Ballpark Village Phase One Started

In December 2009 I suggested the then-stalled Ballpark Village site should be broken up and built in phases rather than all at once, here’s a quote:

As big multi-block projects gets harder to finance and build as a single package we need to break it up into smaller pieces. Legal mechanisms exist to ensure the total vision will be realized once all the parcels have been built out. It might take 10-15 years by the time it is fully built out but great spaces and great spaces seldom happen at once.

We are close to four years of the site being vacant and we don’t know how many more years it will remain so. Had the site been platted as individual building sites we may have already seen a new structure or two in the area. (It takes a village, or does it?)

What did the Cardinals & Cordish announce  at Friday’s groundbreaking?

Phase one will have “two large buildings” facing Busch Stadium, one on each side of an entertainment space.

“The first phase will also include the construction; all of the streets, parking and infrastructure to support the remaining blocks of the project in future phases.  That means that in just over a year from now, this about this, in addition to having one hundred thousand square feet of  new retail and entertainment downtown, we will also have several very attractive pad-ready development sites. Ballpark Village will be a premier location for offices, entertainment and housing.” — stated at groundbreaking

This is how the site should’ve been planned all along! From the press release:

Ballpark Village will serve as an entertainment center for the region, attracting 6 million-plus visitors year-round. The $100 million first phase also includes all of the streets, parking and site infrastructure to support the future phases of the seven-block mixed-use project, allowing the city to market pad-ready sites ripe for development. The development team expects future phases of Ballpark Village to include additional retail and entertainment venues, as well as commercial office space and residential units.

Questions still remain about phase one, mostly around the street grid. Currently 8th Street (west edge) is one-way southbound (down) until Clark Ave. where it’s then two-way.

Hopefully 8th Street will become two-way all the way up to Washington Ave., but I doubt it.Will the new east-west street shown in the site plan be a public or private street?It should be public since the city is giving up 7th, a good chunk of real estate.

Phase One is scheduled to be completed by opening day 2014 (March 31?).

— Steve Patterson

Signs: Not Just For Blocking Sidewalks Anymore

Businesses have to attract customers to stay in business, I get that. I’ve written before about Shrinking Sidewalks where businesses place their sign directly  in the pedestrian route. Earlier this week the problem was moved to the crosswalk at 14th & Washington Ave.

This is the only time I’ve seen this sign in the crosswalk, later in the week it was on the sidewalk mostly out of the way. Hopefully it won’t be back in the crosswalk.

— Steve Patterson

Campbell House Museum Open For 70 Years

The Campbell House Museum at 1508 Locust Street opened 70 years ago today.

Since opening on February 6, 1943, the Campbell House Museum has served the greater St. Louis area as one of the region’s premier historic property museums.

The Museum not only preserves the Campbell’s house, but also their collection of original furniture, fixtures, paintings, objects and thousands of pages of family documents. Included in these documents is a unique album of 60 photographs of the interior of the house taken in about 1885. In 2005 the Museum completed a meticulous five-year restoration that returned the building to its opulent 1880s appearance, when the house was one of the centers of St. Louis society.

How many museums do you know that have been open for 70 years?  Like the Scott Joplin House, the Campbell House is a look at how people lived in earlier times, wealthy in this case.  Regular hours resume on March 1st, well worth a visit.

 — Steve Patterson

Poll: What Outcome Do You Want With The Rams And The Dome?

On Friday arbitrators ruled in favor of the St. Louis Rams — the CVC’s proposal was insificient to make the Edward Jones Dome a “top tier” facility. They didn’t create a new plan but favored a proposal put forth by the Rams last year:

If the CVC does not meet that plan, however, the Rams and CVC will go to a year-to-year agreement, but the team could still leave town after the 2014-15 season. (KSDK)

So now what? Many options still exist:

• The CVC could try to get city/county/state funds to rebuild the dome per the Rams proposal, though highly unlikely
• A new stadium could be built somewhere else in the region funded by taxpayers and/or the Rams
• The Rams could pack up and leave the St. Louis region in two years.

The poll question this week wants to know what outcome you’d like to see happen. I personally want to see the Rams use their own money to build a facility in the region, the site of the former Chrysler plant in Fenton is often suggested.

Why? I don’t want the Rams to leave because I don’t want to hear the moaning about us not having an NFL team, heard enough of that in the early 1990s. But I also don’t want taxpayers to foot the bill for another facility, especially since the current facility hasn’t been used for even 20 years yet.

The poll is in the right sidebar.

— Steve Patterson

Now Open Downtown: MX Movies

On the 17th MX Movies had its Grand Opening.

I peaked into a theater during a movie, I’ll have to return to see a show and order food to be delivered to my seat. For more information, including theater pics, click here.

— Steve Patterson