Remains of President Casino on Riverfront

The President Casino closed in June 2010:

The President Casino, St. Louis’ first and oldest gaming facility, will not re-open before its license is due to be turned over to the state next week, Pinnacle Entertainment confirmed Thursday. (STLtoday.com)

The casino was inside the historic SS Admiral. When no buyer came forth for the ship, it was cut apart and sold for scrap metal. But not all traces of the casino are gone.

My guess is the city now owns these improvements as part of a lease agreement for the space on the riverfront. What will become of it? Could a tour boat company use it? Another use? Or will this sit like this for years as it deteriorates? I don’t have the answers.

– Steve Patterson

Eads Bridge Rehabilitation To Begin

Last week local and federal officials gathered on the Arch grounds with the historic Eads Bridge in the background:

Deputy Federal Transit Administrator Therese McMillan today joined Missouri and Illinois officials to kick off the Eads Bridge Rehabilitation Project, which will repair and restore the historic, 138-year old bridge and ensure safe and efficient light rail service for thousands of people who use the bridge to cross the Mississippi River every day.

[snip]

The $36 million project is funded in part by more than $34 million in federal dollars, including $25 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $9 million in additional federal transit funds directed to the Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District. Local funds will cover the remaining cost to modernize and repair the bridge, which was built in 1874. (Source)

MetroLink light rail trains began using the lower level to cross the Mississippi River in 1993. The upper level was closed to vehicles and pedestrians for many years but was reopened within the last 10-12 years.

This work won’t be visible but is necessary for continued use to the bridge. One speaker noted that before the Arch, the Eads Bridge was St. Louis’ most recognized structure.

It’s nice to see investment in infrastructure but we have so much the needs so much work, how will we ever pay for it all?

“When you look into the future and you begin to look at what our investments will mean when we’re competing with China, India, emerging economic powers like Brazil, we better have our infrastructure ready to go, to be able to compete on a global basis,” said Victor Mendez, who runs the Federal Highway Administration. (CBS News)

Funding is largely based on state & federal fuel taxes but the income hasn’t kept pace  with costs.

– Steve Patterson

Dear Rams, Good Luck In Your Next City, We Don’t Need The NFL

No doubt about it, I’m ready for the Rams to pack their bags. Head to Los Angeles, or London, I don’t care. St. Louis has three professional sports teams right now, that’s at least one more than we can realistically support. Without question the St. Louis Cardinals MLB team has the most love from the region.

I don’t think we, as tax payers, should support any progressional sport other than buying a ticket if we want to see a game. These teams are owned by very wealthy people who do this as a hobby. That said, I do believe in investing in infrastructure so that additional private investment is made. But I don’t see investing $1 to get a 15¢ return. I want government to invest $1 and get a $5 return on that investment through additional investment and/or tax revenue.

With the number of MLB games and the excellent performance of the Cardinals we probably break even on the government-funding of Busch Stadium. Well, once we actually see some revenue from a complete Ballpark Village. But NFL plays so few home games per year it seems impossible to get a decent return on our investment. I’ve not studied the numbers but many have. I found a PDF called 8 Reasons to Reject Publicly Financed Stadiums For Professional Sports Teams that has a good list:

1. Public Money for Private Gain.
2. Negligible Economic Benefits.
3. Costs Outweigh the Benefits.
4. Destroys jobs and drives down wages.
5. Stadiums can be built with private money.
6. Doesn’t Improve Team Performance.
7. Doesn’t improve team attendance. Research also shows that new stadiums have little impact on long-term attendance.
8. Diverts resources from funding priorities.

Click the link above to see explanations for each item.

But perceptions about sports will muddy this issue. The following are taken from the same commenter on the original post, but from two different comments:

 If St. Louis goes dark in pro football, it will be a big loss to the region.  St. Louis needs and can support three pro sports.

Warning, the sky will fall. We need three pro teams. BS!! For most of the last 50-60 years we’ve had 2-3 pro sports teams. How has that benefitted us? We’ve lost population, schools have declined, the corporate headquarters here has dropped. If you’ll have less civic pride if we go from three to two pro teams then you don’t really appreciate all that St. Louis is about. We didn’t have pro football when I moved here in 1990, it wasn’t important to me personally.

The provided answers in my poll last were very biased, something I try to avoid. But it happened.

Q: How Should The St. Louis Region, via the CVC, Respond To The Rams?

1. Wish them well in London, LA, or ? 68 [45.64%]
2. Agree to their proposal but only if it comes with a new 30-year lease 51 [34.23%]
3. Remind them the Cardinals won the World Series twice since the one time the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl. 14 [9.4%]
4. Other: 13 [8.72%]
5. Bendover and pay whatever it takes to keep them here for the last 10 years of the original lease 2 [1.34%]
6. Unsure/no opinion 1 [0.67%]

The other answers were:

1. certainly don’t bendover but emphasize compromise
2. Make some improvements but not 700m worth
3. Less Public $, More Private $ otherwise deal’s over.
4. I’m trying to care about this, but I just can’t.
5. Your options certainly show your bias
6. how about compromise, STL NEEDS NFL
7. Negotiate a new lease, meet the Rams somewhere in the middle
8. Ignore them.
9. Tell Kroenke to go **** himself
10. Don’t have anymore regional funds to waste on the rams…
11. The answers you provided clearly show your bias in this poll
12. negotiate
13. tif or special use tax

If the Rams want to build a privately financed facility in Fenton or somewhere  out in big open space I’d have no objections. Otherwise, get lost. The CVC’s original proposal was excessive and the Rams’ response isn’t even close to reality. They are testing us to see how gullible we are. We were desperate to get a team twenty years ago when we were building the dome but weren’t awarded an expansion team. We got screwed on the terms of the original lease, I don’t want us to get screwed again.

— Steve Patterson

Tucker Tunnel Not Quite Gone

The former commuter railroad tunnel under Tucker (12th) isn’t fully gone, but it’s a lot shorter now.

This project fascinates me, I wished at some point I’d seen the tunnel.  I’m looking forward to being able to use Tucker to get further north as a pedestrian. I still question the quality of any new development we’ll see along this corridor given the city’s lack of leadership on good urban planning.

– Steve Patterson

MX Rises From Former St. Louis Centre, Pi Now Open

Two years ago the long process of demolishing the massive pedestrian bridge over Washington Ave was underway. The much-anticipated work began with the “Bridge Bash” on May 21, 2010. At the time it seemed like demolition was taking forever, but it took just over a month to remove the bridge and reopen the street to vehicles and pedestrians.

Work to reskin St. Louis Centre, patch the damage to the Dillard’s facade, convert the Dillard’s into the Laurel Apts and Embassy Suites did take much much longer. That was then.

Finally yesterday, something I’d long anticipated, Pi Pizzeria opened a downtown location. A week ago I stopped by and got a tour from owner Chris Sommers while managers were training new employees. Their other locations are all in 100+ year old buildings, this is their first in basically a new unfinished box.

Ok, so a pizza place opened? Big deal? Well yes, Pi Pizzeria is the the first business to open in the MX. Soon a movie theater and an upscale Asian restaurant will open in the same building. Across Washington Ave will be a wine bar and the National Blues Museum. This will be another spot of activity along Washington Ave.

Those downtown that think this is too far to walk can take the #99 (Downtown Trolley) to get here from various points, well, except on Sunday because the trolley doesn’t operate at all unfortunately.  The Convention Center MetroLink is at this corner as well so that’s another option. The building has tons of parking and hopefully short-term on-street parking will be aded along this part of Washington Ave soon. In another two years we”ll have forgotten all about that horrible  bridge that blocked vistas.

– Steve Patterson