Football stadium poll #2

The post/poll two weeks ago asked where you thought the next facility for the St. Louis Rams NFL franchise should be located.  After the poll was finished it was clear to me I needed some different answers to better gauge reader sentiment.  So in a first here, I am repeating a previous poll topic with a revised question and answers.

For the purposes of this poll assume the St. Louis Rams pay 100% of the costs to build a new facility.  Most likely they will be bound to the Edward Jones Dome through 2025

– Steve Patterson

Remember the All-Star Game?

July 2009 was a great month to be in St. Louis.  Among the many events was baseball’s annual All-Star game.  I wasn’t able to attend the game but I enjoyed festivities the day before.

Despite the good times had by all I was disturbed to see one of the promotional Arches hanging out on the corner of Washington & Tucker earlier this month — nine months later.

“The project is dubbed “Arches on Parade,” and it’s a nod to baseball’s All-Star game in St. Louis on July 14. The arches will be sold later to benefit the Sports Commission’s Charitable Sports Foundation.” (Arches on Parade Around St. Louis)

I went to the St. Louis Sports Commission website to find out more information but I found nothing.  As we have a tendency to relate everything back to the 1904 World’s Fair I’m concerned this Arch may overstay it’s welcome.

– Steve Patterson

I would live at 4005 Delmar

The vacant building at 4005 Delmar is an imposing structure, dwarfing neighboring buildings.

But the design is nearly perfect.  The aesthetics are certainly appealing but I’m talking about how it relates to the sidewalk.  Built in 1928, the building has 100 one-bedroom apartments, three larger apartments plus the storefronts.  It occupies a lot that is just 150ft wide by 145 ft deep.

I see a modern streetcar coming West along Olive out of downtown.  Just past Compton the streetcar would veer right to stay on Olive. For decades the streetcar did just this. At Vandeventer I would make a right turn to the North and then a left to head West on Delmar. The streetcar would pass directly in front of this building on the way to the Loop area further West on Delmar.

The modern streetcar would make the renovation of this building a feasible proposition.  I can’t think of anything else that could happen that would put this building back into use.  The vacant land in both directions along my proposed route would get redeveloped with new construction.

For years I’ve pictured myself living in this building and taking a streetcar East to Midtown and Downtown or West to the CWE or Loop.  The location is ideal.  This building is the ideal height for much of the city.  Our main corridors could be lined with similar 5-story buildings.  Many get all excited about high-rise towers making a statement on the skyline. Not me, this is far more exciting than any tower.

– Steve Patterson

Lingering snow creates accessibility issues

Snow presents problems for most everyone but those of us who are disabled the challenges can linger long after the roads are cleared.   When using my wheelchair I typically use the sidewalk shown above to get to Washington Ave.  While the snow was long gone the pile from the adjacent parking lot remained in my way.

A few days later it had shrunk in size but I still went another way that is less safe.

I still couldn’t go around, I had to go through. The snow was soft enough finally for me to do so.

I use this side of the street because of issues on the other side.  The first issue is no ramp at the end of the sidewalk.  When this side is blocked I use the other side — riding in the street until I reach the access to that garage:

People plowing snow need to understand that sidewalks are not an acceptable place to store snow cleared from parking lots.

– Steve Patterson

Readers want to keep the Rams playing downtown

The poll last week asked about where to put a new football stadium and most readers feel a new facility should be downtown:

Q: A future facility for the STL Rams (NFL) should be located in:

1. downtown St. Louis: 72 [32.3%]
2. City of St. Louis (outside of downtown): 39 [17.5%]
3. As long as it is open air or has a retractable roof I don’t care: 29 [13%]
4. Metro East (Illinois): 27 [12.1%]
5. St. Louis County: 19 [8.5%]
6. Other answer… 17 [7.6%]
7. Unsure/don’t care: 10 [4.5%]
8. anywhere in the region is OK: 6 [2.7%]
9. Jefferson County: 3 [1.3%]
10. St. Charles County: 1 [0.4%]

From the comments on the original post I realize I should have had different choices.  “Metro East” is too vast.  One answer should have been the East side of the river with elsewhere on the East side another.  Also I should have defined “downtown” and provided a downtown-adjacent answer.   The other answers were numerous and I’ve divided them into two groups:

The first group is a mix of answers:

• Somewhere in the City, open air / retractable roof
• north city
• Franklin County
• Los Angeles
• Mars
• privately funded…like the patriots

The question was about where, not how funded.  The second group all had a common theme:

• keep refurbishing the current facility
• They should use the same facility they have now. It’s the “green” thing to do.
• Don’t move.
• exactly where it already is

So we have the keep it in place view.  I believe somehow we will get past the 2015 deadline. Either the team waives the requirement to stay in the top 25% or the CVC finds the money to upgrade the facility.  But come 2025 the lease expires.  At this point the facility will be over 30 years old.  Some say rip off the roof of the current dome.  I asked some local architects about the feasibility of reworking the dome in such a way to give it another 20-30 years of life.  The responses were mixed from it can be done to it wouldn’t work.

Razing the then 30 year old dome and building new is the only viable option on the current site, in my view.  When the new Busch Stadium was built they were able to build much of the new facility next door while the team continued to use the old stadium.

But there is no next door spot available.  The window between games is nine months — not enough to raze and build a new facility on the site.  One option might be for the Rams to play home games for one season at another facility such as the University of Missouri in Columbia.  What about other locations downtown?

A facility easily consumes four city blocks.  Additional acres are needed for parking and other game day activities.  Such a facility just doesn’t fit into a Central Business District based on the enormous size.  Doesn’t matter, no site big enough is currently available.  Will a site be available by 2025?  I hope not!  I would not wish for such a hole to open up.

The site closest to downtown I can think of is the old Nooter site at 2nd & Rutger.  Development of this site may happen over the next 10 years so even it may not be available in the future. The long vacant Pruitt-Igoe site will be developed if Paul McKee’s NorthSide project works.  The potential sites are few. Rebuilding on the current site requires the team to play elsewhere for a season.  Even if the team funds a new facility without taxpayer assistance the options in the core are very limited.

– Steve Patterson