urbanSTL

from what I have heard he is only working on it during the summer. Also for a few years in the 00's he was working on the roof at the city museum instead of this and only in the past few summers has he renewed work on this project. He is also limited by the amount of dirt being generated from construction sites and money as he is financing it on his own with money from building lofts at the city museum.

There is "work" being done out there but it's not the sort of work that's going to get the thing finished in the next few years. This is an eyewitness account.

so, everyone knows...bob died.
As a visitor and volunteer at cement land, work is still continuing. I often go, and from since ive BEEN going over the past 5-6 years, SOOOOO much has changed. There are new moats, and large ponds. New walkways to navigate and mounds and mounds of earth moved about. its an extremely long way from being complete, but it has come very far. There are too many unsafe structures to remove/section off/renovate. If I could say within the next 5 years, I would. Its going to take massive coordination to get things going up to speed, and not enough manpower or resources(money) to do it.
Its a very dangerous place if youre not careful, bob isnt the first person to lose their life there. Its turning into something awesome, just be careful and weary that you most likely will not be met in the most humble way. They really dont want people there, due to the fact that its a huge liability if you get hurt. I rarely go anymore, but because bob himself told me i could come whenever i want, i probably will again. I went to school with his daughter, he had known me a good long while. he understood that i wasnt there to mess anything up and i took full responsibility of my actions if i got hurt.

Nice to hear that work is still continuing. I assumed that Cementland died with Bob. I still wouldn't be surprised if the trustees, or whoever makes decisions for the City Museum now, did away with the whole project.

Has there been any progress with this since Mr. Cassilly has passed?

The RFT ran a story on the probate situation back in September. Comments on Cementland begin on page 3.

-RBB

Place us on fire

http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/20 ... 30150264=1

Cassily's widow trying to get plans for Cementland:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... 03bb8.html

Was Cassilly murdered?

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/10/11/ ... -murdered/

^That's what his wife has been saying for a while now.

Rodger Brand ‏@rbrandtraffic
#BREAKING Scranton closed at Riverview due to this warehouse fire at the former Bob Cassilly's Cementland... @kmoxnews



Gregg Favre ‏@GreggFavre
Operations ongoing at @STLFireDept's 2nd Alarm Warehouse Fire at #CementLand. Heavy fire with a partial collapse of the roof. Defensive ops.

The Cassilly estate just sold some of the land across River View from Cementland.

The PR announcement that says nothing:

[Company representing the Cassilly's] Sells 16 Acres Along Mississippi River
St. Louis, MO – [Company representing the Cassilly's] announced that it has completed the sale of 16 acres at 9320 and 9350 Riverview Dr in north St. Louis City to US Carriers. [Company representing the Cassilly's] had the exclusive right to sell the land while the buyer was unrepresented.
9320 and 9350 Riverview Dr features over 600’ of frontage and mooring rights along the Mississippi River. The land also sits in an Opportunity Zone and is eligible for additional economic incentives through the City of St. Louis.
The land was sold by the estate of the late artist Bob Cassily and was intended to be a part of his public art exhibit, Cementland. The other 40 acres of Cementland, 9403 Riverview Dr, remains available for sale with [Company representing the Cassilly's].
“This transaction presented several hurdles; however, we were able to provide our client favorable terms,” said [Some person]. "We anticipate the same positive outcome for the remaining 40-acre parcel.”

I was fortunate enough to attend a party out at the end of that loading pier several years ago. That was pretty wild. Some vagabond hippie-types were floating the length of the Mississippi, and Cassilly let them camp on his land for a few days.   

looks like US Carriers is a trucking company so... more riverfront property lost to industry. i'm guessing the rest of the property will become industrial again as well. i know the riverfront is a vital part of the regional economy but it just sucks that there's so little available for public access in/near the city.

urban_dilettante wrote: ↑

Aug 26, 2020

looks like US Carriers is a trucking company so... more riverfront property lost to industry. i'm guessing the rest of the property will become industrial again as well. i know the riverfront is a vital part of the regional economy but it just sucks that there's so little available for public access in/near the city.

You really think so? I'd say it's not all the most desirable, but there's quite a bit open to the public. On the south side you've got a couple of parks like Bellrieve or Sister Marie Charles on the south side, the entire levee downtown, the riverfront trail on the north side, North Riverfront and Chain of Rocks park . . . I'm not opposed to more, but we've really got several good parks and good river access spread out in a variety of places. Now, everywhere you turn there's also industry and transportation, but we do have a rather busy port. So that's not particularly surprising. Mind you, I'm not opposed to more. And maybe there's a way to make Cementland's connection to the river better and more attractive, but there's already a big park right on the river literally next door. It doesn't have a dock, but I'm not aware of any reason you couldn't build one there if that were deemed useful.

^ not familiar with Sister Marie Charles but I don't think there's any actual river access at Bellrieve. and it's pretty small. i haven't been on north riverfront in years but within city limits there isn't much there aside from the bike path. compared to other cities that have substantial linear parks/beaches along their waterfronts, STL has relatively little accessible waterfront. i mean, sure, if you go far enough outside of the city there's lots of access to the rivers, but...

Sister Marie Charles is my fave. It’s below the bluff of Bellrieve.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

There's no river access at Bellrieve, no. But there is from all the others save Chain of Rocks. Mind you, it's muddy, weedy, wooded, and often wild, but there's places along the riverfront trail where you can get to the river. At Merchants Bridge, for instance and the Freedom Crossing next to it. You'll see people fishing up around there sometimes, or on the levee. I can't imagine your average local even really wants to get their feet wet, but there's nothing stopping you in quite a few places. The real problem might just be that there's no place that's really "pretty" until you get to Alton. To paraphrase Eliot, he's a big, messy, difficult great brown god who keeps his own seasons and his own rhythms. All that said . . . I do like that river. And it's worth getting your feet wet once in a while. I'd recommend being careful about it, as that thing is not playing. Gods don't much play. But it's definitely worth doing.

NextStl - Bob Cassilly's Cementland sold at auction

https://nextstl.com/2022/05/bob-cassill ... t-auction/

quincunx wrote: ↑

May 28, 2022

NextStl - Bob Cassilly's Cementland sold at auction

https://nextstl.com/2022/05/bob-cassill ... t-auction/

This had the makings of being something that would be cooler then City Museum - Now we are probably get something industrial - bummer