urbanSTL

Well, I don't think anything would really be cost effective at this point considering the damage that has been done. But I agree that something similar to Canon's redesign would be a great use.

I wonder what the next step would be if the city takes control of the building.

Do you think they would pay to make it structurally sound and then sell it off? Maybe something similar to the Arcade?

Here is a picture of a bar in Memphis TN on Beale Street. The outside has been reinforced to save the 100 year old build front. Behind is used as a biergarten for the bar Silky O’Sullivan’s. Something like this could be done on the inside of the building to stabilize the walls without floors.



http://flic.kr/p/6huAxD

More Info about the building:

Gallina Building

Silky O’Sullivan’s present location on Beale Street, formerly the Gallina building, is over 100 years old, and has more recorded history than any other building on Beale Street. It was a saloon that ran all day and all night with as many as fourteen bartenders. In addition to the bar and restaurant, there was a poker room and a racehorse room. So please make a toast to the visitors of the past who once partied where you are now seated. Silky O’Sullivan’s offers a pleasant, inviting dining atmosphere that is perfect for casual dining with family and friends. The menu features a wide array of great selections, with something sure to please every member of your group. Silky’s World Famous Ribs are sure to be love at first sight. On our spacious patio, the Walk of Fame includes handprints and signatures of such greats as Bob Hope, Ella Fitzgerald, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and others. While on the patio, be sure to visit our Irish, beer-drinking goats, a mainstay of Beale Street. At Silky O’Sullivan’s, there is truly something for everybody.

I believe the PD article had a quoted figure of "Around 7-8 Million" to shore up the walls of the building. There are limitless possibilities for the building, but as always, they come back to demand and money. One very interesting example (Nice one above, as well) is The Legacy at Millenium Park in Chicago.







VERY cool project.

newstl2020 wrote:I believe the PD article had a quoted figure of "Around 7-8 Million" to shore up the walls of the building.

And I believe those figures came from the developer (who wants to tear down the building), which leads me to believe that the building could probably be stabilized for a lot less than that.

The building to the West has been for sale for awhile now, but it appears they are being responsible because it looks like there have been roofing workers doing repairs over the last week.

Cupples 7 is now on the market, and the LCRA is seeking proposals:
http://www.stltoday.com/business/column ... 0f31a.html

Someone should definitely tweet this to Jack Dorsey and Jim Mckelvey. Would make a kickass office for Square with a rehabbed exterior and ten stories of glass office coming out of the top of it. Not to mention they would be saving a vital piece of their home.

^ Even a square inside the building's exterior walls would be cool.

Unfortunately, I pretty given up on the idea of those two making a meaningful investment in St. Louis, let alone a crumbling downtown building. Square, like twitter, is based on securing VC funding to grow and the number one ranked place to get the money is San Fran for the past three years running. Very much the reason why Twitter employees can walk to a Giants game rather than a Cardinals game after work. Square will be no different even though its business model should be focused as a financial firm that would benefit by St. Louis strong financial presence in my opinion.

^Agreed. Although Square doesn't have a whole lot to do with finance. It is more of a data and information security firm than anything else (just like Visa and Mastercard). We do have a large MasterCard presence (even though it is in the middle of nowhere).

I thought Square had an office in U. City. Anyone know if that is still here? As they grow their operations, they would certainly benefit by putting many of the non-engineering corporate functions in a lower cost place (ST. LOUIS!) as opposed to keeping a large workforce employed in an area such as San Fran or Cali in general. If they do in fact plan to remain a stand-alone company and aren't focussed on driving up a valuation and cashing out (to a Visa or Mastercard), they would be smart to begin this process.

Eventually as they grow, they are going to have a lot of positions to fill and salaries to pay that do not require a "hot VC location." St. Louis needes to be pushing to be that place.

newstl2020 wrote:I thought Square had an office in U. City. Anyone know if that is still here?

As far as I know, yes.

What is going on with these now? Last I heard, 7 escaped demolition recently and that 9 was being redeveloped by the Koman Group.

Bowling HOF coming down as we speak per a tweet from STL Cardinals. That didn't take long

Mayor's blog preparing us for the imminent loss of Cupples 7

http://www.mayorslay.com/blog/post.php?postID=17496

Cupples 7 is going, going, gone.

and nothing will be done to prevent this scenario from recurring (i.e. jackasses buying up historic buildings and letting them go to sh*t). anyway, maybe 7 is about to collapse, maybe it's not. i don't know when to believe whom anymore. if somebody with money or a title wants something down in this city it's gone. i do know that the giant surface parking lot that's about to replace 7 is going to be there for a long long time.

This sucks. I mean this really sucks.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... e=comments

odd to see Bob Clark commenting on this one.

Not exactly the way to start the day. So, does the building owner just get off the hook? I just don't get it.

City sends them a bill

Are there any outlets for national developers that we could contact to get the word out? Or has this already been done?