Steffen’s Plate Too Full?

In April the St. Louis Business Journal ran a cover story on John Steffen’s Pyramid Companies titled, $609 million in projects on John Steffen’s plate:

City of St. Louis officials say Steffen’s done everything he’s promised downtown. The city unquestionably has the most at stake with Steffen’s plans. The mostly vacant St. Louis Centre is a dark spot in the midst of downtown’s booming development activity. But Deputy Mayor of Development Barb Geisman said the city is confident about Pyramid’s ability to redevelop the mall for retail and residential use. The city set aside $8 million in federal New Markets Tax Credits for the redevelopment of St. Louis Centre. Steffen has also requested $34.3 million in tax increment financing from the city of St. Louis for St. Louis Centre and $8.75 million for the redevelopment of the Jefferson Arms building at 415 N. Tucker.

But it seems the TIF financing for St. Louis Centre (to be renamed 600 Washington) and the Jefferson Arms may have run into a bit of a delay. I received, anonymously through the mail, copies of letters sent from Ivy Neyland-Pinkston, the City’s Deputy Comptroller for Finance & Development, to John Steffen indicating a “reminder” of payments due for “administrative expenses” on both projects. The amounts, per the letters, were “due 10 days prior to the Public Hearing which was held on May 10, 2006.” The 600 Washington project has an initial installment of $51,450 while the Jefferson Arms installment is $13,125.

Both letters are dated June 20, 2006 and indicate the second installments are due for the same amounts on each project prior to the signing of the TIF Redevelopment Agreements. So on the surface this may mean very little, just a slight delay until the full financing package is pulled together. It may also mean the closing on both will be delayed.

Today I spoke with Ivy Pinkston of the Comptroller’s office who declined to speak to the “press”, directing me to instead to press liaison John Farrell. Farrell confirmed the Comptrollers office did send out the letters on June 20th but, due to the holiday, was unable to confirm if the balance has been brought current. He further indicated these letters are fairly routine.

This does raise a few questions: Is it normal to approve TIF financing for a project when the fees are not paid in advance as required? Also, does the city hold their ground and not sign the agreements until the fees are paid or are they lax on that as well. Try getting a building permit without first paying the fee.

At the very least we know part of the reason why construction has not yet begun on St. Louis Centre. But the bigger issue might be whether or not Pyramid is overextended. The city does have a lot riding on Steffen’s projects.

[UPDATE 7/1/06 @ 4:15pm – I received a call at the end of the business day yesterday from John Farrell of the Comptroller’s office to answer another of my questions — the city does collect the fees before signing the final agreements. That is good to know!]

– Steve

Suburban Streets Show Limitations In Emergency

This morning I had to be at Olive & Fee Fee, not my favorite place in the region. While I normally dread the drive this morning was a bit worse. Firefighters were putting out a fire in one of the very old (possibly historic) buildings along Olive, just west of Tempo Drive (map).

As a result, all westbound traffic on Olive had to be diverted through a subdivision and out onto Ross Ave where we could return to Olive. The curvy street we took is Tempo Drive crossing Olive yet along the way it changed to Impact Drive. The distance actually wasn’t so bad but it was slow going, it was still early and it was the opposite direction of most commuters.

But what if the fire had been just east of Tempo, rather than west? Tempo is the first street west of I-270 that will get you through to somewhere else. Unlike the urban street grid, where if a road is blocked you just go over a block, these suburban roads have limited choices. Would they have simply closed the road forcing drivers to get back on the highway and go up to Page or down to Ladue Road? Or diverted westbound traffic onto a lane of the eastbound side?

One thing I do know, I can’t imagine living in such an environment.

– Steve

Auto Choices Getting “smarter” in 2008

It’s official! DaimlerChrysler’s adorable city car, the smart fortwo, will be officially imported at the beginning of 2008! The cars will be sold through new dealerships under agreement with UnitedAuto Group, headed by the legendary Roger Penske. The smart is currently available in the U.S. through a couple of methods. One is a gray-market car that is technically a used car from another country that has been modified so that it is allowed to be sold here. The second is similar though a bit more formal, the models being sold through dealerships with ZAP (disclosure: I’m a very minor shareholder in ZAP). Last month I spotted one of the gray-market smarts at Bevo Mill, see post.

The problem with the two current choices is you pay nearly $30,000 for a car that is intended to sell for $15,000. The officially imported model will not be the current design which dates back about 10 years. Instead the U.S. will get a new design along with the rest of the world. We will not, however, be getting the more efficient diesel engines. Hopefully by the time of introduction diesels will be more acceptable here. The new low-sulpher diesel being phased in this year may also speed this along. It is reported the cars are expected to sell in the $15K range when introduced, a reasonable price for a 2-seater capable of 50-60mpg.

smart’s dealerships are quite interesting and compact. We’ll see if the importation group will require stand-alone dealership in order to get a franchise. If so, I’d really love to see one of these urban-friendly dealerships in St. Louis. This would actually be a good fit on the edges of downtown.

Thanks to GreenCarCongress for the info on the announcement. For more information and to see a cool video of the current smart in the U.S. see smartusa.com

Toyota is expected to have it’s third generation Prius on the market around the same time.

– Steve

Olive Open At Walton, Eastbound Only

Tonight I was able to drive eastbound on Olive from Euclid. Barrels blocking the street at Walton for years, have finally been moved. But only in the eastbound direction.

As I mentioned in a post last month, the eastbound side of Olive is in the 28th Ward while the westbound lane, still blocked, is in the 18th Ward. At this point I don’t know where this all stands — will it stay this way for a while? Will Olive get opened in both directions but other streets be blocked? Time, and a few phone calls, will tell.

I’m guessing the timing was not an accident either. Mayor Slay will be presenting a “Sprit of St. Louis” award to Bowood Farms (prior post, official website) at 1pm tomorrow (Wednesday, June 28, 2006).

I do think our city officials may finally be waking up to the fact a closed street grid means closed opportunities. You open up the grid, like it once was, and you can encourage more commerce and development.

– Steve

MoDOT Seeks to Permanently Close Thurman Ave.

I’ve been ranting about how highways have dissected our city’s street gird and really disrupted life for decades. But I thought it was over, after all, the highways have been built through the city for decades now. I was wrong, enter MoDOT.

I learned at last night’s Preservation Board that MoDOT wants to remove the I-44 bridge over Thurman Avenue connecting Shaw on the south to what was McRee Town (now Botanical Heights) on the north (map). The road under the highway has been closed to vehicular traffic for probably a good 20 years but pedestrians and cyclists could still pass under the highway.

Thurman Ave. was closed presumably to cut down on crime with both sides of the highway having their fare share of issues over the years. But we’ve leveled the bulk of the area to the north for new construction and on the south new homes will soon be going up on vacant lots.

We should be discussing reopening Thurman Ave., not closing it. But, MoDOT doesn’t like the expense of maintaining the bridge. Their solution? Remove the bridge and completely in-fill the gap. If successful, that leaves Tower Grove & 39th as the two means of crossing the highway in this area while avoiding major roads. The distance between 39th and Tower Grove Ave is just over a half mile — too great a distance to expect to walk around.

Thurman Ave needs to stay open. The city should remove the barricades and reopen the street to vehicular traffic immediately. Send MoDOT a message — you can’t keep messing up our city by cutting off our access!

– Steve