicated that during the testing of its Walmart Express format, the analysis showed customers rely on these stores for a variety of reasons, including grocery fill-in trips, last-minute dinner plans and picking up prescriptions. These patterns closely align with how customers also shop the Neighborhood Market format, which has become a recognizable brand that customers identify as a high quality, local grocery store. Therefore, the company will rebrand Walmart Express as Neighborhood Market and will utilize this brand for all small format stores, regardless of square footage.
“We know that our supercenters are an important format for the stock-up trip, but we want to be thoughtful about our investment, ensuring that we align the space to evolving customer needs,” said Walmart U.S. President and CEO Greg Foran. “To do this, we will moderate supercenter growth in fiscal 2016. Our investment in Neighborhood Markets will go forward because they continue to show strong results across the box and they provide our customers with convenient access to grocery, pharmacy services, and other quick-trip needs.”
Fiscal year 2016 capital investments are projected to range between $6.1 and $6.6 billion. The forecast includes new stores, remodels, conversions, relocations, logistics, e-commerce and technology infrastructure, and reflects the additions of new units that will expand Walmart U.S.’s retail space by approximately 15 to 16 million net retail square feet. The company expects to open between 60 and 70 supercenters and 200 to 220 Neighborhood Markets. (Walmart)
One location in our region will be at the NW corner of Ballpark Village — 8th & Walnut.
Laclede Gas will soon be moving its headquarters into the former General American building across the street.
“We’ve watched the success of Schnucks’ Culinaria store and decided we can offer more items at lower prices”, said Neighborhood Market regional manager Gregory Pope.
The Neighborhood Market by Walmart will occupy the ground floor of a new multi-level parking garage structure.
— Steve Patterson
When an urban building is razed, replaced by grass, it’a no surprise that nearby residents will soon walk their dogs there — that’s just common sense. Now some residents, adjacent to the vacant Cupples 7 site, aren’t happy walking their dogs on grass — they want a large fenced dog park where their dog can play off-leash. They’ve cited SLU’s Ellen Clark Sculpture/Dog Park as the model to emulate — brick posts to support the fencing, sculpture inside.
Everyone seems in agreement a new building should go up on this site within 10 years — one area developer is working to make it happen. Thus, any Cupples dog/sculpture park would be temporary.
Downtown’s Lucas Park dog run, opened 5 years ago, is about 3,600 sq ft — with roughly 260 lineal feet of fencing — the project cost $125,000. A lot of money but it’s a permanent improvement in public park space.
While not an apples-to-apples comparison, if we take the total cost of the Lucas Park dog run and divide by the lineal feet and square footage we get $480.77/ln ft and $34.72/sq ft, respectively. Multiply these by the Cupples 7’s 720.24 lineal feet and 31,233 sq ft and we get total costs of $346,269.78 and $1,084,409.70, respectively. This is just back of the napkin calculations — we’d need to have serious estimates based on a specific design. I do think the final cost would be between these amounts.
Seems too much to spend for a decade of use by maybe 20-50 people. The question is: how much, if anything, should be spend on temporary improvements?
Here’s what I would do:
Put all efforts into getting a new building on this site, connecting Busch Stadium & Ballpark Village to Civic Center (transit), Scottrade Center, and Union Station along Spruce & Clark. Make the Cupples District a place. Find a spot downtown — East of Tucker — where a permanent dog park can be built.
— Steve Patterson
Recently, while taking 14th Street, I noticed construction signs limiting the width of the too-narrow public sidewalk — the East side between Olive & Locust — adjacent to the main library.
I posted one image to Facebook & Twitter with the caption: “14th street sidewalk almost completely blocked by temp road sign #ADA” A response on Twitter suggested I tweet this to the CSB (aka Citizens Service Bureau). Instead I emailed two people at the Streets Dept, copying two from the Office on the Disabled. Streets quickly identified the culprit — hired contractor Intren — working for Ameren.
Temporary signs are a necessity, but so is the sidewalk next to the main library used by 5 MetroBus routes. The sidewalk is too narrow for the pedestrian volume but the historic library landscaping and the street width prevents it from being widened. Once again, people unaware/unconcerned about pedestrians.
— Steve Patterson