urbanSTL

This article is rather confusing. I guess it means Barry Wehmiller will be the lead tenant in this building, but it almost sounds like they're planning their own building.

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 1cc44.html

framer wrote:This article is rather confusing. I guess it means Barry Wehmiller will be the lead tenant in this building, but it almost sounds like they're planning their own building.

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 1cc44.html

They aren't planning their own new building. Nice to see this company wanting to grow in the area they are used to. Would be nice to move to Downtown STL, but it is what it is. 

Even the lower floors of an apartment building would have great views over Shaw Park.  For this particular corner the design is a dud.
Wrong use.  Bad parking podium integration into offices above.  I'd have no problem if it was a mid-block site with better transition from podium to occupied space.  It's really, really, bad as-is.

Here's another view from the West End Word:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/westend ... f9af0.html

I didn't grasp just how large the parking podium was. Not very impressed/ jealous of this project anymore hah!

Elek.borrelli wrote: I didn't grasp just how large the parking podium was. Not very impressed/ jealous of this project anymore hah!

There has to be something else built to house humans in this complex.  The garage capacity is excessive for the office building.  Is there a rumored phase 2?

STLinCHI wrote:

Elek.borrelli wrote: I didn't grasp just how large the parking podium was. Not very impressed/ jealous of this project anymore hah!

There has to be something else built to house humans in this complex.  The garage capacity is excessive for the office building.  Is there a rumored phase 2?

Based on the little document I got from US Capital, the garage will serve a bigger purpose over the next several years

Hard to believe just a few months ago we thought we were getting this:

framer wrote: Hard to believe just a few months ago we thought we were getting this:

This building is exactly what this site's soul deserves.  Not sure where the tenants would park, though.  This rendering looks like it's taking up half the frontage on Forsyth compared to the super-podium.  Was there a below surface garage for this proposal?

^There was an above ground garage on the northern side of the building.

Agreed with Framer - really unfortunate ate what this worthy design was replaced with.

agree with above I was really excited about the original tower that was proposed. This new office building is blah. Maybe if the tower proposal hadn’t come out first I wouldn’t feel this way.

At least one alderman isn't happy with this deal, and is pushing for a new RFP. 

Also, US Capital is hinting at maybe another couple of floors of office space, and a second tower to the east:

https://www.timesnewspapers.com/westend ... 0655a.html

Sale of parking lot approved.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... the-latest

jshank83 wrote:Sale of parking lot approved.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... the-latest

That sucks. This premier site deserves so much better.

I talked to some people at Desco, they aren't happy about this. They went off on a long speech that had lots of good to it. They said that KP Properties chose the cheapest possible design for that corner and that the Koman there is all about cheapness. They think the garage is overly excessive and leaving gaping holes in it doesn't help the situation. They believe that this usage isn't right for this corner. They are worried that this project will lead to other buildings nearby being torn down. They also said that Flaherty and Collins were pushed out by KP because KP wants to leave their mark on Downtown Clayton, and in a bad way. In the end, they said that KP should stick to developing warehouse buildings and leave this corner up to another developer. 

Yeah, this project is very disappointing. 

chriss752 wrote: I talked to some people at Desco, they aren't happy about this. They went off on a long speech that had lots of good to it. They said that KP Properties chose the cheapest possible design for that corner and that the Koman there is all about cheapness. They think the garage is overly excessive and leaving gaping holes in it doesn't help the situation. They believe that this usage isn't right for this corner. They are worried that this project will lead to other buildings nearby being torn down. They also said that Flaherty and Collins were pushed out by KP because KP wants to leave their mark on Downtown Clayton, and in a bad way. In the end, they said that KP should stick to developing warehouse buildings and leave this corner up to another developer. 

lol  That would be a rather ironic complaint coming from Desco.

You can almost feel the south corner demo coming soon.  The design of the new Shaw Park rink and the dominance of Kummer's new building over traditional Clayton architecture provide a clear trend. 

This is a MAJOR loss for Clayton. Root for the whole region for sure but.... silver lining? Maybe downtown's gain long term.

This might be a bit too much of a conspiracy theory, but I wonder of some of the members of the review board are picking their battles, and basically thinking they are going to have to push back and even oppose the Kummer proposal, but at the same time don’t want to seem obstructionist or anti-development, so we’re more accepting of this proposal

Seriously, folks, this is what they're about to build here. The most prominent site in Clayton. This is just awful. 

framer wrote:In case you missed it:

Is it too early to name this thing "The Chair"?