urbanSTL

I heard the meeting went well yesterday, and that (1) the city is going to move the barriers at Olive/Whittier and form a roundabout and (2) no new barriers will be installed. Can anyone confirm this? Do we know when this will happen?

If that is true, that is very good news. Like we have been saying on here from the start, there are better ways to slow traffic down than barriers. I just drove down Olive, and even though I knew I was turning left at Whittier anyway, it still annoyed me that they were there.

confirming for zezuz and all interested - the meeting did go well. the plan is to move 3 of the four barricades into the center of the intersection in a triangular shape to form a temporary "roundabout". the alderman is also looking for funding for cobblestone rollstrips to be placed across streets where speeding is a problem. i think we are finally making some progress!

One barrier has been moved already! There's not quite enough room for a car to squeeze through, but hopefully the roundabout will be completed today.

actually, you could squeeze a car through. i tried!

too bad its been moved back!

Has Gaslight Square development spread beyond two blocks?



I hope the surrounding blocks develop too with dense townhomes.

Along the lines of SMS's post, I'd be curious if the GS residents have heard of any potential development on Washington - while Olive is looking good, Washington is still in pretty bad shape.

New townhomes (I believe by Saaman) are currently being built on the north side of Washington / Whittier. And right next door an older building consisting of 3-4 townhomes is being rehabbed. I believe new townhomes are also going in on the south side of Washington / Whittier - someone has been doing a lot of digging anyway.

Zezuz wrote:I believe new townhomes are also going in on the south side of Washington / Whittier - someone has been doing a lot of digging anyway.

I noticed that - it was previously a parking lot, right?



Good to hear that more development is in the works.

Zezuz wrote:New townhomes (I believe by Saaman) are currently being built on the north side of Washington / Whittier. And right next door an older building consisting of 3-4 townhomes is being rehabbed. I believe new townhomes are also going in on the south side of Washington / Whittier - someone has been doing a lot of digging anyway.

There's more information here:

http://www.rolweshomes.com/pages/curren ... t%20Square



Looks like 12 new townhouses and 1 new single-family planned for Washington Ave.

Bastiat wrote:

Zezuz wrote:

Zezuz wrote:New townhomes (I believe by Saaman) are currently being built on the north side of Washington / Whittier. And right next door an older building consisting of 3-4 townhomes is being rehabbed. I believe new townhomes are also going in on the south side of Washington / Whittier - someone has been doing a lot of digging anyway.

There's more information here:

http://www.rolweshomes.com/pages/curren ... t%20Square



Looks like 12 new townhouses and 1 new single-family planned for Washington Ave.

I'm as glad as anyone about new dense development in this area, but what is the deal with new architecture? Are the architects trying to make the homes look crappy or do some people actually think that stuff looks good? I'd rather have them copy their betters.

I'm not a fan of the white handrails, and clashing brick colors, but other than that I think they look ok.

I find it interesting that they fail to mention Metro High, SLU and Schnucks under the local amenities heading. It makes you wonder is the author of the website even been to the Gaslight Square area? Perhaps his exploration of the neighborhood was blocked by the street barriers……

I just wish that they would show the buildings in their proper context (with other buildings/street lights/etc. It's not surprising that some people would move to Gaslight Square in part because it seems to offer suburban amenities in a great location.

These are the kinds of developments I fear. The big guys come in and tear out the old, replacing it with mediocrity, because their main interest is not preserving our city, but making bigs bucks. Certainly worse homes have been saved by individuals whose love of old architecture and our city have led them to do so. The old homes 'say St. Louis'. This new development isn't even infill...it's new suburban urban design, and the design can be found in any city. I do not like these new homes, or how this development is erasing St. Louis's old streetscape. A big BOOOOO to the developers.

Marmar wrote:These are the kinds of developments I fear. The big guys come in and tear out the old, replacing it with mediocrity, because their main interest is not preserving our city, but making bigs bucks. Certainly worse homes have been saved by individuals whose love of old architecture and our city have led them to do so. The old homes 'say St. Louis'. This new development isn't even infill...it's new suburban urban design, and the design can be found in any city. I do not like these new homes, or how this development is erasing St. Louis's old streetscape. A big BOOOOO to the developers.

All of the new homes on Washington Ave advertised on their website are either being built on surface parking lots or vacant lots between Sarah & Boyle. Two of the three classic homes below are on Washington, just east of Sarah (4000 block?), and are not mentioned on their website. Are we sure that these townhomes are replacing all of the classic homes pictured below?

Man, I really wish Gaslight Square could be what it once was...

^That's exactly what I wish. You can forget about that now, though.

And, Zezuz, do you really fail to see the poor design in these homes? Even if the few remaining homes ARE restored, with the development going in as shown, architecturally it's a big letdown. Now that most of the homes are gone and empty lots left, at least they could have given us something with more of a cutting edge, if not more dense and urban.

That said, when I drive around through what has been built in GLS, I get a very distinct feeling that I'm in suburbia. Sorry if I offend anyone, but these are my feelings.

I moved to STL after all the initial hype of GS, so I never had expectations of how "cutting-edge" the architecture was supposed to be. While I don't consider GS to have "cutting-edge" architecture, I certainly wouldn't call it a "big letdown" either. As I said above, I'm not a fan of some of the exterior color choices on the townhouses, but I don't think they have a poor design. Rowles' single-family home is stunning - the next time you're in the neighborhood, stop and take a tour.



When completely finished, GS will have roughly 190-200+ units on 2 blocks (with an average price of 320K+), which is relatively dense compared to the surrounding neighborhood. You're certainly entitiled to your opinion, but as a GS resident for over a year, I don't feel that the neighborhood is suburban at all (I believe we had this same discussion a several pages back in this thread?). I hope that GS continues to spur similar development on surrounding blocks.



Marmar, what empty lots are you referring to? There are currently 4 open lots in the two blocks of GS. And to my knowledge only one of these 4 lots had a building that was actually razed (a single-story building on the Northeast corner of Olive & Whittier). All four of these lots have plans for condo buildings - I've heard that construction on a 12-14 unit building will start in the next few months on the Northeast corner of Olive & Boyle.

Let's not worry about exactly where empty lots are, exactly where new construction is or where rehab is going on...that's really skirting the issue. Fact is, developers are building structures that are inappropriate architecturally as well as functionally for this urban area and parts of the immediate adjoining area. Olive was once a busy secondary thouroughfare (all the vacant store fronts are a clue...they didn't build businesses unless there was traffic), yet for all I can see developers wanted to create another Westminster or McPhereson. If the rennaissance of the city continues (no sign its slowing) and the West End renaissance moves north of Delmar, (and it's only a matter of time before office buildings are built downtown and possibly even in Grand Center), then what role does a vital street such as Olive play? Look at a map. You're going to be plagued with a lot of commuters going home to the northern reaches of the West End from downtown and Grand Centre. Olive should have been designed to be lined with businesses and restaurants, residential above. IOW, they shouldn't have changed the function of this street.

I'm not trying to butt heads, Zezuz, but you really need to do some serious research into the function of streets in an area such as this.

Yes, there are a couple (literally) attractive homes, but lacking are the few steps up from the sidewalk, where the earth is mounded up, making the homes sit tall and prould. In GLS, the homes sit on the same level as the street, very untypical for this (and most) areas of the city and gives it a suburban-y look. Regardless, those few attractive homes don't make much difference when one takes all the rest of the new construction into consideration. (And there's that new building that I mentioned a few months ago that looks like the back of the building. You urged me to drive by. I did. It still looks the the back end of a building.)

My take on the new GLS: A development to draw (uninitiated to city life) suburbanites to the city (something that should never be done), built by developers who have no clue as to the function of a city street grid and have no concept of urban design.

Again, I must offer apologies if I have offended you or anyone else. This is not my intent. I love St. Louis more than any other city, its urban architecture that few outside know and is lacking in all those American "glamour" cities. And I do remember when GLS was in it's heyday. I just hate to see it or other parts of the city screwed up by inappropriate developments, poor planning and lacklustre (to be kind) architecture.