Nineteen year ago I started this blog as a distraction from my father’s heart attack and slow recovery. It was late 2004 and social media & video streaming apps didn’t exist yet — or at least not widely available to the general public. Blogs were the newest means of …
The new NGA West campus , Jefferson & Cass, has been under construction for a few years now. Next NGA West is a large-scale construction project that will build a new facility for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in St. Louis, Missouri.This $1.7B project is managed by the U.S. Army …
Book publisher Island Press always impresses me with thoughtful new books written by people working to solve current problems — the subjects are important ones for urbanists and policy makers to be familiar and actively discussing. These four books are presented in the order I received them. ‘Justice and …
This post is about two indirectly related topics: the new Siteman Cancer Center building under construction on the Washington University School of Medicine/BJC campus and an update on my stage 4 kidney cancer. Let’s deal with the latter first. You may have noticed I’ve not posted in three months, …
Downtown has an excess of parking spaces: in garages, surface lots, and on the street, parking downtown is no problem at all. Yet some building owners seem to think each building needs it’s own dedicated parking. This is what’s done in suburbia, each building placed in the center of the property.
ABOVE: The owner of the building on the right wants to raze the building on the left (circled) for surface parking. This area is already surrounded by surface parking!
ABOVE: Yes, the intersection of 11th & Olive needs more surface parking.
ABOVE: Parking rates are already very low, keep removing buildings for more parking and the rates will go lower as we pass a tipping point where parking overtakes interesting places to visit.
On Monday the Preservation Board will consider a request by the owner to raze the building at 1105-09 Olive Street for parking. The 4pm meeting is held at 1520 Market St #2000. I emailed my objections to the Director of Cultural Resources Betsy Bruce, 7th Ward Alderwoman Phyllis Young, and Partnership for Downtown St. Louis President Maggie Campbell days ago.
We need an immediate moratorium on surface parking to protect downtown’s future. Nobody ever planned a convention or family vacation based on the amount of cheap surface parking. That’s also not a factor in deciding to live downtown. Companies that’ve relocated from the suburbs to downtown have done so because of the vibe, the places to walk to.
— Steve Patterson
UPDATE: 11/27/2012 8:30am: I saw postings on social media last night that the Preservation Board denied the preliminary request for demolition. We still need to pressure leaders to get a moratorium.
It’s Thanksgiving so I thought I’d share some personal thoughts. I’m thankful to have been living downtown in my loft for five years now, the 2nd longest of anyplace I’ve lived in St. Louis. The longest was a decade in the two-family I bought in 1994 in Dutchtown.
ABOVE: Interior view of my downtown loft, my first minimalist living space.
I don’t see myself ever moving again, what I have is too perfect for me: zero steps, few interior doors, easy access to transit, etc.
Today I’m hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my friends I spend the holiday with every year, hopefully you’re spending time with family/friends.
In the poll last week readers picked price as their top factor in deciding there to shop this holiday season. Early in the week convenience was the top answer but it ended up just one vote behind price.
ABOVE: Brothers Randy (L) and Jeff Vines (R) of STL-Style on Cherokee at Compton.
Q: Factors influencing where you’ll shop this holiday season (pick up to 3)
Price 41 [21.24%]
Convenience 40 [20.73%]
Selection 27 [13.99%]
Sales/Specials 24 [12.44%]
Shipping 14 [7.25%]
Customer service 12 [6.22%]
Ownership 9 [4.66%]
Politics of retailer 8 [4.15%]
Other: 8 [4.15%]
Employment policies 6 [3.11%]
Unsure, N/A, no answer 3 [1.55%]
Layaway plan 1 [0.52%]
Financing terms 0 [0%]
Interesting results, a decade ago I doubt shipping would’ve gotten any votes.
A week ago today the Urban Land Institute (ULI) presentation by their Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) regarding transit-oriented development (TOD) at the Grand MetroLink light rail station. The real estate experts from the ULI were asked by Citizens for Modern Transit (CMT) to consider short and long-term solutions.
ABOVE: Gwen Knight led the CMT/ULI Grand MetroLink presentation on November 13, 2012. Click image for info on the presentation, including a link to the slides.
The long-term section included three bold ideas that would evoke an “audible gasp”. First, look again at the Chouteau Greenway concept linking downtown to Forest Park. Second was a high speed rail station at Grand since plenty of room exists.
ABOVE: Concept from ULI presentation shows development along the bridge/viaduct as well as the Chouteau Greenway
The final bold idea generated was to move from focusing on the station which sits below grade to building above the station – a platform development at street level. Some of the merits of this type of develoopment included:
Place parking on first 2-3 stories, easily fitting below bridge
Place commercial, retail and/or residential on top of parking, level with the bridge platform
Embraces light rail and bus connectivity
Builds connection between SLU campuses
Enhances travel along Grand and encourages pedestrian use
In addition to building structured parking the area could have office and condo uses to compliment the street-level retail. The office space could include high-tech bio-med facilities as part of the CORTEX plan.
This bridge turned retail street could serve as a needed campus hangout area for both SLU campuses. It could include a coffee house (or two) as well as a copy center like a Kinko’s.
With plenty of structured parking, on-street parking, bus routes and MetroLink this could be a happening spot! With land on each side of the tracks and highway we’d be building not bridges but buildings that happen to have a floor that aligns with the bridge sidewalks.
Before all the naysayers try to explain why we cannot be urban let me try to address a few points. The area has already been blighted and is going to be redeveloped. Building new buildings up to the existing bridge is feasible, perhaps more so than the plan to add width and medians to the current structure. Also, we can be urban and what better place to create an urban street than at a location with a MetroLink light rail stop and between two major university campuses.
ABOVE: Underused land is adjacent to the viaduct, the tracks are contained to a small area.
ABOVE: The ULI panel specifically mentioned relocating this gas company to another location so this land could be developed.
ABOVE: Looking south from a lookout point
ABOVE: At the south end the grade difference disappears.
ABOVE: One possible problem is the curb on both sides would prevent accessible entrances unless it could be cut away as needed.
If only the viaduct/bridge had been designed to facilitate development at the edges, simply by removing sections of railing. Still, as ULI’s experts how shown, it is still a viable bold idea worth considering.
In 2016 the nearly identical parking garages known as “Stadium East” and “Stadium West” will turn 50 years old. Despite the milestone, I don’t expect preservationists to give tours, or oppose the alterations I propose below.
ABOVE: The 8th Street face of the Stadium West garage. The pedestrian ramp to the street crossing isn’t ADA-compliant, Stadium East doesn’t have a similar ramp.
ABOVE: The first thing is repaint the structure to something other than white, or red. White is so bright, it demands attention. Bright colors advance, dark colors recede.
ABOVE: Remove inaccessible walkway, freeing up space for small storefront spaces to be used during games or other special events.
ABOVE: A sidewalk vendor during one of the last Cardinals home games is the type of vender that could occupy a tiny storefront space.
ABOVE: Filling in the center recess with glass-friont retail will help lesson the visual impact of the massive garages facing the future “Ballpark Village”.
ABOVE: The garages will never disappear but they can’t be toned down considerably.
I’ve written before that I’d like to see these garages razed but they’re in good condition and fill a need. They just need to fade into the background, a color change will accomplish that.
AARP Livibility Index
The Livability Index scores neighborhoods and communities across the U.S. for the services and amenities that impact your life the most
Built St. Louis
historic architecture of St. Louis, Missouri – mourning the losses, celebrating the survivors.
Geo St. Louis
a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis
