One Block of Cherokee Street Took 17 Years to Build

My friend suggested we meet for lunch at Tower Tacos on Cherokee. I knew that meant I’d have to drive there and he could walk, but I rarely pass up lunch on Cherokee.

This side of Cherokee between Compton Ave on the west and Michigan Ave on the east contains seven buildings. At a casual glance I didn’t give much thought to them, they all looked like they were from the same period. Out of curiosity I decided to find out using Geo St. Louis, “a guide to geospatial data about the City of St. Louis.” What I found out was these seven buildings were built over a 17-year period (1896-1913):

1. The first, 3137 Cherokee, was built in 1896 , a two-flat originally. This was the second lot from the east, not the corner.
2. In 1905 a brick one story house was built to the lot to the west, at 3139 Cherokee. For nine years the other house stood alone, unless previous structures existed on this block.
3. In 1909 a corner storefront was built next door to the east at 3133 Cherokee. This is the corner at Michigan Ave. Now we’ve got three buildings in a row.
4. Also in 1909 a 2-story with first floor storefront space was built at 3147 Cherokee. This skipped a lot. This is now Tower Tacos
5. A year later, 1910,brick 4-family was built at 3143-45 Cherokee filling in the gap left the previous year. Five buildings now in a row.
6. In 1911 2-story with two storefronts and two flats was built on the next lot at 3151 Cherokee.
7. Finally in 1913 a large 2-story  building with storefronts & flats was built at 3155-59 Cherokee, finishing the block at Compton Ave.

It’s possible earlier frame or soft brick buildings existed on this block but I have no knowledge of such. The point? Development, residential & commercial, used to be done a building at a time based on demand. The financing package was limited to buying the lot and building a single structure.

Today all 42 buildings on city block 1502 would have been built at once — or at least in the same development package. After the first developer goes under someone else would come in to finish building on the remaining vacant lots. All the buildings would have the same basic look, the exact same brick color and the same setback from the sidewalk. Boring.

The days of people buying lots and building their own home are long gone but in parts of the country it’s not uncommon for a developer to create building lots and then have many builders buy those lots. Some would get built on a speculative basis and some would be custom for a specific buyer. For filling in vacant parts of the city I’d like to see us try the idea of separating the development of build-able lots and the construction of new buildings.

– Steve Patterson

Where Josephine Baker Grew Up

I love the Post-Dispatch’s “A Look Back” series of photographs and articles. I eagerly read the recent story on St. Louis native Josephine Baker (1906-1975) and one sentence stood out:

“She told the Post-Dispatch in 1950 that she began dancing for friends in her home at 2632 Bernard Street, in an area obliterated for Highway 40.” (STLtoday.com)

Anytime I see an address my instinct is to look it up on Google Maps, but it was “obliterated for Highway 40.”  So I went to the University of Missouri’s Digital Library to look it up on the Sanborn Fire Insurance Co maps in their collection.

Jefferson Ave & Scott Ave both still exist (map) but Randolph & Bernard are no longer part of the street grid. But looking at the map it wasn’t clear her house and neighborhood were razed for the highway, it looked just south of the highway.

Next I went to HistoricAerials.com to try to find an aerial photograph prior to demolition. The oldest photo they have for St. Louis is 1958 so I wasn’t certain. But prior to 1967 the expressways from the west merged onto eastbound Market Street near Compton Ave. Sure enough her flat was just south of the highway right-of-way. Like streets next to I-44, Bernard would have only had houses remaining on the south with the north part of the highway. But Baker’s childhood flat was on the south, not the north.  Thus, her flat wasn’t “obliterated for Highway 40” as the Post-Dispatch wrote.

In the 1971 image for the same location looks like

City records show the four buildings of the St. Louis Business Center were built in 1986 — at least 15 years after the area was razed.

Baker’s flat was probably about on the dividing line between the 80s business center and what’s now a Marriott hotel, built in 2004.

Before the Marriott, a Napa auto parts warehouse was located on this site.

So now I’m curious to find out just when the houses on these blocks were razed. Baker was already world famous when the wrecking ball destroyed where she lived.  Did anyone suggest saving her flat as a historic site?  Were St. Louisans upset Baker refused to perform in St. Louis prior to 1952 because she wouldn’t perform for segregated  audiences?

– Steve Patterson

Readers Support Proposed Bike Parking Ordinance

Readers overwhelmingly support a bill before the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to require bike parking for some projects:

A proposed law would require bike parking for new construction or renovations in access excess of $1 million dollars. Auto parking requirements would be reduced.

1. Great, more bike parking is needed 44 [50%]
2. A good start, but it doesn’t go far enough 18 [20.45%]
3. Ugh, more government regulation 16 [18.18%]
4. Other: 9 [10.23%]
5. Unsure/No Opinion 1 [1.14%]

I had a stupid mistake in the poll, corrected above, and a few of the other votes pointed that out:

1. A good first step; besides handicapped parking there should be no reqirements
2. don’t you mean “in excess?”
3. What comes first demand or supply?
4. need more bike lanes and paths first…
5. Like the bike part, but no reduction for cars
6. excess =/= access. We need more accessible and safe biking paths first.
7. How about an option for not a good idea?????
8. excess, not access
9. Security is a MAJOR concern of those who use bike racks. Theft is a conern.

The 20% that said this bill is a good start but it doesn’t go far enough are correct, the number of projects in excess of $1 million dollars are few.The amount of verbiage to describe what is required in the context of our tired & old use-based zoning code is a nightmare to read and understand. Take a few minutes and read any section of Title 26 (Zoning) and you will quickly realize it’s easy to get lost in the cross references and lists of prohibitions all the while you don’t get an image of what’s actually desired.

Instead of trying to improve the city by amending our 1947 zoning code to current standards we need to toss it out completely and start over with a form-bsased code that is easy to read and understand.

– Steve Patterson

Missouri GOP Primary Today, Caucus Next Month

Missouri’s GOP primary is today so where are the millions of dollars in ads? the national media? the candidates? They know that no delegates will be awarded based on today’s vote:

Because of a mix of party decree and legislative inaction, taxpayers will foot the bill for a statewide election that will be officially meaningless for Republicans and virtually irrelevant for Democrats. 

Many Republicans were in favor of scrapping the election altogether, which comes with an estimated price tag of nearly $7 million. (STLtoday.com)

Party decree?

The National Republican Party had threatened to cut the state’s delegates in half if Missouri did not move its primary to March. Legislative attempts to move the primary to March failed, so Missouri Republican Party officials decided to elect convention delegates in March at caucuses. (Examiner.com)

Thus, nobody is expecting a big turnout:

Officials forecast a turnout of fewer than one in four voters. But this could have been our time to shine and show off the best presidential bellwether in the country. What other state in the Union best represents the United States — North, South, East or West? Answer: Nobody (Kansas City Star)

The Democratic ballot includes three challengers to president Barack Obama but the GOP ballot has 10 candidates (see list). I may go vote just for the fun of it; maybe for Cain, Huntsman, Bachmann, or Perry? Gingrich didn’t file the form and pay the $1,000 fee to be on the ballot.

– Steve Patterson

CVC Plan To Improve Dome Improves Broadway

Last Wednesday the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission announced the plan it submitted to the Rams to remake the Edward Jones Dome into a “top tier” facility.  Rather than rush to post about the plan I decided to take my time to revisit Baer Plaza (between the Edward Jones Dome and I-70), read & reread the plan, and offer more than a knee-jerk reaction. I’m not going to rehash the big picture you’ve read elsewhere but I’ll focus on a couple of areas: the point where the Dome and convention center meet and Baer Plaza. Click here to download the 22-page PDF plan.

On page 14 of the CVC’s plan they talk about the boring space shown above:

We are proposing the conversion of the courtyard between the convention center and the Dome into a flexible pre-game fan destination for pre-game concerts, food and beverage sales and exciting fan entertainment offerings. This can facilitate earlier ingress into the Dome and reduce congestion created by new NFL Security requirements for wandings or patdowns. It will also generate additional food and beverage sales and create a ‘friends’ gathering place for pre-game activity. 

The courtyard is certainly not an asset in it’s existing condition. The CVC plan includes an image of how they think this courtyard could be revised.

Presumably this updated courtyard space could be useful throughout the year as other events are hosted in the convention center and Dome. If so, this could be a good investment in updating a drab area. But it’s outside around Broadway and in Baer Plaza that big changes will take place so lets go there.

From up high this looks nice but both sides of Broadway are dreadful.

The exciting part for me is a new 50,000 square foot multilevel building to be built here as part of an expanded club experience for the well-off football fan:

The new club seats will become part of an exciting contemporary club experience, with the addition of a new 50,000 square foot building referred to herein as the Baer Plaza addition. The suite corridors on the club level will be remodeled with lighting upgrades and finishes to flow nicely into newly remodeled club lounges. The club level renovations will add an ADA platform and expand the club floor plate by filling in the open sections to the floor below. All club level guests will be able to enter the facility through a new club entrance in Baer Plaza. This new building will improve the club experience and enhance the facility as a whole. It will provide a premium entrance for the Rams’ highest dollar customers and will be outfitted with club lounge space, a technology area currently dubbed the ‘Geek Suite’ and an open air deck for a rooftop beer garden. The Geek Suite will be outfitted with Wi-Fi connections and an abundance of HD flat screen monitors and is intended to be a location for the club/suite customers who want to stay connected to Fantasy Football with their handheld Smart devices. This space would be similar to a high-end technology store like an Apple store in fit and finish. The development of Baer Plaza will function as a gateway to the stadium, offering the Rams premium seat fans a new front door experience. The bridge connects to the stadium at the suite and club level(s).

I’m not a fan of bridges over roads but the massing of this new structure is worth a pedestrian bridge over Broadway. This new building, with a “street level restaurant”, will enclose Broadway and give it a needed urban feel that’s been missing since buildings on that side were razed for the open Baer Plaza. The building would also include a team store and rooftop space. Building massing is absolutely needed on the east side of Broadway so this has great potential. Ideally the restaurant and team store would be open all year. Hopefully the rooftop space could be used for other events when the Rams are playing.

Retractable bollards would allow Broadway, a major road into downtown, to be closed on game days. The bollards would be attractive whereas the current concrete barriers are not. It would also close off the disabled drop off area on Broadway. I’ll need to ask how the CVC plans to address that.  This new building would serve as a connector between the CBD to the south and the future “Bottle District” to the north of Cole.

Financing is another issue.

Congrats to Kitty Ratcliffe and her team at the CVC, I’m not easily impressed but I think these improvements (plus interior changes) will greatly improve the game day experience for those attending the games, increase revenues for the Rams,  and improve the area the rest of the year. Remember if the Rams accept this solution, and stay in the Dome until 2025, we must think about what happens after then. The new natural lighting, massive video scoreboard and this building could serve other uses in the Dome after a new facility is built for the Rams for after 2025.

– Steve Patterson