John Cochran Veterans Hospital Wants To Expand South Into Grand Center, Raze Historic Palladium Music Hall

The Veterans Administration operates two facilities in the St. Louis area:

The VA St. Louis Health Care System provides inpatient and ambulatory care in medicine, surgery, psychiatry, neurology, and rehabilitation, and many other subspecialty areas. It is a two-division facility that serves veterans and their families in east central Missouri and southwestern Illinois.

The John Cochran Division, named after the late Missouri congressman, is located in midtown St. Louis and has all of the medical center’s operative surgical capabilities, the ambulatory care unit, intensive care units, outpatient psychiatry clinics, and expanded laboratory.

The Jefferson Barracks Division is a multi-building complex overlooking the Mississippi River in south St. Louis County. It provides psychiatric treatment, spinal cord injury treatment, a nursing home care unit, geriatric health care, rehabilitation services, and a rehabilitation domiciliary program for homeless veterans. (source)

The John Cochran facility, located in midtown, was built in the 1950s, on the site of the once-opulant Vandeventer Place private street:

Founder, Peter Lewis Vandeventer, came to St. Louis in the 1860s with brothers William and Henry Barnum Vandeventer. Peter Lewis Vandeventer and Henry Barnum Vandeventer were Wall Street stockbrokers with a firm located at 6 Wall St., New York City. They made their money from selling stocks and took the train west to St. Louis to invest it in land.

Peter Lewis Vandeventer died in 1879, during the development of Vandeventer Place, a gated, luxurious private place in the neighborhood with stately mansions and a beautiful fountain as its centerpiece. His Missouri estate was managed by several corrupt lawyers, who stole much of the money from the sale of the lots at Vandeventer Place. His family remained in St. Louis for some time after his death, living in Vandeventer Place in a large mansion.

Vandeventer Place met with its demise in 1947, when the eastern half was demolished for the Veterans’ Administration’s new hospital. The western portion was demolished about ten years later, when the City acquired it as the site for a children’s detention home. The fountain and east gates survive in Forest Park. (Wikipedia)

The formerly secluded street on the western edge of the city had fallen out of favor among the wealthy, they sought to buy or build mansions even further west in the city or into St. Louis County.  John Cochran Hospital has always remained within its original 11+ acre site of Grand on the East, Enright (formerly Morgan) on the South, Spring on the West, and Bell on the North. Granted, the VA has various surface parking lots beyond this.

Now the VA is looking to expand , funding for a new tower was included in a 2009 spending bill:

A $44 million appropriation included in a new $447 billion spending bill approved by Congress this week will provide seed money for a 262,000-square-foot hospital tower for the midtown facility.

[snip]

The proposed VA medical center expansion will feature a larger emergency room, wings for spinal cord injury and mental health patients needing immediate medical treatment, more private bedrooms and better room structures for medical equipment and records. (stltoday.com)

Why hasn’t this moved forward in the last four years? If you’ll recall, John Cochran VA soon had some very bad PR issues:

• June 2010: VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV
• February 2011: Surgeries are suspended at Cochran center
• April 2012: Issues go unsolved at St. Louis VA medical center

Then in June 2012 an expansion story ran once again:

An expansion is planned for the John Cochran VA Medical Center, but it could affect a new, widely popular soul food restaurant. The expansion would increase the facility by 60 percent. The “Sweetie Pies Upper Crust Eatery” sits on land that is being looked at for the expansion project. (Fox2: Could VA Hospital Expansion Force Sweetie Pies Upper Crust Out?)

So they want to expand South to Delmar, closing Enright and razing some buildings. What impact would this have on Grand Center? What buildings would need to be razed? Is there a better option for expansion?

Only four buildings are on the thin block bounded by Enright, Grand, Delmar, and Spring:

1. a vacant former gas station already owned by the VA,
2. Laborer’ Local 42 union hall,
3. Sweetie Pie’s Upper Crust,
4. Vacant former HHV Thrift Plus (aka The Palladium, Club Plantation)

Here’s a look at these four:

Interesting, 66 years ago the VA wanted a hotel and a club razed or they wouldn’t build and “the VA itself is prohibited by law from buying the block because it is not contiguous to its hospital site.” Not sure when the hotel was razed, but the club remains — for now.

So we have a newly built & popular restaurant that faces Delmar, a 1970s union hall and a historic 1912-13 musical hall facing Enright, all in the path of the Veterans Administration.  The VA owns the tiny 1950 gas station, the other three are privately owned.

Tomorrow I’ll suggest how to expand the VA hospital while also improving, not hurting, Grand Center.

— Steve Patterson

SLU’s Sculpture Garden Not Accessible To All

The northeast corner of Grand & Lindell, once an urban corner, is Saint Louis University’s Ellen Clark Sculpture Park. This large open site contains a number of sculptures that apparently please SLU President Lawrence Biondi.

I’ve only seen the colorful sculptures from the public sidewalk surrounding the fenced space. It is open to the public but the design isn’t accessible to those of us using wheelchairs.

I can walk with my cane if there was a way to get my chair inside the gates so I don’t have to leave it out on the sidewalk to risk being stolen.  I’d think this sculpture garden should comply with the ADA due to #9 below:

Under the ADA public accommodations are private entities that own, lease, lease to or operate a place of public accommodation. This means that both a landlord who leases space in a building to a tenant and the tenant who operates a place of public accommodation have responsibilities to remove barriers.

A place of public accommodation is a facility whose operations affect commerce and fall within at least one of the following 12 categories:

1. Places of lodging (e.g., inns, hotels, motels, except for owner-occupied establishments renting fewer than six rooms)
2. Establishments serving food or drink (e.g. , restaurants and bars)
3. Places of exhibition or entertainment (e.g. , motion picture houses, theaters, concert halls, stadiums)
4. Places of public gathering (e.g. , auditoriums, convention centers, lecture halls)
5. Sales or rental establishments (e.g. , bakeries, grocery stores, hardware stores, shopping centers)
6. Service establishments (e.g. , laundromats, dry-cleaners, banks, barber shops, beauty shops, travel services, shoe repair services, funeral parlors, gas stations, offices of accountants or lawyers, pharmacies, insurance offices, professional offices of health care providers, hospitals)
7. Public transportation terminals, depots, or stations (not including facilities relating to air transportation)
8. Places of public display or collection (e.g. , museums, libraries, galleries)
9. Places of recreation (e.g. , parks, zoos, amusement parks)
10. Places of education (e.g. , nursery schools, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private schools)
11. Social service center establishments (e.g. , day care centers, senior citizen centers, homeless shelters, food banks, adoption agencies)
12. Places of exercise or recreation (e.g. , gymnasiums, health spas, bowling alleys, golf courses) (source)

b

SLU installed a bag dispenser so dog owners can clean up and Biondi likes seeing dogs there.

“I am a dog lover,” said Biondi, who has an 8-year-old golden retriever named Iggy, in honor of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order. “But even if I didn’t love dogs, I’d still want the dogs in the park. It’s a nice opportunity for the community to get together and come to the campus and form friendships.” (stltoday.com)

Even as a dog park it has issues. If I were to try to enter the park there’s a risk someone’s dog might escape since no vestibule is provided.

Officially the entire corner is temporary, the university sought development  proposals when the recession hit. Rather than make the park accessible I’d much prefer to see it get redeveloped. SLU has tons of open land, plenty of space exists to create another dog park nearby.

The historic Marina Building was only two stories high but a new building could be many more floors given the height of others in the area. I’d love to see a Trader Joe’s in the ground floor of a new building.

Here’s an interesting tidbit I ran across researching this post:

This year [2011] marks the sesquicentennial of the Camp Jackson massacre at this site, then known as Lindell Grove on the western edge of the city. On May 10, 1861, federal troops — already on edge and spooked by the sound of gunfire — fired into the crowd, killing 28 civilians, including several children, and wounding nearly 100 more. From 1929 to 1959 a monument to the event stood nearby, but it was banished when a descendant of Daniel M. Frost, general of the pro-Confederate Missouri militia, donated funds for Saint Louis University to purchase the midtown Frost Campus. Today, the site houses the Ellen Clark Sculpture Park, which is full of colorful abstractions reflective of Saint Louis University president Lawrence Biondi’s taste in art. Not even a small plaque commemorates the historic event or the two dozen-plus civilians who died here. (RFT Best Hidden Historical Site – 2011)

– Steve Patterson

Readers: Prop R & Central Library the Best of 2012

To end 2012 on a positive note I asked you, the readers, to vote last week on the best of 2012. The passage of Prop R to reduce the size of the Board of Aldermen after the 2020 census and the reopening of the Central Library tied for the top spot. Rounding out the top 5 was the fact that Missouri voters approved the measure to let St. Louis control its own police department (the Civil War must really be over), the new Grand viaduct/bridge opening, and that a modern streetcar line is being studied to run through downtown out to Midtown and beyond.

Here’s the full results:

Q: Best things to happen to STL in 2012 (pick up to 5)

1. Prop R to reduce the Board of Aldermen approved by STL voters 72 {12.88%]
2. St. Louis Central Library reopened 72 [12.88%]
3. Local control of police approved by Missouri voters 44 [7.87%]
4. New Grand viaduct/bridge opened 40 [7.16%]
5. Downtown Partnership studying a modern streetcar line 39 [6.98%]
6. Metropolitan Bldg opened as artist lofts in Midtown/Grand Center 38 [6.8%]
7. Union Station sold to new owners 34 [6.08%]
8. St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) relocated to Midtown/Grand Center 30 [5.37%]
9. City shut down riverfront homeless camps 24 [4.29%]
10. Starbucks at the Saucer opened 22 [3.94%]
11. Washington Ave so popular crowd control becomes necessary 21 [3.76%]
12. AAA to use round former HQ rather than raze it 20 [3.58%]
13. SLU faculty & student groups vote no confidence in Biondi 20 [3.58%]
14. Larry Williams decided not to run for another term as STL treasurer 18 [3.22%]
15. Rams fired Spagnuolo as head coach 14 [2.5%]
16. Bike parking ordinance enacted 13 [2.33%]
17. SLU gets approval to raze Pevely building 7 [1.25%]
18. Anti-eminent domain sign wins in court 7 [1.25%]
19. MSD bond issue passed 7 [1.25%]
20. Cigarette tax-hike proposition failed in Missouri 6 [1.07%]
21. Other: 6 [1.07%]
22. Last part of Highway 141 opened 3 [0.54%]
23. Sam Dotson named new police chief 2 [0.36%]

The opening of the Metropolitan in Midtown almost made the top 5, glad to see so many agree that getting residential in the area is a very positive thing. Hopefully 2013 will bring us many more positives to reflect on a year from now.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: The Best Thing To Happen In St. Louis In 2012?

Another year draws to a close so I’ve compiled a list of things that occurred throughout the year, in no specific order.

1. Local control of police approved by Missouri voters
2. Prop R to reduce the Board of Aldermen approved by STL voters
3. Rams fired Spagnuolo as head coach
4. St. Louis Central Library reopened
5. Bike parking ordinance enacted
6. Larry Williams decided not to run for another term as STL treasurer
7. SLU gets approval to raze Pevely building
8. New Grand viaduct/bridge opened
9. Starbucks at the Saucer opened
10. AAA to use round former HQ rather than raze it
11. Anti-eminent domain sign wins in court
12. St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) relocated to Midtown/Grand Center
13. Washington Ave so popular crowd control becomes necessary
14. Downtown Partnership studying a modern streetcar line
15. MSD bond issue passed
16. City shut down riverfront homeless camps
17. Union Station sold to new owners
18. Last part of Highway 141 opened
19. Metropolitan Bldg opened as artist lofts in Midtown/Grand Center
20. SLU faculty & student groups vote no confidence in Biondi
21. Cigarette tax-hike proposition failed in Missouri
22. Sam Dotson named new police chief

I personally think some are among the worst things, but others may disagree so they are on the list. The poll is in the right sidebar for a week.

– Steve Patterson

Construction Closes Crosswalk At Tucker

I knew the day would come when I couldn’t cross Tucker Blvd. at Washington Ave., it happened Monday.

I’d prefer to use Locust to go from my loft east into the CBD but accessibility issues abound, including the sidewalk being blocked at NLEC (see Readers: Why Didn’t The Homeless Sleep Inside The Shelter Instead Of The Sidewalk?)

— Steve Patterson