Last Remaining Corner of Tucker Project
The rebuilt of Tucker from Washington to Cass is nearly complete, traffic in both directions has been open for a while now. However, crews are still working to finish the last bit of work — the NW corner of Tucker & Washington.
Both sidewalks are being replaced as part of the project. But these sidewalks are far more complicated because of how the building was built in 1901. Like a number of other buildings downtown, the basement was allowed to extend past the property line, under the public sidewalk. This comlicates matters greatly when replacing sidewalks. Sidewalks usually rest on compacted dirt but here people park their cars under the sidewalk.
It looks like this corner will be done and the barriers removed just before the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opens to vehicular traffic on Sunday February 9th.
Here’s a couple of prior posts on the Tucker project:
- May 2012: Tucker Tunnel Not Quite Gone
- December 2012: Tucker Tunnel Now Completely Opened Up
— Steve Patterson
I am so sick of seeing that for lease sign. Its been there at least 5 years, maybe 8, just pathetic.
And your solution?! Lower the rental rate? Use tax dollars to subsidize the rent? Unlock the doors and let squatters move in? Obviously, the owner a) has a vision for the type of tenant they want, and b) are willing to wait for the right one to come along.
the owner is incompetent. they are not trying to attract a tenant, or they don’t know how. the market is not perfect, some people don’t know what they are doing. some people don’t know how to make money downtown(roberts), and some people do (bailey).
The owner is incompetent only if they lose their property to foreclosure or bankruptcy. The owner IS competent if they can make money, even if it means waiting for the right uses and tenants. Using your logic, the LRA would be smarter to just demolish every structure they get for back taxes, since they can’t seem to effectively market them, either! But I do agree that some, probably many, people “don’t know how to make money downtown” – if more did, we’d be seeing a much more vibrant CBD!
your free market fundamentalism is sickening. the only way to be incompetent is foreclosure. what if they turn it into a crack den, that would probably make money. i guess would be business savvy in your world. go back to chesterfield.
And that’s exactly my point – is ANY tenant better than NO tenant?! And your comparison between Roberts and Bailey is apples and oranges – the former did buildings (like this one), while the latter does restaurants (the type of tenant that would be ideal here, IF the numbers worked).
Options include pop-up retail to have the space be used, at least temporarily. This gets area residents & workers used to going to that location. Another is using the large windows for marketing the space or sold as advertising space. See http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/business/media/12adco.html
It seems the ability to attract a tenant when the Tucker project was due and in-progress is the most likely reason there is no tenant there. However, to insist the owner/manager lower the rental rate, subsidize with tax dollars, allow squatters are all knee-jerk reactions that has no basis in the argument. The second most likely reason the space is vacant is poor marketing. I think that’s what the first comment was meaning to say.
Or maybe, just maybe the owner has enough financial resources to maintain ownership, taxes, etc.. In that case and during the extended construction. Why not wait if you can afford? That being said, at end of the day you own commercial property to have a return on investment. You are getting no return when you have a lease sign up. I’m curios what happen when the new bridge is opened and Tucker construction is finished.