A Different View of the City

Earlier in the week I attended a meeting in the former board room of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, now part of the common areas at the Park Pacific Apartments.

The view from the 22nd floor is stunning. It’s nice at times to view St. Louis from a different vantage point than I do day to day.

– Steve Patterson

Cass @ Tucker Won’t Be Good For Pedestrians

Construction isn’t complete where the realigned  Tucker Blvd intersects with Cass Ave and I already see the sidewalks are not going to be great for pedestrians. Tucker is being realigned with the new Mississippi River Bridge that will open in 2014.

Pedestrians walking east & west along Cass Ave get no trees or pedestrian scaled lighting. Nothing to separate them from passing traffic.

The situation along Tucker will be very different, with nice lighting and future street trees. Why so different? The lighting and street trees along Tucker are there for motorists to see and get warm feelings, the benefit to the pedestrian is a secondary concern.

On Cass they don’t care if motorists feel good about the area. The only motorists that count are those coming off the new bridge. It’s a shame too because it wouldn’t have taken much effort to make Cass equally attractive for motorists  & pedestrians.

– Steve Patterson

Last Downtown St. Louis Auto Dealership Closed in 1995

Two days ago I posted about the false story that an urban Fiat dealership was going to open in an existing downtown building. That prompted me to finally get around to doing a post on the last auto dealership in downtown St. Louis.

The FBI’s St. Louis office now occupies the 6.7 acre site of the former Boulevard Mercedes-Benz at 2222 Market St. The Mercedes-Benz dealership is visible in a 1971 image on HistoricAerials.com, but I’m unsure when it originally opened, my guess would be late 1960s. The dealership closed in 1995 with the franchise license moving to suburban Ellisville MO and becoming Tri-Star Mercedes-Benz.

On December 1, 1997 an application to raze the former dealership was made and the demolition was completed the following month per city records at Geo St. Louis. The old dealership was suburban and the FBI is not much of an improvement.

– Steve Patterson

Readers Think Rams Will Exit Dome Lease

Most of those that participated in the poll last week think the St. Louis Rams NFL team will exit their lease, going to an annual renewal after the 2014 season:

Q: The EJ Dome won’t be in the top 25% as required by the lease, will the St. Louis Rams take their out?

1. Yes, they are outta here 49 [40.16%]
2. Yes, even if just as a bargaining chip to get a new stadium in St. Louis 38 [31.15%]
3. No, they will sign and play in the EJ Dome through 2024 22 [18.03%]
4. Unsure/No Opinion 8 [6.56%]
5. Other: 5 [4.1%]

Eighteen percent think the Rams will finish the lease of the dome through 2014. Can I interest any of you in buying the Eads Bridge? The five other answers were:

1. Let’s hope so! No need for football in this town.
2. Who cares
3. los angeles
4. At the end of the day, does it even matter? If they leave, I’ll be fine.
5. I hope so

In response to #2 above — taxpayers should care! City, county & Missouri tax funds helped fund the dome originally and if we aren’t watching the same thing will happen again. On a related note:

On Wednesday [1/4/12], the governor appointed [Jim] Shrewsbury, a fellow Democrat, to the board that oversees the operation of the Edward Jones Dome. (STLtoday.com)

Shrewsbury was President of the Board of Aldermen.

In other Rams news from last week:

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke has made the franchise’s first resolutions of 2012 by firing head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney after a disappointing 2-14 season that finally came to a conclusion on New Years Day. Monday morning, the Rams made an official release that Spagnuolo and Devaney will not be back with the Rams next season. (KMOX)

I don’t care if the Rams stay or go, but if they go I don’t want to experience what I did when I moved here in 1990 — the attitude that we need an NFL team to be a complete city. We’ve got the Cardinals & Blues — we have enough major sports teams.

– Steve Patterson

If It Sounds Too Good To Be True…

Twitter & Facebook were buzzing last Friday over a couple of blog posts that an urban Fiat dealership was to open in downtown St. Louis at 1015 Locust — less than six blocks from my loft. Just before I hit share my internal skeptic kicked and said: “Really?”

“Count On Downtown has confirmed with the broker of the 1015 Locust building that Fiat is planning a dealership, a Fiat Studio in Fiat lingo, on this corner of 11th & Locust. Note: Nothing is final yet. If everything works out, including permits from the city, Fiat Studio is expected to open in March 2012.” (Count on Downtown: Fiat Coming to Downtown St. Louis)

“Fiat will soon announce a move into 1015 Locust Street in downtown St. Louis. As the car dealer as reentered the American market in partnership with Chrysler, Fiat is looking to place Fiat dealerships in about 165 locations, concentrating on urban areas that have a high number of registered small cars. 1015 carries a modernist skin on a 1921 building and while the original was surely beautiful, Fiat seems to think its modern look is a good fit for the brand.” (nextSTL: Fiat “Studio” to Open in Downtown St. Louis)

As you can see the post was very popular on both Facebook & Twitter.

The street level retail space at 1015 Locust was created a few years ago by sectioning off part of the lobby. It’s a tiny retail storefront. Urban dealerships still need offices, parts departments, service bays and inventory storage. In places like Manhattan these are done vertically because the cost of land makes it cost prohibitive to do a typical suburban dealership. The idea of an auto dealership in 1015 Locust is laughable. But it got traction because  we want to believe such positive stories.

The real story is the potential creative use to fill a vacant storefront space:

Bryan Hughes, sales manager for Fiat of Creve Coeur, said today the dealership is considering use of the corner street-level space at 1015 Locust Street downtown. Hughes said the spot would not be a dealership but would serve as a Fiat “display case” like those dealers sometimes set up inside shopping malls. (STLtoday.com)

Now that’s a good story! But, it’s kind of a let down compared to a full dealership. It’s the story these blogs should have run rather than suggest we are getting an urban dealership like in Manhattan.

My love affair with the Fiat 500 began after I realized the shortcomings of the smart fortwo.

I attended the 2011 St. Louis Auto Show a year ago so I could see one in person but none were there. Finally in June I drove out to the Fiat of Creve Coeur on Lindbergh to see them up close. Ignoring the fact I drive 3,000 miles locally per year and have no money for a different vehicle, the Fiat 500 is perfect for me.  I’ve even picked out the color I’d like: Grigio (gray). I need to buy a lottery ticket every so often because that’s the only way I’ll be able to have one.  Sales so far haven’t been that hot so buying a used one wouldn’t be easy.

J-Lo may have shamelessly plugged the 500 on awards show, but all the glitz and glamour couldn’t obscure the painful truth. Fiat sales of just under 20,000 in 2011 were not even half the annual goal of 50,000. It’ll improve in 2012, but Fiat has a long ways to go in re-establishing itself in the U.S. (CNBC)

Thursday I will post about the last auto dealership that existed in downtown St. Louis.

– Steve Patterson