Kansas City’s Power & Light District An Open-Air Food Court

Kansas City’s Power & Light District was developed by The Cordish Companies, the same developer selected by the Cardinals in 2006 for Ballpark Village.  I’ve over simplified in the headline — it is more than a food court.

There are streets that continue the existing downtown street grid but the main area is a self contained central area.  As with an indoor mall, this is private –not public, space. Unlike the public square, don’t plan to organize any government protests here.  It has the generic feel of an indoor mall, without the air conditioning or heating.

Granted it is dressed in the latest style — lots of metal internally and brick facing the streets.

I visited on a very cold Saturday morning so both the sidewalks and the central Main Stage area were largely vacant.  I will visit again in the Spring on a weekday and weekend night.

The evening after my morning visit three friends picked me up at my midtown hotel for dinner downtown.  Did we go to a place at the Power & Light?  Uh, no.  We went to a locally owned restaurant in the nearby River Market District. Like St. Louis, Kansas City has a great restaurant scene but projects like Power & Light and Ballpark Village are more about formula restaurants than local places.   The question I have is if both can co-exist?  Will the influx of a concentration of tax subsidized new eateries make it difficult for existing places to compete?  Or will downtown see an increase in the number of diners so existing & new survive?

Call me a snob, but I don’t see myself patronizing restaurants at Ballpark Village.

– Steve Patterson

Poll: Your Thoughts On The Latest Ballpark Village Announcement?

On Friday December 3, 2010 some new news about the stalled Ballpark Village project was announced:

“Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III said Friday that the long-awaited, $800 million Ballpark Village development has tenant agreements and private financing.
The first phase of the project, slated for two blocks that face the ballpark at a cost of $150 million, will have a new office tower and retail space.
St. Louis-based Stifel Financial Corp. has indicated it wants to take at least 175,000 square feet of office space at Ballpark Village. The financial services firm is currently based at 501 N. Broadway, and signed a three-year renewal on its lease there last year as Ballpark Village faced delays.”  Full Story

I’m personally glad to see they’ve decided to phase the project, rather than do it all at once.  A year ago I wrote:

As originally outlined, the project was to have nearly 800,000 total square feet and a total cost of $387 million.  The site between the garages was once again going to have Elm, thus being divided into six blocks.  That works out to $64.5 million per block – a substantial sum to raise.  The Cardinals and developer Cordish should abandon the mega project methodology by 1) creating the through street grid to form the six blocks 2) subdivide each of the six blocks into 3-10 parcels of land to be developed by them and/or sold to qualified buyers for them to build on the land.  Deed restrictions would not allow surface parking and would require minimum building heights (3-15 floors depending upon parcel).  Each block should have a minimum of two buildings.  Blank walls should be forbidden while numerous doors and windows required/encouraged.

As part of the site’s infrastructure, internal parking structures may be required to meet the total future need.  Streets, sidewalks and parking are built first and future buildings would surround the parking structures eventually.  With six blocks it would probably have 3-6 garages, ideally partially underground.  These garages could be built out in phases as lots are sold.

Other developers and investors could build within the site.  Say one group can finance $30 million for a single building, that is one more toward the goal.  Piece by piece the area would fill in.

Their phasing is different than I outlined but it still starts the ball rolling.  It also means we must watch how often their hand is out for tax incentives on top of those they already got for the stadium deal.

The poll this week asks your thoughts on the recent announcement.  The poll is in the upper right corner of the site.

– Steve Patterson

Sidewalk In Front Of Convention Center Now Just For Pedestrians

Nearly four years ago, January 12,2007, I first blogged about the situation with cabs at our convention center: Taxi Cabs Block Sidewalk at Convention Center, Exit Via Crosswalk.  More than a year prior to the stroke that disabled me, I was fighting for space for all pedestrians.

The headline, first picture (above) and post wording all communicated the issue was the placement on the stand within the sidewalk space. However, I included a video of a cab exiting via the pedestrian crosswalk.

So rather than relocate the stand so it wasn’t on the sidewalk, the convention center added bollards to prevent the cabs from using the crosswalks when exiting.

The main issue — the blocked sidewalk remained a problem. That is, until last month.  First, the back story.

Kitty Ratchliffe came to St. Louis from New Orleans to serve as the President of the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission.

“The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission (CVC) is the sales and marketing organization responsible for selling St. Louis City and St. Louis County as a convention and meeting site and as a leisure travel destination. In addition, the CVC manages and operates the America’s Center® convention complex which includes 502,000 square feet of prime exhibit space, 80 meeting rooms, the Edward Jones Dome at America’s Center, the 1,411-seat Ferrara Theatre, a 28,000 square-foot ballroom and the St. Louis Executive Conference Center.”

Ratcliffe had worked at the CVC in the 80s but when I brought up this taxi stand issue she was only months back into St. Louis, and their offices were blocks away in the Metropolitan Square building.  A staff person told her about the issue and and that he had a solution — the bollards.

Finally this summer I stopped by the CVC offices, now on the 3rd floor of the convention center, and left my card for Ratcliffe and got the email address for her assistant.  That prompted some emails and phone conversations.  I was finally able to communicate the main issue was walking along the sidewalk (east-west) not crossing Washington Ave.

I know in the big picture this is a minor issue but it will make a difference for the quality of life of residents and visitors. Persistence pays!

– Steve Patterson

Adaptive Reuse Not Just For Historic Buildings

My downtown loft condo is within a 7-story building constructed in 1919 and used for decades by a printing firm.  It now contains 38 lofts and one commercial space.  The adjacent 9-story building in our condo association includes another commercial space and 40 lofts.  Throughout downtown this story is repeated over and over, old structures re-imagined for different uses than when originally constructed decades ago.

But what about buildings that are less than charming? St. Louis Centre comes to mind.  When it opened in 1985 it was the “largest urban shopping mall” [WikiPedia]  in the country.  When I arrived in St. Louis just five years later I could see the mall was in a death spiral.

Being a mall, it turned inwards putting large blank walls the street. Not what we want downtown now (we never should have wanted this…).  To many the answer to these buildings that no longer serve our current needs is the same as it been for decades — tear it down to the ground and build something new.  But we know the old historic buildings can be adapted to new uses.  In those cases, reuse usually requires stripping away decades of attempts to modernize the building.

With newer buildings the process involves stripping away those blank walls and reorienting the structure to embrace the sidewalk and surroundings.

Work continues on the former St. Louis Centre.  The first part was to strip away the interior walls from the old mall as well as the blank walls.  Along Washington Ave an entire bay of the building was removed to uncover the sidewalk.

Most of the three upper floors will be parking for 750 cars — to serve the attached 600 Washington tower (formally One City Centre) and the U.S. Bank tower across 7th Street.  The 2nd & 3rd floor of the Washington Ave side will contain a movie theater.

I recently got a glimpse inside the construction site on a private tour with Matt O’Leary.  O’Leary, a former VP of Pyramid Construction, has been working on this project for years.  The reuse concept has changed dramatically over the years, but the goal of opening the building to the sidewalk hasn’t changed.

b

This parking will have the best natural lighting.  In my tour I learned that Macy’s, in the Railway Exchange building across Locust, has receiving and customer pickup in the ground floor of this structure.  Trucks unload here and merchandise is taken down elevators to a tunnel under Locust. Who knew?

The following are some images from the developer, click to view larger size.

Once complete I will do a review of the finished project.

– Steve Patterson

Tuck-Under Garages On Delmar

I’m not a fan of front facing garages, especially on lots served by a rear alley.   The “tuck-under” garage makers the front garage less objectionable.  However, the white garage door stands out in contrast the dark materials of the rest of the facade — drawing attention to the door.  Although I doubt many walking by on the sidewalk will notice the townhouse on the right because of what they will see on the left.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again.  The only properties that should be permitted to have a curb cut out to the street are those that do not have a rear alley.

– Steve Patterson