I had dinner at Kemoll's last week with some out-of-town friends, and I had a hard time explaining to them what was going on down there. They were impressed with the $380 million number, but looking down on the Arch grounds, it just looks like a mess. It sure will be nice to get this thing finished.
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^ name one construction project that's over $350M that doesn't look like a mess when 50% done... 
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Was down there today; insane I guess is the word that describes things. Think there was a billion workers on site. You can see the Ely is getting close to done, but from the looks of things you'll still have to go down by the Old Cathedral to access the Arch for many more months to come. And The Landing is a gigantic mess... I feel really bad for biz over there. I also think it is funny as ha ha no not really that Walter Metcalfe will have to hold the 50th Anniversary at Kiener Plaza.
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Looks like Luther Ely Smith park is nearly done. Turf was laid yesterday. Just in time for the celebrations at Kiener Plaza Saturday. This is from the Webcam on the CityArchRiver web site.
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Screenshot 2015-10-23 17.53.12 by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
Screenshot 2015-10-23 17.53.12 by Gary Kreie, on FlickrI see they put a large flag pole right in the middle of the West end of the park. That wasn't there in the time lapse before Tuesday and it is in none of the artist gallery pictures that showed the future design. I guess we can never have too many flags, (maybe it's a disguised cell tower), but of course it will dominate photos of the Arch from the Old Courthouse steps. Will it contain an American flag, or a St Louis flag, since St Louis paid for the renovations, not the National Park Service. It is a little reminiscent of 2001 when out-of-towners wanted to mount a giant US flag on top of the Arch.
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holy crap, good catch! Don't mess with the freaking gold standard views! Along those lines, the stupid cages on Walnut are total crap.
I wonder if it will have 3 flags on it. Country, State, and City.
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It does look kind of temporary up close. Why wouldn't they put the lights below ground level? And what is that black thing on the side of the base? I guess the raised base could serve as a bench, but I'm not sure I'd want to be sitting on it at dusk when one of those lights comes on and projects an outline of my derierre onto Old Glory.
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It is awful, it sticks out like a sore thumb and completely ruins the view of the arch from the Old Courthouse.
My office overlooks the Old Courthouse and there a six, now seven flagpoles with American flags within my direct view. So, apparently we needed one more.
Think again, Steve Patterson tweeted that it is permanent and will replace the one on top of the Old Courthouse, because it is too hard for them to take up and down. I am hoping this was a joke.
My office overlooks the Old Courthouse and there a six, now seven flagpoles with American flags within my direct view. So, apparently we needed one more.
Think again, Steve Patterson tweeted that it is permanent and will replace the one on top of the Old Courthouse, because it is too hard for them to take up and down. I am hoping this was a joke.
Who do we call/tweet to get this thing taken down? I tweeted @stlcsb but they referred me to Nat'l Jefferson Expansion Memorial phone #: (314) 655-1700.
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Randy, someone involved in this process who was against the decision said something to the effect that you wouldn't believe how many meetings/committees went into that.... anyway, definitely contacting JNEM and CityArchRiver would be the places to contact.
I just learned that at least part of The Old Rock House will be rebuilt inside the new museum.
The original building was disassembled when they cleared the Arch site, and the pieces labeled and stored, with the intent of rebuilding it on the Arch grounds. Somehow, most of the pieces were lost.
Anyway, Bob Moore, Site Historian at the Arch, says "We're going to take all of the existing elements and rebuild it. You'll be able to walk through the door". Sounds very cool to me.
By the way, my avatar is a scale model of how the Old Rock House looked in the 1930s. Presumably, they'll rebuild it without the mansard roof, which was a later addition.
The original building was disassembled when they cleared the Arch site, and the pieces labeled and stored, with the intent of rebuilding it on the Arch grounds. Somehow, most of the pieces were lost.
Anyway, Bob Moore, Site Historian at the Arch, says "We're going to take all of the existing elements and rebuild it. You'll be able to walk through the door". Sounds very cool to me.
By the way, my avatar is a scale model of how the Old Rock House looked in the 1930s. Presumably, they'll rebuild it without the mansard roof, which was a later addition.
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I heard they could not light up the Arch in French try-color because they only have the capability to light it in one color at a time. What would it cost to do sophisticated programmable lighting of the Arch that could do any pattern, any colors, inluding moving patterns, on-demand through SW changes, using projections from the ground? Would the folks who did the Union Station projections be able to do it? It was kind of embarrassing that our symbol was left out of the matrix of iconic monuments lit up in blue, white, and red.
I noticed that on the CityArchRiver Webcam page, they now include a realtime view of KIener Plaza, as of yesterday. Does that mean that Kiener Plaza reconstruction will begin soon?
http://www.cityarchriver.org/construction/webcam/
http://www.cityarchriver.org/construction/webcam/
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^ I recall seeing December as the planned start.
Luther Ely Smith Park is open today.... I look forward to checking it out and the construction observation deck.
http://www.cityarchriver.org/2015/11/25 ... ens-today/
http://www.cityarchriver.org/2015/11/25 ... ens-today/
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A few photos from Luther Ely Smith park and nearby from Saturday.
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New Luther Ely Smith Park St Louis Downtown by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
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Old Courthouse for Luther Ely Smith Park by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
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Gateway Arch from new Luther Ely Smith park by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
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Charlie Brennan Downtown Tour by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/BQhraW]![]()
New Luther Ely Smith park from Courthouse Steps by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
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[/url]Waterfront Lighting Gateway Arch by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
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Gateway Arch New Tree Planting Dec 2015 by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
New Luther Ely Smith Park St Louis Downtown by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
Old Courthouse for Luther Ely Smith Park by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
Gateway Arch from new Luther Ely Smith park by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
Charlie Brennan Downtown Tour by Gary Kreie, on Flickr[url=https://flic.kr/p/BQhraW]
New Luther Ely Smith park from Courthouse Steps by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
[/url]Waterfront Lighting Gateway Arch by Gary Kreie, on Flickr
Gateway Arch New Tree Planting Dec 2015 by Gary Kreie, on Flickr- 8,155
^ Thanks for the pics.... did you get over to the construction observation deck? I assume that would be pretty cool if its high enough.