Like every municipality, East Saint Louis Illinois has had ups and downs, unfortunately, the downs have far outnumbered the ups. A project is nearing completion now that’ll be a big up, building on other ups (MetroLink light rail, new housing at Emerson Park station) of the last 10-12 years. Jazz at Walter Circle is a green modern transit-oriented senior housing development:
The public-private partnership that financed Jazz @ Walter Circle breaks new ground in closing funding gaps for affordable housing. For the first time, the deal integrates HUD mixed-finance development regulations with NMTC multiuse regulations. Public actors such as the East St. Louis Housing Authority (ESLHA), the city of East St. Louis, the state of Illinois, and HUD collaborated with project developer and owner Eco Jazz, Inc.; the national real estate firm Dudley Ventures; the NMTC firm Hampton Roads Ventures; and a not-for-profit affiliate of the ESLHA to reach a deal. In addition to residential space, Jazz @ Walter Circle will house a community center, office and retail space, a grocery store, and community gardens. The project will be the first LEED Gold certified building in East St. Louis, where 35 percent of the population lives below the federal poverty level.(HUD)
LEED Gold in East St. Louis? Yep! Not only is it green, it is architecturally attractive and has good urban form.
Jazz @ Walter Circle nearing completion, adjacent to the Emerson Park MetroLink Station in East Saint Louis IL.Curbs & sidewalks on both sides of 15th Street are getting redoneThe south end near the station includes a public clock
I’ll do a full review once the ribbon has been cut, but so far I’m pretty impressed.
Two years ago today the lives of two young men, John Foster Courtney & Justin Kramarczyk, were forever altered. Foster was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by Kramarczyk as he walked across Manchester Rd. Foster died of his injuries, Kramarczyk is still awaiting trial.
Courtney was crossing Manchester Rd at this point when struck
July 5th, 2011:
A St. Louis man was charged today in a hit-and-run crash early Monday in the city’s Grove neighborhood.
Justin Kramarczyk, 24, of the 1600 block of Washington Avenue, was charged with a felony count of leaving the scene of an accident. Police said additional charges may be pending in the case.
John Foster Courtney, 29, was struck at about 12:30 a.m. Monday as he crossed the street in the 4100 block of Manchester Avenue, in the Grove entertainment district. He died at a hospital at about 11:30 p.m. Monday. (stltoday)
September 7, 2011:
A St. Louis man accused in a fatal hit and run accident on the Fourth of July has been arraigned on more serious manslaughter charges, and ordered by the court to provide access to his cell phone which police confiscated as evidence in the case.
25 year old Justin Kramarczyk was originally charged with leaving the scene of an accident in the death of John Foster Courtney of south St. Louis. The St. Louis Grand Jury indicted Kramarczyk on the more serious felony of involuntary manslaughter last month.
He pleaded not guilty to the upgaded [sic] charge on Tuesday. (KSDK)
On July 6th I saved everything I could find online about both men. A couple of items from Kramarczyk’s public Facebook timeline, since removed, stood out to me as I read it again recently:
Eight days beforeThree days before
Alcohol is a huge problem in the gay community. Perhaps Courtney was too drunk to realize he shouldn’t cross the street? Perhaps Kramarczyk was too drunk to be driving that night? Or both…
I Couldn’t find anything about the charges against Kramarczyk after the September 2011 article above so I asked Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, she replied:
“Our records show it is currently set for trial on August 5th. However, this does not mean there will actually be a trial on that date. The case is pretty old, so I would expect a disposition of some kind in the near future.”
Pretty old is right! I’m sure everyone would like to see closure. It’s important to remember these types of “accidents” happen around all areas with bars and busy streets, here’s a 2012 example:
A car that police suspect was involved in a fatal hit-and-run outside Broadway Oyster Bar downtown was found in Madison, Ill., police confirmed Saturday.
(snip)
Amber Wood, 23, of the 2700 block of Accomac Street, was hit and killed while crossing the street about 1:50 a.m. Friday by a car speeding south in the 700 block of South Broadway near Gratiot Street, police said. (stltoday)
I just don’t know how to keep people from crossing streets mid-block.
For the last couple of months I’ve posted development opportunities along the proposed St. Louis Streetcar. Like our 20 year-old light rail line, this streetcar would also serve the central corridor. I live in the CC now, and I did when I first moved to St. Louis, but I lived in north or south St. Louis for 16 of my nearly 23 years in St. Louis. I lived in north St. Louis when MetroLink opened in 1993, and south St. Louis when the Shrewsbury extension opened. I rarely used MetroLink during those years, mostly just the occasional trip to/from the airport.
The #70 MetroBus heading northbound
Though I’ll enjoy the modern streetcar line, if it happens, I know it must be expanded beyond the central corridor into north & south St. Louis, within a few years time. Many readers seemed to agree based on the results of the poll last week.
Nearly half (48.98%) picked answers involving fixed rail, while 45.3% picked answers running through city neighborhoods.
Q: Best way to improve public transit in North & South St. Louis? Pick up to 3
In-street modern streetcar lines serving city neighborhoods 70 [28.57%]
In-street light rail lines running through the city to connect to the county 50 [20.41%]
Bus rapid transit (BRT) lines serving city neighborhoods 41 [16.73%]
Run existing buses more frequently 41 [16.73%]
Bigger articulated buses for the busiest routes 24 [9.8%]
Reduce/eliminate fares 7 [2.86%]
Buses that go from diesel in the county to electric via overhead wires in the city 6 [2.45%]
Nothing, doesn’t need improving 3 [1.22%]
Other: 3 [1.22%]
I’m not a fan of running in-street light rail through the city to reach park & ride lots in St. Louis County. The stops would be spaced so far apart it wouldn’t do much to help city residents, unless you happened to live around one of the few stations. Sorry, I don’t view north & south St. Louis as places county residents should have to get through quickly to reach a game downtown. Transit infrastructure should serve the meeds of the neighborhood it runs through.
A few years ago a friend suggested we run MetroLink down south of Busch Stadium, through the Soulard neighborhood. Really? You want light rail in a dense old neighborhood? Low-floor light rail vehicles w/platforms would consume much of the 12th Street right-of-way, our current high-floor vehicles would require more room. Side streets would need to be cut off to reduce the number of crossing points. In short, light rail in neighborhoods would be a disaster.
Modern streetcars, or decked out BRT (bus rapid transit) is the way to better serve city neighborhoods.
This post is the final in a series looking at potential development sites along the proposed initial route of the St. Louis Streetcar. Previously I reviewed:
I saved the downtown CBD (Central Business District) for last. You may think downtown is done but I found lots of opportunities for additional development.
ABOVE: Artist rendering of streetcar in downtown St. Louis at Chestnut St/Kiener PlazaThe downtown section of the route (yellow) has one-way single tracks, with opposite directions a block apart. This is different than the rest of the route and due to the narrow street widths in the CBD. Existing MetroLink light rail subway is shown in red.
Coming east into downtown from the west the lines will be in the center of Olive Street. East of 14th the line goes to a single eastbound track to 6th Street, turning right (south) onto 6th, right (west) onto Chestnut St/Kiener Plaza, right (north) onto 7th, left (West) onto Locust to 14th. There are many areas not directly served by this compact loop, but it gets riders within 2-3 blocks of many places of employment/interest.
Ok, let’s start at 14th and Olive and do the loop and end up on the other side of the library at 14th & Locust.
Library Park bounded by Olive, 13th, Pine, & 14th will stay a park. Will be welcomed open space as the corridor gets greater density. To the east is the Park Pacific, a mixed-use redevelopment of the former Missouri Pacific Railroad headquarters.The north side of Olive between Tucker (12th) and 13th is a disaster area, perfect for infill development. This is three different parking lots with three different owners, one is Christ Church Cathedral, shown at right.The US Bank site will hopefully get redeveloped, getting a new building(s) like it once had. This 1-story branch was built in 1985. The Jefferson Arms in the background will be addressed further down when we get to Locust & Tucker. Click image to view a 1958 aerial.In February 1909 city block 515 was very dense, soon after the one open corner got a very large building. Most remained as late as 1971. Click image to view original on the UM Digital Library.Looking back west across Tucker. Infilling the bank site with a building about the height of the Jefferson Arms would be ideal. At least as tall as Christ Church Cathedral.Looking back at the Park Pacific. This new garage isn’t going anywhere for decades but all the retail spaces should get leased.Between 1965-1999 the former St. Louis Post-Dispatch building was covered in a steel curtain wall system. Click image to view the nomination of this 1916 building to the National Register of Historic Places. It should be easier to lease once the streetcar route is just outside.I’d like to see a more interesting use of the ground floor spaces, currently the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners is behind these blinds facing Olive.Between Olive and the new SLU Law School is 210 N Tucker, now a date center. But I have hope for the ground floor…The Wheeler Post Office, entered off Olive, recently remodeled. It no longer occupies the front section of the building. This leaves room for small retailer(s), assuming it isn’t filled with racks of servers.The Olive side and rear of the building has been unfortunate since built in 1969, new backup generators make it worse. Creative paint perhaps?1111 Olive was built in 1942 as an annex to the Post-Dispatch, KSDK TV had early studios here. This is also now a data center. Hopefully this ground floor retail space is still vacant so it can be reactivated.The western portion of the ground floor is open air, not sure if it always has been this way. Perfect for cafe seating protected from sun/rain.Four buildings remain on the south side of the 11xx block of Olive. The 2 buildings on the right, both from 1886, used to have 5 floors. The narrow building to the left is from 1896 and the far left from 1912.The remainder of the block, except a building facing Pine, is surface parking lots ready for new construction.The building on the left, 1107 Olive, was threatened with demolition for parking last year but it was denied. It’ll get renovated but the big store is the corner at 11th.This corner has underground parking for Louderman Lofts building
Let me stop the flow of images briefly to talk more about this corner. Looks final, right? Drive to underground garage, stairs up to grade? Parking for commercial tenants and even a couple of lofts? You’re thinking there is no way this going to ever change. Seeing how it was built made me inquire with Louderman developer & resident Craig Heller of Loftworks, here’s his response:
Our plan has always been to build on that lot – parking for Louderman has been built under the lot. When it was built we sank piers to bedrock so that we build a new structure on top.
I had spotted the top of the piers. Folks, this is how you plan ahead! This was done 8-10 years ago and it may well be another 8-10 years before Heller can build on the corner. But when market conditions are right he’ll be able to see a handsome return on the cost of those piers. In the meantime, this would be a good corner for a food cart vendor with a few tables, chairs, umbrellas, etc. Ok, back to the streetcar route…
Diagonally across the intersection is two surface lots, one owned by the Omni Hotel on Pine. These will take longer to get developed.The buildings on the north side of the 10xx block of Olive are all handsome. Bussone’s owns their building, perhaps downtown’s oldest bar will get a new storefront?Craig Heller’s Loftworks also owns the small parking lot at 10th & Olive.This lot is in poor condition, with nothing but dirt underneath the asphault I see this getting infill sooner rather than later.At 8th & Olive we have the vacant Arcade-Wright building. Click image to read about the development plan. The streetcar will make the retail spaces in the historic arcade more viable.Diagonally across the intersection is the Chemical Building . Click the image to read about development plans for this building. Retail will be more viable once the streetcar line opens.The Laclede Gas Building on the SE corner of 8th & Olive should benefit from the streetcar line.The fur & leather store that operated in the corner spot closed recently, a good spot if a direct exterior entrance is added. Fall 2012 photo.Until recently the top floor had the Point of View restaurant and the bar’s law center. The St. Louis Bar Association moved to 6th & Washington Ave. Laclede Gas has also discussed relocating.An 8th & Pine MetroLink light rail station is located on the corner of the Laclede Gas Building.Macy’s, formerly Famous-Barr, is closing at the end of the month.The Railway Exchange Building, with Macy’s on the lower 3 levels until next month, has some very exciting things happening on upper floors. Tomorrow I’ll share what’s going on in the former May Company offices.The 6xx block of Olive used to have more terra cotta buildings but only one was spared from demolition. The streetcar will run eastbound on Olive (left) and northbound on 7th (right). This garage should be razed.The corner of this block is a surface parking lot at 6th, the streetcar will turn onto 6th from Olive .The Met Square building, built in 1988, is too glossy and internally focused. Hopefully it can be softened up a bit at the street-level.Besides the sliver of the white terra cotta building, 207 N. 6th is the only remaining non-parking building on the block.The two Kiener Plaza parking garages are awful/uninviting structuresLooking north up 6th from Chestnut we see both Kiener garages, built in 1966. Both should be razzed, replacing one with a compact automatic parking garage, click image to watch a demo video of this technology.The streetcar would have a track in Chestnut plus a track in Kiener Plaza as a layover pointI don’t like the 1981 addition to Sullivan’s Wainwright building, it is in poor condition and doesn’t relate to the street. This is a Missouri state office building. Click image to read a 1981 review in the NY Times.And we’re back to the block that’s almost entirely a 1962 parking garage in poor condition. The block will have streetcar line on 3 sides. The Railway Exchange can be seen in the background.The surface parking lot on the SW corner of 7th & Locust is the only hole in that city block, it should be filled with new construction.A few years ago the owner of the US Bank tower considered building a parking garage to replace this useless plaza. Hopefully an occupied building will replace the plaza. The Ambassador Theater was razed in 1996 for the plaza, click for info.Once taller, shortened many years ago, vacant since 2009.The first two buildings on Locust east of 10th remain threatened with demolition. I’m not attached to them, I just want buildings not a circle driveway.Much of city block 823 bounded by 11th, Locust, Tucker, & St. Charles, is surface parking. Miss Hullings Cafeteria was located here for decades, click for more info.The 1960 building on the NE corner of Tucker & Locust needs to be replaced with a larger structure.On the west side of Tucker is the vacant Jefferson Arms. Hopefully developers will be able to find the right formula to make the numbers work.
As you can see there are many opportunities along this route to re-urbanize and densify. Many more opportunities exist 1-4 blocks away from the route.
Here are two sentiments I’ve heard from readers recently:
“The streetcar should go down Washington Ave.”
“It would be nice if the activity on Washington Ave. would expand to other streets.”
If we’d put all our eggs into the Washington Ave basket we’d still wish years later the activity would reach other streets. By running the streetcar one and two blocks south of Washington Ave we’ll be expanding the activity while making it easier to get people to their Washington Ave places, like Mosaic.
Tomorrow we look at the entrepreneurial activity taking place on the 12th & 13th floors of the Railway Exchange building.
The project to replace the old Tucker Blvd, filling in the long-abandoned passenger rail tunnel, is nearing completion. Motorists and pedestrians can now travel between Washington Ave and Cass Ave., approximately 3/4 of a mile (map). Tuesday night the boyfriend and I went for a walk up to Cass and back (I rolled, he walked).
I’d been up/down the new Tucker a few times before but this time I paid attention to the plantings located in bulb-outs at the ends of parking lanes, medians, tree lawn, etc. Some of the bulb-outs are designed as a rain garden, set up to catch rainwater from the road and sidewalk.
Irrigation in one of the rain gardens along North Tucker Blvd. I suppose irrigating a rain garden makes sense to keep the plantings looking good during dry spells, and while establishing the plantings.Very tall weeds have taken over some planting areas along Tucker.Purple Coneflower (Echinacea) is just one of many natives planted along Tucker. Other plants spotted include Yarrow, Russian Sage, and native prairie grasses.
I’m excited to see Tucker 100% complete with all the planting areas weeded. I’m also looking forward to seeing development occur along Tucker, especially at Cass.
Looking north from Cass & Tucker the approach to the new Mississippi River Bridge is nearly complete. The bridge opens in early 2014, click photo for more information.
Since this area lacks a form-based code, or anything else requiring new construction to recognize the existence of the new public sidewalks, I’m afraid it’ll end up being geared only to motorists, ignoring pedestrians completely. Maybe Paul McKee will do the.. right thing and develop the area with pedestrians and motorists in mind…
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