Y'all know what? Some people really want this setup.
I bet there are plenty of people in and around the area (especially in the Gate District and Dutchtown) that will happily shop here. Sure, it's not going to be the same high-end crowd that shops Culinaria, but it will serve an existing need.
Plus, some of these future shoppers are going to want to drive here and really do need to drive to the grocery. If this had no big parking lots, it would die off quickly, especially when there's competition just up Gravois with big parking lots: the Schnucks at Grand, and the Save-A-Lot between Hydraulic and Chippewa.
Remember, this is still a food desert, that the old Schnucks on South Broadway next to 55 remains closed down, and that small grocers like Vincent's don't fulfill the needs of many people who are excited to start shopping at the future grocery. It's not the most urban of sites from an aesthetic stance, but it will meet the needs and demands of many shoppers who live nearby. And anecdotally, while I didn't necesarily want the new Dollar General along South Broadway near Soulard, let me say that it has not sunk the neighborhood by being a couple blocks down from where I live.
This is a good development, helping end a food desert and fixing a craphole strip mall. It's still a strip mall, but it's not the mess that it had been for decades. Take some small solace there.
You know what I want? The other side of Jefferson to be built up to the streets on all those blocks where it isn't. I'd like that old building near the corner of Lafayette & Jefferson to be converted into apartments. That's the fight worth fighting, I think. Could the strip mall's construction help these sites become more viable? I sure hope so. And when those get built, they'll by necessity be done in a much more "urban" aesthetic.
I bet there are plenty of people in and around the area (especially in the Gate District and Dutchtown) that will happily shop here. Sure, it's not going to be the same high-end crowd that shops Culinaria, but it will serve an existing need.
Plus, some of these future shoppers are going to want to drive here and really do need to drive to the grocery. If this had no big parking lots, it would die off quickly, especially when there's competition just up Gravois with big parking lots: the Schnucks at Grand, and the Save-A-Lot between Hydraulic and Chippewa.
Remember, this is still a food desert, that the old Schnucks on South Broadway next to 55 remains closed down, and that small grocers like Vincent's don't fulfill the needs of many people who are excited to start shopping at the future grocery. It's not the most urban of sites from an aesthetic stance, but it will meet the needs and demands of many shoppers who live nearby. And anecdotally, while I didn't necesarily want the new Dollar General along South Broadway near Soulard, let me say that it has not sunk the neighborhood by being a couple blocks down from where I live.
This is a good development, helping end a food desert and fixing a craphole strip mall. It's still a strip mall, but it's not the mess that it had been for decades. Take some small solace there.
You know what I want? The other side of Jefferson to be built up to the streets on all those blocks where it isn't. I'd like that old building near the corner of Lafayette & Jefferson to be converted into apartments. That's the fight worth fighting, I think. Could the strip mall's construction help these sites become more viable? I sure hope so. And when those get built, they'll by necessity be done in a much more "urban" aesthetic.
