urbanSTL

SoulardD wrote:I vote Coffee Cartel and City Diner. No wait Soulard(Downtown?) Coffee Garden and Courtesy Diner. No wait Park Ave.(Washington Ave.?) Coffee and Uncle Bill's Pancakes.

A late night diner is already moving in a few blocks away at the old Day's Inn.

TheWayoftheArch wrote: there are probably a good numbers of persons in the Lafayette Square/Central West End and other nieghborhoods who would think this style of decor would fit their architecture and home character well.

Good point! The good folks of Lafayette Square should love this place. And it will save them from a hellish drive out to West County.

They haev really been working on the entrance the last week or so. Friday they started removing the concrete blocks about the doors. By Monday the doors were removed and it looks as though the original entryway is visable, though I may be wrong. Either way, it looks great.

ChrisInDownTown wrote:They haev really been working on the entrance the last week or so. Friday they started removing the concrete blocks about the doors. By Monday the doors were removed and it looks as though the original entryway is visable, though I may be wrong. Either way, it looks great.

Yep, I saw the entry way on Friday as well. I think it's a great touch and gives the entry way of the building a unique look.



Has anyone heard anything about signage on the front of Walker?

From the PD's Debster:

English Living, a home furnishings store in Ladue and Manchester, has recently signed a lease for the Ely Walker building on Washington Avenue, where the Gold's gym was formerly situated. The flagship store will relocate in June and become the second-largest retailer downtown, behind only Macy's.

I think it will be a great tenant. Increased foot traffic in that part of the street during the day will be welcomed. I also heard there will be a tea room as well.



Now lets get the building done so i can move in!!!

^ let the exodus from the county to the city begin!

Will it take up just half of the space? From the atrium pics, it seems like the retail space will be split at least in half. And weren't teh owners of Red Moon supposed to open another restaurant in this space? Mediteranian or something.

JMedwick wrote:Good news to hear about the flagship status and size. My only comment is that for downtown, I would rather see a retailer of this size located closer to the other big retail draws downtown (Famous and the City Grocers). Located along Olive, it would have been another good western end anchor to a future retail strip.

I know from our previous posts about downtown retail that we think alike on this one. I'd like to see more of an effort from the city to work with potential retailers, in an attempt to concentrate as much retail as possible around Macy's. A mall downtown was a terrible idea, but I think that Macy's would benefit from more nearby retail and serve as an anchor. As I said before in another thread, a rising tide raises all ships.



That said, this is still a great development, and it will be nice to see a store of this size in this particular building.

ThreeOneFour wrote:

JMedwick wrote:Good news to hear about the flagship status and size. My only comment is that for downtown, I would rather see a retailer of this size located closer to the other big retail draws downtown (Famous and the City Grocers). Located along Olive, it would have been another good western end anchor to a future retail strip.

I know from our previous posts about downtown retail that we think alike on this one. I'd like to see more of an effort from the city to work with potential retailers, in an attempt to concentrate as much retail as possible around Macy's. A mall downtown was a terrible idea, but I think that Macy's would benefit from more nearby retail and serve as an anchor. As I said before in another thread, a rising tide raises all ships.



That said, this is still a great development, and it will be nice to see a store of this size in this particular building.

I think one of the reasons "may" be that this store is more tilted towards residentials AND does not want to have to compete with BPV retail in a few years. This will be it's own "niche" in the middle of residential areas.



Macy should start working on a plan to upgrade it's city store too. I think they would want to prepare for the critical point in which city residents (the new ones HAVE the money to spend) will demand better product lines.

bsharmastl wrote:Macy's should start working on a plan to upgrade it's city store too. I think they would want to prepare for the critical point in which city residents (the new ones HAVE the money to spend) will demand better product lines.

I agree. I shopped there several times around the time of the grand-reopening. However, now that the brand name fall/winter merchandise has been on sale for some time at stores where there are more clothing lines from which to choose (like the Galleria and Chesterfield), I find myself shopping at those stores. I've bought a lot of brand name merchandise for (almost) pennies on the dollar in the last couple of weeks, and I can't find the majority of it at the downtown store. That's disappointing, because I always try to shop the downtown store first.



Hopefully additional retailers clustering around Macy's would increase traffic in the store and prompt Macy's Midwest management to broaden the merchandise mix, but ideally, this will eventually happen with or without an influx of retail (since that will take some time).



Anyway, I'm still excited about the English Living announcement. It will pull shoppers in from other parts of the city and metro area, and it'll be great to have a ground floor tenant like this in the EW building.

I know for a fact that they wanted to be closer to Macys but the few locations that would have worked are being reserved by the landlords for restaurants or bars.

^ Too bad. I think it's incredibly shortsighted.



By limiting the scope of tenants that they hope to attract, I think these landlords are limiting the potential of this section of downtown.



The transformation of St. Louis Centre will be a massive catalyst for other development in downtown's traditional retail core, but months have passed without any trace of meaningful progress on that project.

I got word that closings are to start in June!!!!

Downtown2007 wrote:I got word that closings are to start in June!!!!

Yup. Got my letter this weekend - we close June 7th. Not bad for the "Spring/Summer of '07" plan we were sold in late '05. Orchard and Clayco appear to have done well.

June 1!



In case you have not stopped by in a while, check out the new sign they have displayed in the new model. 42 feet high and neon, looks really cool. The whole building is awesome! Roof, Atrium, Entrance, and even the Garage is cool.



Can't wait

Is this a sign for the building exterior? If so, awesome!!!!...I love the neon signs on Washington and there need to be more of them

Yep it will hang off of the front on the east end of the building.

In case anyone was interested - and hasn't seen it in person yet, I took a few pics on my visit this past weekend. The building looks absolutely fantastic. Orchard, Christen, and everyone involved in this project have done a tremendous job thus far. It looks like it'll be worth the wait.



North East Washington Ave. Signage





View From Rooftop Deck





Early Stages of Rooftop Clubhouse





Middle Atrium View From 7th Floor

Wow, that looks really great. I have been very impressed with this building. For those moving in, when you are out hanging out on the roof don't forget to wave or yell hello to those of us at the Ventana...

The last shot looks awesome. A truly beautiful building, can't wait for it to be done.



One a side note, I was downtown this weekend, and walked by the Ely Walker, and man it is a big building. I never really realized how large it really was.

That's going to look great across from the Windows bottle. Will it be too bright for the residents on that corner on teh upper floors? I'm sure they've thought of that, but the Windows bottle works so well because there are no residents on the floors that high, just the banquet hall.

Not only that, but the building(s) opposite to that may also get the glare.....

bsharmastl wrote:Not only that, but the building(s) opposite to that may also get the glare.....

Yea, there will be som glare for a few. I got glare coming in from the uplights in my old building. Plus, the lights bring bugs and if the effected residents don't have screens in their windows, forget about opening them. Catch 22. Cool sign for the street and building but possibly major hassle for a few residents.