Atlanta’s Edgewood Development Offers Inspiration for Saint Louis

Much of my time is spent ranting about “missed opportunities” at local developments such as Loughborough Commons. Responses are often along the lines of well we don’t like it either but we have to compete with the suburbs. We have such a void of good design in the St. Louis area our expectations are so low. Architects and planners in this town need to have some balls and show clients what is possible rather than continuing with the same crap.

But new big box developments need not be the drab single-use wastes of land that litter the St. Louis region. If you combine creative developers and architects with higher land cost in municipalities that actually demand urbanity you get something along the lines of Atlanta’s new Edgewood shopping district.

It is hard to tell from this site plan but a lot is happening on this 37 acre site. The developer’s promotional literature does a good job of summarizing the mix:

“This distinctive project will allow for anchor tenants and small box tenants as well as local retailers and restaurants, featuring a variety of architecture to suit the diverse tenant mix and compliment the area’s unique history. The center’s proposed ‘Main Street’ element with its blend of local boutiques, friendly eateries and exciting national retailers is sure to become a thriving hub of neighborhood activity for families and singles alike. Additionally, an existing historic building will be converted to residential lofts and this conversion will be the cornerstone that blends new to old thus making the entire project a true live-shop-play community.”

This is exactly how big box developments like Lowe’s and Target can be integrated into neighborhoods. The smaller buildings provide opportunities for local retailers with offices or living units above. Shared parking encourages walking from store to store creating an energy that most sprawling developments lack. I’m not fond of Atlanta but I may have to schedule a visit soon to see it first hand. The development opened this summer. To see some photos of the project under construction and of the surrounding homes click here.

UPDATE 9/27/05 @ 10AM – See more images of the Edgewood Retail District and an analysis of the design from a New Urbanist perspective here.

Like Desco’s Loughborough Commons this development is in the middle of existing housing and is adjacent to a rail line serving commuters (MetroLink will stop at the Loughborough Commons site in the future). Both have a Lowe’s and a major grocery store. The similarities end there.

Other recent developments in the region, like THF’s Wal-Mart & Lowe’s project in Maplewood, is a conventional drab single use project. Just imagine how different that area would feel had they gone in the same direction as Atlanta’s project.

Locally our developers, architects, planners, and city officials are selling us short. We deserve no less than such a vibrant mixed-use development.

What Became of…

I’ve got a couple of things that I was wondering about.

First, I attended a public meeting back on August 2nd regarding the proposed Mississippi River Bridge. The followup meeting was supposed to be in September but I’ve not heard a word. Did I miss an announcement? I have no doubt it will be argued we need the bridge to help evacuate the city. Whatever it takes to justify a massive public works project right guys?

Second on my list is the downtown traffic study. It has been nearly six weeks since the surveys were collected but I’ve not seen any data or conclusions. This really shouldn’t take this long since the conclusion portion was most likely written prior to sending out the surveys!

– Steve

SLU Research Tower Should Not Be Awarded a LEED Designation

Saint Louis University is putting a friendly spin on its new Research Tower under construction at the SE corner of Grand and Chouteau. A new story in the St. Louis Business Journal had this to say:

Many are all excited about the building. Some like the way it looks. It will have bike racks and showers for researchers that want to bike to the building. Some parking spaces will be dedicated to hybrid or low emissions vehicles.

The “green space” is my issue with the building. This is not a massive building at 206,000 square feet yet it is being placed in the center of a massive nine acre green. The site was, until recently, three and a half city blocks. The 10-story building would easily fit on a fraction of one city block. Click here to see the project website including drawings and a site plan.

Everyone from City Hall to locals is hailing the “investment” this project represents. Indeed, I’m happy to see $66 million being spent. The wasteful use of land and the destruction of the interconnected street grid is not offset by any “green” building methods. SLU and Architects Cannon Design must be fooling themselves to think this is friendly to the urban environment.

In typical SLU fashion the nine acres will most likely be surrounded by fencing that says the public is not welcome here unless you’ve got big bucks for tuition. At the corner of Grand & Chouteau a fountain will decorate the lifeless intersection.

Preliminary drawings indicated planted medians along the center of Grand which will present challenges for building future street car lines. The drawings also show no street parking along Grand nor any any street trees. Basically the sidewalk along Grand and Chouteau will be a miserable place to walk. SLU and the architects fail to understand that such a sterile sidewalk will not benefit from the adjacent green grass.

Nine acres! I can’t get over it. Keeping the street grid in place you could create a very interesting and urban area. Once again in St. Louis we are applauding a major institution for their wasteful and anti-urban “investment.”

Connecting SLU’s main campus and the medical campus should be a high priority. Rebuilding three and a half city blocks at Grand & Chouteau is an opportunity to create storefronts to enliven the sidewalk experience, provide services for students and researchers and even create some additional housing. Why is this corner so important? Couple of things. First we already have the Grand MetroLink stop between both SLU campuses. This stop is used by many students as well as residents connecting to local buses. A future Southside MetroLink line will run along Chouteau making it even more important to our future. And big plans are underway to make the bridge between the SLU campuses more pedestrian friendly. From the St. Louis Business Journal:

So we are going to spend $25 million to make the area more pedestrian friendly yet at the South end of the bridge the new Research Tower in the big green will be a big dead zone of activity. According to the Mayor’s site Republican US Senator Kitt Bond “found” $15 million to move the project forward. I love how elected officials responsible for dividing up our tax money for transportation projects suddenly find money. In congressional terms $15 million is sofa change.

Building interesting cities is not easy but common sense tells you blank sidewalks with no activity is not the way to go. The bridge project is a good idea but tragically it will be underutilized due to the new SLU research building taking up space that could be put to use encouraging more pedestrian traffic. To go for green accreditation is an insult. This new building may employ some energy saving techniques but in the big picture it is hardly friendly to the environment.

Forgive me if I don’t join others in applauding SLU.

– Steve

The Folly of Highways as Evacuation Routes

Sitting here watching CNN this morning as people from Galveston & Houston are attempting to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Rita. Soledad O’Brien just did a phone interview with a guy that has traveled 48 miles in 13 hours. Evacuees are running out of gas on the interstate. Others are overwhelming gas stations along the evacuation route.

Interstate highways were sold to the public back in the days of the Cold War as means of evacuating cities in the event of nuclear war. Maybe in the 1950s they had few enough cars to actually evacuate a city in a reasonable time frame. Today we can’t even get people home to the suburbs without congestion.

When I can bicycle faster than people in cars it is a clear sign we are too dependent on cars. Some Republicans in Congress are suggesting we take a look at Amtrak. But, they aren’t thinking we bolster our passenger rail service to help our transportation needs! No, they are suggesting we cut or eliminate Amtrak to help pay for Katrina cleanup. Such a move would place us even more dependent upon private cars and fossil fuels.

– Steve

Alderman Bauer is Recalled!

The precedent has been set. A South Side Alderman (read: white) can be recalled if the constituents are unhappy.

While I never cared for Bauer I did like that he was at least open to change which is more than I can say for some. But like too many Aldermen he didn’t seem to understand the reasons for the unrest.

Bland new developments and the threats of eminent domain are the crux of the issue. Other Alderman need to pay attention! One specific issue in the Bauer recall was the proposed taking of homes via eminent domain to build a new QuikTrip gas and convenience store.

QuikTrip is one of the most destructive forces currently in the City of St. Louis. But I defy you to find an Alderman (or Mayor) that is willing to say we don’t need anymore QuikTrip locations. I’ll give QT one thing — they maintain their locations well. The problem is they are huge. The small corner gas station now spans the length of an entire city block. It makes no sense to have smaller and older gas station sites sitting vacant while we build new QT locations.

QuikTrip is a major campaign donor. No QT exists in the 25th Ward where I ran for Alderman back in March yet they gave Alderman Kirner’s campaign the maximum allowed of $300 and another $300 in the general election. Perhaps they want to take homes in my ward and build one of their massive stores? To our elected officials that don’t really understand urbanity and city living they see this “investment” as a good thing. The rest of us see it as a reason to flee.

Many of our gas stations are locally owned franchise operations. But the QT stores are corporate owned so profits leave not only the city but the state. Money talks and if we continue to patronize QT they’ll continue razing our buildings and constructing behemoth gas stations. But here is the question — are we buying more gasoline or is another gas station losing business each time a new QT opens? While each year we are consuming more gasoline the overwhelming answer is another gas dealer — most likely a local owner — is losing business. Former gas station sites are one of the most costly to redevelop so does it make any sense to build more?

Bauer actually had the gaul to claim, before the recall, that the recall was motivated by greedy gas station owners that didn’t want the QT. The area in question is already awash in gas stations so it amazes me an alderman would want to take homes to build yet another. Some elected officials think progress equals razing neighborhoods and building new. Real progress is increasing the number of residents & local business in the city while remaining urban. Turning our city into suburbia is not a city in which I want to live.

I’m glad Bauer was recalled but that is only a first step. Too often we must spend our time fighting bad development rather than nurturing good development. We need new leadership throughout the city at all levels that will put an end to pushing through suburban sprawl crap development and work with citizens to bring appropriate new development to the city.

– Steve