Happy First Birthday Downtown Bicycle Station

One year ago today the Downtown Bicycle Station opened on Locust between 10th and 11th.

ABOVE: A large crowd of supporters gathered for the ribbon cutting on Thursday April 28, 2011

The Downtown Bicycle Station describes itself as:

The Downtown Bicycle Station is located at 1011 Locust Street between 10th and 11th streets, in Downtown St. Louis. Housed in a LEED certified building, it will feature storage options for more than 120 bikes, as well as provide cyclists with the opportunity to use showers, lockers and other bike commuter amenities. The Downtown Bicycle Station will occupy approximately 1400 square feet. The Downtown Bicycle Station has been designed to encourage the use of alternate modes of transportation by reducing some of the traditional impediments to bike commuting. Downtown St. Louis will now offer a full service bike facility easily accessible to the City’s central business district and Metrolink stations.

The Downtown Bicycle Station is an initiative of the City of St. Louis, Missouri, done in collaboration with key partners and supporters. The project is funded in part by funds allocated by the US Department of Energy through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. With these funds, the Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District (CID) has the initial contract to manage the Downtown Bicycle Station; the CID has contracted with Trailnet for marketing and membership and Urban Shark for facilities and operations services. The project would not have been possible without several additional generous contributions.

Earlier in the week I requested information on usage but I received no reply. I have no idea how well it’s doing.

- Steve Patterson

Fiat Showroom, Not Dealership, Open Downtown

You can’t purchase or test drive a new Fiat 500 at the new Fiat St. Louis Downtown Showroom. You can check out five different cars on display in the space on the corner of 11th & Locust St. I love that the Lou Fusz folks realized they needed a presence downtown and made it happen.

ABOVE: Exterior of the Fiat St. Louis Downtown Showroom at 1015 Locust, click for map

I wrote about this in January after two blogs incorrectly reported a Fiat dealership was opening downtown (If It Sounds Too Good Top Be True…). One of the bloggers, friend Frank DeGraaf, commented on my post:

I spoke with the broker and a representative of CB Richard Ellis. They both confirmed that a Fiat “dealership” would go into this space. I never implied that it would be a full-service (maintenance) dealership, because even I understand that the space would not be suited for that, let alone the environmental issues that would have to be negated . However, the space will be used to display and sell Fiat 500′s (I call that a “dealership”, I don’t know what else to call it), a significant and positive development for downtown St. Louis.

Is this a half-servivce dealership? One third service dealership?  No, the word is “showroom”, not dealership, since they are displaying new Fiats but there’re not selling new Fiats.  If you are interested in a test drive and purchasing you need to visit their two actual dealerships in Creve Coeur, MO (link) or Fairview Heights, IL (link).

ABOVE: Two of the five 500s on display in the showroom

As a huge fan of the adorable Fiat 500 I’ll be passing through frequently as a reminder to buy a lottery ticket each month.

I welcome Lou Fusz downtown. If you are curious about these cars stop by on your lunch break. The showroom is open 10-5 Monday-Friday. Special vents are being planned to get downtown workers and residents to stop into the space.

- Steve Patterson

913 Locust As Narrow As It Looks

Squeezed in between two taller buildings is the structure at 913 Locust St. The building is only 23 feet 9 inches wide, the full width of the lot.

ABOVE: The little building at 913 Locust was built in 1900

According to city records (Geo St. Louis) it was built in 1900 — after the building on the right but 13 years before the building on the left. Like many buildings downtown it got a new appearance during the 20th century. Anyone out there know more about this building?

- Steve Patterson

Poll: Are Posted Handbills Urban Art Or Another Form of Graffiti?

Posted handbills, those posters often tacked up in urban cores, were the subject of a debate on a friend’s picture on Facebook. The photo was of handbills for the St. Louis Symphony’s new campaign called Save Powell Hall.

ABOVE: Handbills posted on the Pine side of the Arcade-Wright building

The debate went something like this:

• Friend A: Destruction of property, resulting in blight.
• Friend B: Not destructive but more colorful.
• Friend A: It’s illegal and will cost money to remove.
• Friend B: I like it, makes it look like something is happening
• Friend A: It’s ok to deface someone else’s property for your own interests?
• Friend C: Handbills are different than graffiti, removed by weather
• Friend B: Better than blank plywood
• Friend A: Project a negative image
• Friend D: Plywood isn’t a positive image

The debate continued but you get the point.

ABOVE: Handbills were posted on the Pine St side only (left), the 10th St side wasn't touched

Gangs did “tag” numerous buildings downtown recently with graffiti.

ABOVE: One example of graffiti from late last February

Are handbills and spray paint equal? The poll is in the upper right sidebar, mobile  users need to switch to the desktop layout to vote.

- Steve Patterson

St. Louis to Study Removal of Elevated Highway

Some potentially good news reported in the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday:

“…now the city is poised to fund a study of how knocking down the elevated section of 70 might work. Last week, the St. Louis Development Corp. issued a request for proposals for a $90,000 “downtown multi-modal access study.” It focuses on ways to improve connections between downtown and the riverfront.” (STLtoday.com) 

This is encouraging to see the city taking this step to study the issue. While I want to see easier connections to the Arch grounds at multiple points it’s the elevated highway between Laclede’s Landing and the Edward Jones Dome and the area billed as The Bottle District that’s a bigger block to development and connectedness.

ABOVE: Elevated highway in plain view of driving into St. Louis on the Eads Bridge

Way back in August 2005, in a post about the then-proposed Mississippi River Bridge, I ended with a somewhat radical idea — replace the highway through downtown with a boulevard:

So imagine the existing I-70 removed from the PSB to the new bridge (North of Laclede’s Landing & the proposed Bottle District). In its place a wide and grand boulevard lined with trees and shops. The adjacent street grid is reconnected at every block. Pedestrians can easily cross the boulevard not only at the Arch but anywhere along the distance between the bridges. Eads Bridge and the King Bridge both land cars onto the boulevard and into then dispersed into the street grid. The money it would take to cover I-70 for 3 blocks in front of the Arch can go much further not trying to cover an interstate highway. Joining the riverfront and Laclede’s Landing to the rest of downtown will naturally draw people down Washington Avenue to the riverfront. In one bold decision we can take back our connection to the river that shaped our city. The decision must be made now. The interchange for the new bridge is being designed now — we’ve only got one chance to get it right. Similarly, the lid project in front of the Arch could shift to a removed I-70 and connecting boulevard design before we are too far along the current path. (view full post)

Of course the bridge is under construction and the lid is proposed to cover part of the highway west of the Arch. Still there is a way to remove the elevated highway and have a boulevard go under the lid once finished. How many people want to walk directly from Busch Stadium to the south end of the Arch grounds? Just a fraction of the number that currently navigate under I-70 going from our convention center to Laclede’s Landing.

ABOVE: Looking east under I-70

ABOVE: Hardly quality urban space, not what visitors should experience when visiting St. Louis

I’ve spent quite a bit of my time around the elevated highway and it’s miserable space. A high volume roadway/boulevard can move the traffic but also be much more hospitable to pedestrians. For more information on the subject see the grassroots group City to River.

- Steve Patterson

The Future of 18th & Washington Ave

Last week I went to the MetroBus stop on the NE corner of 18th & Washington Ave to catch the #97 Delmar bus westbound. The normally full parking lot behind the bus shelter was empty except for a for lease/sale sign.

ABOVE: Lot is listed by L3 Corporation but it's not listed on their website (click to view)

The lot is owned by a couple in Glencoe Missouri but had been leased by Consumers Program Inc, aka CPI, located across the street.

ABOVE: CPI is located at 1706 Washington Ave in a structure built in 1912

Presumably CPI didn’t renew the lease to save money, having employees use one of the three parking lots they own. One is city block #831 bounded by Washington, 16th, St. Charles St and 17th — this is the block directly east of their building. This block once was occupied fully by a building that was part of Brown Shoe.

ABOVE: Entire block of surface parking east of CPI's building shown in the background

CPI’s other two lots occupy two more corners at 18th & Washington — the SE & NW.

ABOVE: The SE corner held the 10-story Marquette Hotel until it was razed in 1988

ABOVE: CPI's largest lot occupies city block 2002 bounded by Washington, 19th, Lucas and 18th

Three of the four corners are surface parking, the fourth corner (SW) is occupied by Mulligan Printing.

ABOVE: SW corner of 18th & Washington is the only one left with a building, occupied by Mulligan Printing

Mulligan Printing’s 5-story building was built in 1928. The closed up windows at the street level are unfortunate but at least the building massing is good — far better than a surface parking lot.

What is the future of this intersection? Will it always be mostly surface parking lots? The planner in me would like to see form based codes to replace our old use-based codes. Instead of detailed regulations depending upon the original intended use of any new construction, a form-based code would require a minimum height, the building pushed out to the property line, windows and doors at sidewalk level, etc. The architectural style, just like the use inside, of any new construction is of little concern me.

In the future I’d like to see the current situation reversed with buildings on three corners and only one corner with surface parking. It might take 40 years to happen but it’ll never happen under our current zoning.

- Steve Patterson

Reactivating 7th Street

The short stretch of 7th Street from Washington Ave north to Convention Plaza (formerly Delmar) has been a dead zone for years. That’s changing thanks to the old Dillard’s building being occupied by a hotel, apartments and soon several street-level uses facing Washington Ave.

ABOVE: Looking north on 7th Street from Washington Ave,side of America's Center convention center (left), Edward Jones Dome (center, background), former Dillard's Dept Store (right)

Both the Embassy Suites Hotel and Laurel Apartments face 7th Street, creating daily activity not seen in decades. The hotel’s 212 guest suites and the 205 apartments can potentially put a lot of feet on the sidewalks in the area, but only if their are places to walk to.

ABOVE: Looking south on 7th Street toward Washington Ave

Parking isn’t allowed on 7th which then looks too wide and empty. However, people are parking on the street at times and the hotel valet is using part of the space. But once you remove the parked cars the excessively wide street looks abandoned.

ABOVE: Without parked cars the street is clearly too wide

In terms of active facades the east side of the street is good with the hotel and apartment entrances & visible lobbies.  The west side of 7th is totally dead though.

ABOVE: Steps to nowhere, the entrance to the MetroRide store faces Washington Ave, not 7th

ABOVE: View of 7th Street from inside the MetroRide store (click image for website)

ABOVE: Marketing windows, but no active doorways, exist along the east side of 7th Street to create activity and the perception of safety.

ABOVE: View of side of convention center from across 7th Street

The architects did a good job breaking up this facade and trying to make it look hospitable but it’s nothing more than a gussied up blank wall, lipstick on a pig.

Are we just stuck with one side of 7th Street remaining dead forever? I don’t think so.

ABOVE: The space along 7th is back space and employee hallway

We need the Convention & Visitors Commission to look at activating the 7th Street facade of America’s Center. From a retail perspective the MetroRide store is a total dud occupying what should be a very active corner between the convention center and a MetroLink station.

- Steve Patterson

Downtown’s First Electric Vehicle Charging Station

Last month the first electric vehicle charging station opened in downtown St. Louis:

Microgrid Energy, based in Clayton, Missouri, unveiled its second charging station at its second hotel in less than a year, Thursday morning. Microgrid Energy spent a rainy Thursday morning celebrating the installation of the second station where customers can pay to charge their electric volt (or EV) cars.

The first was at the Moonrise on Delmar less than a year ago. (KPLR)

Earlier in the week I stopped by and saw it was being used.

ABOVE: Two Chevy Volts being charged on Lucas Ave just east of 7th

From the company’s website:

Microgrid is helping lead the transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs). An extensive shift in infrastructure from gas stations to EV Charging Stations is required to fulfill the potential that EVs hold. This transition will go hand in hand with the transition to locally generated energy from renewable sources. EVs result in lower carbon emissions, but when coupled with onsite solar power, the carbon footprint can go to zero. (Source: Microgrid)

As a city and country we are a long way from mass consumer adoption of electric vehicles, but early adopters will pave the way:

The climate will get kinder for electric cars.

 A prolonged spike in oil prices may send consumers scrambling toward electric. Wider adoption rates should result in lower battery and car prices down the line.

 We’re just not there yet. (Daily Finance: 3 Reasons Why You’re Not Buying an Electric Car)

This charging station is next to the former downtownDillard’s, now home to the Laurel Apartments (an advertiser here) and Embassy Suites Hotel.

- Steve Patterson

The Bottle Undistrict

The soft drink 7-Up was once marketed as the uncola. For years now people have been trying to market the vacant land and a vacant warehouse north of the Edwards Jones Dome as The Bottle District. The first post where I mentioned The Bottle District was in August 2005 (Thoughts on St. Louis’ Proposed Riverfront Makeover, Lid Over I-70 and Mississippi River Bridge).

The Bottle District is a six-block area north of Downtown St. Louis, Missouri that is being redeveloped as a mixed-use entertainment and residential district. The area is located north of the city’s convention center and west of Laclede’s Landing.

The district is located in what was once known as the Kerry Patch neighborhood of the city, which was home to thousands of Irish immigrants in the 19th Century. The neighborhood gradually became more industrial in nature. In the 1920s this area was famous for animal stockyards and bottling companies.

McGuire Moving and Storage Company, a longtime business located in the area, announced plans for redeveloping the district as an entertainment destination in 2004. Noted architect Daniel Libeskind was hired to design the district. The Ghazi Company of Charlotte, North Carolina is the co-developer of the Bottle District.

The first phase of the redevelopment is scheduled to open in 2007. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 27, 2005. The first phase will include a Rawlings Sports museum, a Grand Prix Speedways kart-racing center, a boutique bowling alley, 250 residential units, and several restaurants. The first phase of the development is anticipated to cost $290 million and is being funded in part by $51.3 million in tax increment financing.

Several explanations for the origin of the name of the Bottle District have been given. It has been suggested that the name honors the longstanding connection between St. Louis and the brewing and bottling industries. Others have suggested that the name comes from bottles found buried on the property, or the many broken bottles found in the neighborhood. Finally, the site is noted for a decades old, 34-foot-tall (10 m) advertisement for Vess Soda, shaped like a bottle, which the developers intend to restore during the redevelopment. (Wikipedia)

Here we are years later and this district remains anything but a district. To me it’s The Bottle Undistrict.

ABOVE: The neon-covered Vess bottle for which the area is named, Vessville didn't have a good ring

ABOVE: The bottle itself isn't looking so refreshing

ABOVE: The bottle with the Arch in the background, both familiar shapes

The problem here is this has been developer-driven planning. Big picture urban planning would have looked at how to develop this land and connect it to the west, the former Cochran public housing project, now the nice mixed-income Cambridge Heights neighborhood and renovated Neighborhood Gardens apartment development from 1935. Developers rarely think beyond the borders of their property, that takes municipal planning to knit together private parcels into a cohesive city.

We should be planning now for when the new I-70 bridge opens to the north, allowing the replacement of the highway lanes with a high volume boulevard instead. This district could then front onto the boulevard and more easily connect to the east. But our leadership doesn’t get it, to them the 1970 way is just fine.

- 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)

ABOVE: Post on nextSTL.com with photoshop image of Fiat name on the building and an update that says "We apologize for what looks to be incorrect information."

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.

ABOVE: The Partnership for Downtown St. Louis tweeted the story

ABOVE: David Nicklaus of the Post-Dispatch set the record straight

ABOVE: nextSTL admitted their post was false via Twitter

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.

ABOVE: A salesman at Fiat of Creve Coeur pulls a Fiat 500 out for my test ride, June 2011

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