What is Next For the Former St. Aloysius Complex?

One thing is known about St. Aloysius, the city’s Preservation Board will not be hearing an appeal from owner Jim Wohlert. I have confirmed with Cultural Resources Director, Kathleen Shea, that no appeal has been received by her office. Ms. Shea had sent letters of denial to Mr. Wohlert on January 24, 2006 following the December 19, 2005 Preservation Board meeting. The ordinance stipulates that any appeal must be filed within 30 days.

So if the developer continues to push his plan for detached housing where the graceful church buildings now stand he’ll have to go a different route. Enter Alderman Vollmer and his deferring accomplices. Look for legislation to exclude the 2+ acre site from preservation review or perhaps to exclude the neighborhood from the preservation review process altogether.

This would be an interesting turn of events now that Alderman Waterhouse is introducing legislation to put the adjacent 24th Ward back into the preservation review process (full story). Vollmer should keep in mind that removing the 24th Ward from preservation review was one of the actions that got Bauer recalled.

– Steve

The Future of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the St. Louis Region

Local transit booster group Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) sponsored a program earlier today called, The Future of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the St. Louis Region. This invitation only event included representatives from throughout the region including, Donna Day from East-West Gateway Council of Governments; Rollin Stanley, St. Louis’ Director of Urban Planning & Design (and CMT board member); a number of local architects and developers, etc…

The guest speakers brought in by CMT were pretty impressive.

First up was Ken Kinney, the project director on the Northside/Southside Light Rail Study. Mr. Kinney is with the firm of HNTB out of their Chicago office. He talked about the current study which is building upon prior work done in 1998-2000. Specifically he mentioned the current study area is focusing solely on the City of St. Louis with the northside route ending near I-70 (close to Goodfellow) and the southside route ending at I-55 & Loughborough (yes, the site of “Loughborough Commons” sprawl center, still under construction)

Kinney indicated they are doing a “Transit/Development – Supportive Policy Analysis” as part of both study areas. From his comments I took this to mean two things. First he mentioned looking at other cities to see how their transit policies might help development. Second was to look at the municipal policies to see how that might affect (pro or con) development along proposed routes.

He admitted the most controversial part of the northside and southside routes are that they both include running at street level, especially downtown. He showed an example of a high-floor vehicle like our MetroLink vehicles in a center median situation (Manchester, England). As you can imagine this requires large platforms. As others in the process have previously indicated, they will most likely use what is referred to as a “low-floor” vehicle. These have a low center section that is seldom more than a foot above grade so stops are much easier to design and build. Meeting ADA (American’s with Disability Act) requirements are also much easier going this route.

For the low-floor light rail he showed a suburban Portland example in the center of Interstate Avenue. In this case the center of the road is consumed with the poles in the center and a line going in each direction. Traffic is kept to the outside and away from the tracks. The example at right is actually a computer mock up for Interstate Ave in Portland (source).

But next he showed his “favorite” example: the newish Portland Streetcar (a modern line, not vintage). His image shows new condo buildings being constructed next to the line. Below is an image from the same general area.

[Portland thumbnail by milantram, click image for full sized version.]

This streetcar line was not finished on my last visit to Portland. Time for another visit!

Next up to speak was Robert Cervero from the University of California at Berkeley. I see in the program that his “participation has been made possible through East-West Gateway Council of Governments.” Mr. Cervero is a subconsultant on the northside & southside study areas.

Most of are probably familiar with the term TOD (Transit Oriented Development) but he mentioned a couple of others. TOD’s step-brother, TAD (Transit Adjacent Development). A good example of TAD is say the suburban stuff in Richmond Heights off Eager road. This development is adjacent to transit but it not oriented to transit. Another is AOD, or Auto Oriented Development. This is suburbia or the proposed Grand McDonald’s. He used another phrase I really liked, “walk-n-ride” to describe just walking from your development to the transit train. This is a contrast to the common park-n-ride lot we see near most of our suburban MetroLink stations.

Cervero stressed “balanced corridor planning” when evaluating various criteria such as speed and development potential. He showed how New Jersey had a number of older commuter rail lines that were not encouraging new TOD’s around stations. After decreasing travel times to Manhattan from 45 minutes to 30 minutes suddenly everyone was interested in riding the lines and they began to see increased TODs and stations.

Cervero indicated he felt our MetroLink light rail system has been hugely successful from a ridership standpoint but not so much so from a TOD perspective. I’d certainly agree. St. Louis, he argues, took the path of least resistance when building our system by using existing tunnels and rail corridors. This path didn’t require expensive land purchases or the taking of homes (although it did require moving some graves near the airport). The problem with the existing route(s) is by using rail lines the transit wasn’t necessarily placed in areas where we might have seen increased development around a stop.

He concluded his time with a picture of the Grand South Grand area at Arsenal and Grand. He described the wonderful building fabric and said, “You almost want a Portland-style streetcar.” Not almost, I do want a streetcar line down Grand (among others)! I’ve made my preference for streetcars quite clear to CMT Executive Director Tom Shrout so when Cervero made this comment I looked over to see Tom’s reaction, he was looking back to see my reaction.

Last up was Jack Wierzenski from Dallas’ transit system, DART. [Side note: I took my driver’s test in my mom’s Dodge Dart] DART was established in 1983 with the system opening 13 years later in 1996. Since then they’ve managed to build considerable more total lines than us with far more coming on line in the next 10 years. After touring St. Louis today he said they are behind us with respect to retail & loft development downtown.

He showed some great examples of previous park-n-ride lots from the original system that are now TOD projects. The end of one line is in Plano, TX where their downtown was a bit tired. A new TOD has helped improve the area. The made a number of comments about their engineers, how their only focus was moving the transit vehicles as quickly as possible or having parking and bus lines right next to the stations. His job is balance the engineers against the need for creating quality pedestrian environments at the stations. Are you listening Metro?

Following the presentations was a frank discussion about where we are now. One participant didn’t think the images of dense new development would fly in north St. Louis because most residents would fear being displaced by eminent domain. Public approval is certainly needed so community concerns need to be addressed. The issue of ‘density’ as a dirty word came up and got a good chuckle from the entire room. One speaker, I think Jack Wierzenski from Dallas, indicated they do “visual surveys” where they use pictures/images to gauge people’s interest in various types of projects. Visually people will most often chose the dense and connected example but if given a written choice of low-density or high-density projects they’d chose the low-density. Visual surveys, are all you PR types listening?

I’ve got many more thoughts on encouraging TOD in the St. Louis region but I’l have to share those another day. What are your thoughts?

– Steve

Another One Bites The Dust

The once stately Doering Mansion is nearly gone. Today only a few walls remain standing as the machinery tears away at the structure.

It its place will be some vaguely interesting condos on an artificial bluff sited much closer to Broadway than people realize. Sadly this will be one of those projects where after it is completed people will be remorseful for the old lady that was razed.

Nobody is going to miss the nursing home on the majority of the site. But it is still standing for the moment — demo crews started with the house.

I don’t want to save every old building in the city. Many have been remodeled beyond belief, had the brick painted or other such irrevocable horrors. But not the Doering Mansion. Its only crime was having years of neglect, an alleged odd floor plan and highly valuable land.

We are too careless with our architecture and streetscapes. Many are too quick to assume demolition rather than approaching with an open mind. The local paper recently quoted SLU President Biondi regarding a church the university had just purchased. His comments were basically that he assumed they’d tear it down until he actually saw the building in person. It saddens me deeply that our “leaders” first assume demolition. Does destruction equal power?

– Steve

Resentment Toward the Old Post Office

Today I will visit the Old Post Office building in downtown St. Louis for the very first time. I’ve walked past it many times. I’ve photographed the beautiful exterior from all directions. I’ve also stood next to it while protesting the destruction of the Century Building for a parking garage.

While it is completely unfair of me to resent the Old Post Office for the razing of the Century Building that is exactly how I feel. I know it is not the building’s fault that it’s longtime neighbor was destroyed in a political game more about developer’s fees than actual need.

I don’t think I’ll ever forgive all those involved in the process. This includes the Schnuck’s family, Steve Stogel, the National Trust’s Richard Moe, Mayor Slay and his staff of intimidators, and the Board of Aldermen for allowing the atrocity to take place (in particular Ald Phyllis Young for her silence on the issue in her ward).

The Old Post Office is a stunning building. The new lighting is a spectacular sight to behold. Pity I can’t fully appreciate it. No matter how hard I try I still picture the Century Building, clad in marble, next door as it was for a good hundred years. The area is tainted. I actually try to avoid the area, refusing to look at the mud hole where the Century once stood.

It doesn’t help that some of my recreational reading of late has been from the official transcript for the October 2004 hearing on a Temporary Restraining Order to keep the Century standing. Yeah, I know, why not just read Harry Potter instead.

Below is an excerpt from Landmark’s attorney Matt Ghio cross-examining Downtown Now’s Tom Reeves regarding their planning document for the area:

GHIO: In that section on the Old Post Office Square, is there a statement in there to the effect that any parking for the Old Post Office could be sited one to two blocks away, so that no parking fronts the Old Post Office. Is that or words to the effect in that document? “Yes” or “no”?

REEVES: I don’t know. I’d have to see it.

GHIO: At any time in 2002 or 2003, Mr. Reeves, did any representative of GSA come to you — Downtown Now — and ask you whether or not there were any other parking solutions for the Old Post Office district other than what the developers were proposing?

REEVES: I don’t believe so. I don’t recall.

It appears that Mr. Reeves was not very familiar with the plan of his own organization, including the simple fact it recommended placing parking structures away from the Old Post Office:

The historic character of the area, the continuity of building faces on the street, and the need to enhance street level activity argues for careful siting of parking resources on other blocks not fronting the Old Post Office unless the parking is located below grade. The parking demands from the land use program are substantial. (Source: 1mb PDF)

The other issue is alternatives. Numerous concepts were presented, including putting structured parking within the existing Century and adjacent Syndicate Trust building. It basically boiled down to the developers would make more money from the complex financing package if they built a new garage for the Missouri Development Finance Board.

Our urban planning decisions are not based on sound principals but what pays the most.

When I enter the building today I hope I can see past all the recent political history and enjoy the magnificent interior. I just don’t know if that will ever be possible.

– Steve

Where Is Our New Zoning Code?

Over a year ago St. Louis adopted a much heralded new Strategic Land Use Plan that was going to pave the way for future development in the City of St. Louis. It does a great job of organizing the city into various areas and giving brief descriptions setting out a vision for each. However, our 1947-era zoning codes are still the law. These codes give us the suburban model as standard practice and require special efforts to build what we should be building.

St. Louis is hot right now. We’ve got buildings being renovated all over the city and new construction is popping up in many neighborhoods. If things go well we will continue over the next 5-10 years to see more and more new construction.

But what will this new construction look like?

Will it be the suburban model of generic building surrounded by parking lots or will it be the type of sensitive scale mixed use buildings that we are seeing in areas like Lafayette Square? Lafayette Square, you will note, doesn’t rely solely on the zoning code because they have their own historic district standards which mandate urban design. They have no worries about a drive-thru lane.

But what about the rest of the city?

We were quite dense and urban at one point in our history. Those of us that consider ourselves urbanists want — no demand — that we put ourselves on a course to become much more urban in the near future. The Slay administration is doing so only in small doses — mostly downtown.

Sorry Francis, that just isn’t enough.

Get the zoning code updated — NOW!

– Steve

PS added @ 8:30am. The new code should be form based zoning.