Abandoned Construction Elevator Platform Blocks Midtown Sidewalk

In November of 2004 the ball started rolling to renovate the  Metropolitan building located at Grand & Olive in Midtown St. Louis:

At least six developers are interested in two Grand Center sites up for redevelopment.

A joint pre-bid conference on the properties, which include a vacant site owned by Saint Louis University on the northeast corner of Grand and Lindell and the Metropolitan Building on the northeast corner of Grand and Olive owned by Grand Center Inc., drew several developers or teams of developers. (source)

Pyramid Construction was one of those developers and they succeeded in getting the Metropolitan building by 2006.  Today, however, the building remains vacant and the wooden base from the long-removed construction elevator blocks the sidewalk.

Last April I broke the story that Pyramid had collapsed and was in the process of shutting down.  By June of 2008 most of their vast real estate holdings were either sold to others or taken back by creditors.  Such was the case with the Metropolitan:

Centrue Bank, the first mortgage holder on a loan to Pyramid Cos. for a planned redevelopment of the building, has assumed ownership of the building at 500 N. Grand. Pyramid bought the vacant, seven-story building for $2 million in 2006. The company planned to open a Hyatt Place hotel on the upper floors with retail on the ground floor. The total development cost was estimated at $30 million.  (source)

The owner of the construction elevator at the site removed the elevator following Pyramid’s collapse in April.  Since then the platform has continued to block the sidewalk and several on-street parking spaces.  The city is losing revenue by not having these spaces open for vehicles.  Pedestrians walking back and forth from various businesses & restaurants in the area must go into the street or walk over the platform.

Centrue unfortunately got stuck having to foreclose on the property.  Based on tax records, they remain the owner. I’m sure all they want is to be the former owner.

I will be sending the bank, 19th Ward Alderwoman Marlene Davis, and the City’s Director of Streets  an email asking for this to be removed so the sidewalk is once again open for use.

Hopefully we will once again see construction activity at this location but in the meantime the sidewalk needs to remain free of obstructions.  With newly renovated buildings and several new restaurants in the immediate area the last thing we need is an abandoned platform reminding us of Pyramid’s failure.

New $13 Million Villa Lighting HQ Lacks ADA Access Route

Walkability and accessibility do not happen overnight.  With strong leadership and a commitment to these goals, as new buildings are built we can incrementally improve both.  However, without the right leadership and tools in place to ensure improvements in walkability and accessibility, we will continue to invest in projects geared toward a single mode — the private auto.

I thought I had hammered this message home to Ald. Matt Villa over the poor accessibility of Loughborough Commons, a suburban style highway-centric big box/strip center in his ward (11th).  While that project has improved greatly in the last few years it is clear that was as a reaction to pressure from me.  To date, the Burger King & Lowes still lack an ADA access route.

I’ve had numerous conversations with Matt Vila over accessibility and walkability.  You’d think he would have learned something and ensured the new $13 million headquarters of his family business would have been accessible. With a reported 80 employees it would be reasonable to assume that some might arrive to work on foot — either walking directly from home or taking public transit.

This project is located in my ward, the 6th, where  Ald. Kacie Triplett has been on the job for just shy of two years.  Of course I don’t think walkability or accessibility should be left up to each of the 28 Aldermen. They clearly don’t know about these things.  We are a small city — only 61.9 square miles of land area.  This is less than two square miles larger than Columbia MO (60.1 sq. miles of land) and smaller than Springfield Missouri (73.2).  My hometown of Oklahoma City is a whopping 607.0 square miles of land area.  So we are small in terms of land area but we are fairly dense despite having lost a half million in population since our 1950 peak of 856,000.

But while Springfield Missouri only has 2,000 persons per square mile we have over 5,700.  San Francisco has over 17,000 persons in each of its  46.7 square miles of land area.  Manhattan, the prominent NYC Borough, has over 70,000 residents per square mile (22.96 square miles of land area).  At our 1950 peak, our density was slightly higher than Chicago’s density in 2000.

The point is the greater the density the greater the likelihood of having a population that walks and uses transit.  Regions such as NYC and San Francisco have dense walkable centers with less dense, less walkable fringes.  Here we continue to weaken our core.  Lowering the standard down to that might be acceptable 20 miles outside of the core.  I know of no growing region where the core being reduced to suburban fringe levels of density and non-walkability.

Which brings us back to Villa Lighting’s new facility.  It is great they stayed in the city.  It is unfortunate the building was made to be arrived at by private car only — not by foot or bicycle (no bike rack out front).  On the edge of the region it is more reasonable to do single mode development but not in the core.  This facility is a short walk from the #70 Grand bus route and the Grand Metrolink light rail station.

For those who physically can, climbing the hill is the most direct route to the front door.  Remember this is all new construction so they created the grades.

There is sufficient room for a stair & ramp to the entrance so the new building can be brought into compliance.

For anyone in a wheelchair this is a fortress.

So once again the pedestrian is relegated to the drive designed for autos.  So I’m thinking the architect, Clayco’s Forum Studio, must be out of touch on the ADA.  But then I switched from the East to West side of the building.

Here the new sidewalk continues on the side street.  They even included a street tree.  No curb though.

Hallelujah, an accessible route for tenant spaces on the West side of the building.  So this has me even more confused.  They are obviously aware of the requirement as they complied here.  My only guess is they didn’t do it on the East side claiming it wasn’t feasible due to the grades —- grades they created.  We should do better.

Green? Yes. Accessible? No.

Green building is all the rage these days.  That is a good thing, but I wished walkability was given the same importance.  Walking, after all, is one of the most green & healthy things we can do.

So last year when the old Sym’s clothing store in the St. Louis suburb of Brentwood was converted into an Office Depot & Westlake Ace Hardware I was hopeful that pedestrian access would make it into the renovation plans.  I periodically scooted by and saw the nifty bioswales being carved out of the existing parking lot but no accessible route connecting the public sidewalk to the accessible entrance of the two stores..

The parking lot was completely redone so there was plenty of opportunity to do the greenest thing of all — welcome pedestrians.

I love the green bioswales which catch and use water runoff.

But when we’ve got major reconstruction of both building and site and no priority is given to connect to the existing public sidewalk we have a problem.  When “green” ignores pedestrians, we have a problem.  When developers and large retailers are able to ignore the basic right of accessibility we have a problem.

You might be saying to yourself, “npobody walks that stretch of Manchester Rd.”  First, not true.  Some do walk here.  But given the lack of consideration for the pedestrian it is no wonder too few walk.  This property is surrounded by residential properties and is only a mile from the Maplewood MetroLink light rail station to the East.

Which comes first the pedestrian or the sidewalk?

Snow Presents Access Challenges for the Disabled

Having a physical disability which limits one’s mobility can be bad enough.  Add snow and/or ice and mobility.  I have fortunately been able to drive again since July 2008.  But just becaise I can drive somewhere doesn’t guarantee I’ll be able to exit my car once I arrive.

Visiting Straub’s for groceries  was able to get from the disabled parking to the store because they had done a good job clearing the parking lot.  However, for those not fortunate enough to have the freedom to drive a sidewalk like the one above means staying at home.

In many cases the sidewalk is cleared but getting to the sidewalk on foot or in a wheelchair can be nearly impossible.  In the case of Saint Louis University (above) I’ve asked them to give more thought to how & where they clear the sidewalks.

I took the above image on Sunday morning as I headed to brunch in my wheelchair.  Normally I’d take the sidewalk to the left to get to Washington Ave.  However, the public sidewalk became the storage place for a big pile of snow.  I rode in the street longer than I like and entered the sidewalk on the right via the parking garage curb cut.  My normal route was also blocked by snow from another parking lot on the foreground.    For me the above was a minor inconvenience.  For others, say trying to get 6 blocks to MetroLink, they may be forced to stay home rather than go to work, school, doctor, etc.

I can’t imagine living in a place where snow is more common.  Although those places may do a better job ensuring the disabled have continued access.

History Of Urban Renewal in St. Louis

I’m not writing the history, just passing it along.  As I come across interesting documents in my files I’m scanning them for safe keeping as sharing the info with you, the reader.

One such document is the history of Urban Renewal in St. Louis.  It was published by the City Plan Commission in the early 1970s.

The document gives a detailed look at Urban Renewal projects in St. Louis like Plaza Square, Mill Creek Valley and Desoto-Carr (these last two have been razed & replaced).

Enjoy this valuable resource.