I hope that Jerde's designs are more like their international ones. Look at their "Beursplein" project.
Nearly fifty years after World War II, Rotterdam was still suffering from poor reconstruction. The city's busiest traffic artery severed downtown shopping into two separate, and weakened, districts. To heal the split and the city, Jerde collaborated with de Architecten Cie to create a pedestrian street below the six-lane traffic barrier. Open to the sky, under gently curving glass canopies that protect shoppers against inclement weather...
Hopefully the pedestrian connection beneath 70 will look as nice as that! If it does, I no longer am that skeptical about the Bottle District and this project.
It is also nice to know that they are the ones that did the Bellagio. I don't know much about Vegas or any casinos, and kind of think they all are kind of cheesy, but it seems that place is pretty nice for a casino.
Browsing through their site, they have extensive experience with some great projects - I feel as though we're lucky as a city to get this type of development. It's great to have M/W and other locals take on good projects, but having an accomplished international firm here is big.
Here is why I think this is good news. Between the BPV and the Pinnacle deal, what has been shown is that the "experts" (people who are investing this money must be VERY sure) think that STL market can and will sustain the investment and get them the returns.
I am sure there will be people in this forum who will have issues with the plans, based on historical or aesthetic values, but the bottomline is that
BIG companies (gambling and sports which ALWAYS calculate a good return on their investment.... I know... I know... gambling and calculation is an oxymoron ) are investing BIG $$$$$.
I agree with previous posters that this kind of development is only good for the area. Plus, one thing I haven't seen mentioned is the fact that people driving through STL who see major construction going on can see the type of investment that's going on here...
That said, I hope these condo owners enjoy the railroad trestle right outside, with trains sounding the horn several times per day.
When all phases of construction have been completed, there will be a total of 220,810 sq ft of retail space and 375 high-end residential units within 8 towers overlooking the riverfront. Parking garages for nearly 2,200 cars will be built adjacent to the railroad tracks along the riverfront. A rooftop park for residents is featured and will function as a sound buffer.
Pinnacle’s premier destination in downtown St. Louis will soon bring new
vitality to the heart of the riverfront area, where this great river city began
240 years ago. Growing from the banks of the Mississippi River, the St. Louis Metropolitan Area is now the nation’s 18th largest, with more than 2.6 million residents.
Pinnacle’s downtown property on the Landing sits in the shadow of the 630-foot Gateway Arch, which draws 4.1 million visitors per year, making it among the most-visited monuments in the National Park System. The property is also adjacent to St. Louis’ Central Business District, the America’s Center convention center and the 66,000-seat Edward Jones Dome, resting at the nexus of four Interstate highways (44, 55, 64 and 70) and MetroLink, the regions’ light rail system.
This destination spot will be ideally suited to business travelers, visitors to the many nearby attractions and customers seeking exciting gaming action and entertainment amid the vitality of St. Louis’ historic riverfront.
The dynamic curves of the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch blend with the traditionally straight skyline to create the unmistakable St. Louis image. The Pinnacle project unites curves with the rectilinear to create a modern air, employs light and glass to cultivate life and excitement, and incorporates familiar materials throughout to generate warmth and comfort. Pinnacle seeks to not only bring entertainment and excitement to St. Louis, but to build on the city’s iconography by fully embracing its character.
Economic Impact
Pinnacle’s world-class project will invest more than $400 million into downtown St. Louis to create 2,000 jobs and produce an exciting entertainment destination.
Property Size
Pinnacle’s property sits on 7.3 acres with a gaming floor of approximately
75,000 square feet.
Construction Period/Opening Date
Construction on this facility began in September 2005, with an anticipated opening in the second half of 2007, upon approval from the Missouri Gaming Commission.
Ownership
Casino One Corporation, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.
Hotel Interior Design Team
Brayton & Hughes
Management
Daniel R. Lee
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Wade Hundley
President
Steve Capp
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Jack Godfrey
Senior Vice President, Secretary & General Counsel
Alain Uboldi
Chief Operating Officer
Design Approach
Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, the design will incorporate open space, yet retain an extremely contemporary ambiance. The look and feel of the project overall will be warm, urban, modern, hip and sophisticated.
Development
Project Highlights
• Single-level, approximately 75,000 square-foot casino, featuring 2,000 slot machines and more than 40 table games;
• Five star luxury hotel with 200 guestrooms and adjoining luxury spa;
• Business center;
• Banquet facilities;
• Fine dining venue;
• Additional dining venues including a high-quality buffet;
• Retail shops;
• Night club;
• 22,000 square-foot Convention/Meeting space;
• Swimming pool overlooking the St. Louis arch;
• $50 million residential/retail development in the surrounding area;
• Secure pedestrian connection to Central Business District, Edward Jones Dome and America’s Center.
Hotel
The project features two hotels, including a five-star property and an Embassy Suites. The five-star hotel will include 200 rooms, a spa, two fine restaurants and a magnificent pool and entertainment area off the hotel lobby overlooking the Gateway Arch. At night, the hotel tower will light up in an arc reminiscent of the Arch from the side of the tower and across the top, creating a signature mark for the property and a stunning new addition to the city skyline.
The porte cochere canopy drives through the glass entrance wall into the lobby to seamlessly connect the exterior with the interior. A rhythm of dramatically lit brick walls extends through the main walkway, anchoring the space to the exterior. Venues and building functions in wood and glass interact rhythmically down the corridor. The flowing pattern of wood beams in the ceiling accentuates a sense of movement throughout the space.
Casino
The contrasting grid of soffits and ceiling tiles highlight the casino’s curving circulation and recessed ceiling feature. A deconstructed stain glass window casts light on the main pathway, filling it with color and enhancing the table games excitement that lines its edges. The elevated casino bar overlooks the flow of activity, which culminates in the high limit area with its waterfall of crystal and light.
Nightclub
Soon to be the new downtown St. Louis hotspot, the night club will transform itself from restaurant to night club to music venue, appealing to multiple consumer audiences. Stainless steel, wood and darkly stained concrete contrast with the rich glow of red resin to provide a hip and timeless vibe. The curved structural shape, derived from the great modern works of Saarinen and Calatrava, creates an intimate interior space while providing a strong visual presence in the casino. Clad with stainless steel mesh, the venue’s exterior wall effectively blurs the relationship between the indoors and outdoors. A gigantic wood window allows muffled sounds and screened sights to pass through its dimensions, teasing outsiders to the metamorphosis occurring inside.
Food Venues
With several options to choose from, visitors can enjoy a variety of dining experiences ranging from fine dining to fast food. Dining options also include a high-quality buffet, 24-hour dining, a VIP lounge, coffee café and sports bar/restaurant.
Reminiscent of the color and movement of Union Station, the buffet merges the station elements of steel and brick with the contemporary design of open ceilings and low walls. The brass bar stock laid into the stained concrete floor conjures up images of train tracks, while the curved carpet pattern lines indicate the foot traffic patterns. A barrel vault features multi-colored resin panels inspired by the Grand Hall’s ceiling and the mosaic artwork of the Three Sisters.
Pedestrian Connection
Pedestrians from America’s Center, the Edward Jones Dome or the Central Business District will access the site via a secure pedestrian connection which will tunnel beneath Interstate 70 along the western edge of the site, and enter at the casino and adjoining amenities.
I am glad for the residential construction even though I think they could build more units to create a riverfront residential phenomenon. We should begin emulating Vancouver with tall slender condo and apartment buildings along the Riverfront. The train issue can be solved with sound barriers ala the Illinois Institute of Technology way. If more developers could join Pinnacle on the riverfront we could possibly bury the rail lines.
How can this be positive?
More than 500 new residents and on the riverfront!
Downtown entertainment which is a national trend inhand with the urban lifestyle movement.
Walking distance to the Eads Bridge Metrolink Station > transit possible population!
Pinnacle entertainment and commercial could finally address the need to capitalize on the tourism market that is blocks away at the Arch and spacious Jefferson National Memorial Espansion etc Park.
Adaptive reuse of brownfields and real estate that has been crippled in value from the interstate highways and lost many businesses as well.
A possible launching pad for redevelopment of the north riverfront into a mixeduse district and possibly a the next loft district + maybe transformation of the riverfront north of the Eads Bridge one day into an attractive park or promenade.
No TIFs or tax abatements? The private sector investing without public dollars.
High visibility
I am still nerved by privatization of the public realm, but it's not new.
Refreshed attitudes about downtown St. Louis if not yet (and much has already happened to turn off the negativism) convinced of the City's resurgence.
Jerde Development designed this kitschy crap? It's hideous! It has no relation to the existing architecture of the riverfront. Looks like a tacky hollywood movie prop. This can't be the work of a world-famous architect like Jerde. Its pathetically awful!
Here is one sketch of the project downtown from the St. Louis Front Page website. Looks like an outdoor mall type project - similar to ballpark village. Let's hope it doesn't close itself off from the Landing or development that could occur north of it.
Jerde Development designed this kitschy crap? It's hideous! It has no relation to the existing architecture of the riverfront.
To each their own, I like it. There isn't much left (buildings wise) on that end of Laclede's Landing - finally... no more surface lots. I could care less if that end of the district looks like The Boulevard. I think THIS IS exactly what needs to be built to attract the everyday tourist and everyday suburbanite to Laclede's Landings/Downtown streets and infrastructure. I also DO NOT think that rendering looks NOT fitting in. It is contemporary and edgy... look at the design of the buildings. All different - some decco, some historic, some modern/contemporary. I like the idea of fountains and streetscape looking back at the skyline and arch. It draws the city into it.
Here's a few things to ponder and/or comments I have about this project.
1) Will this likely hurt The Bottle District Plans? OR will it enhance the Bottle District to be completed?
2) I like the idea that this is private money. I like the idea that this is a CASINO's corp. money - for the point being that they will keep this district shinny and new, entertaining and lively, and invest when need to be invested in.
3) I like the idea that the Investors are looking at this as a residential neighborhood (grocers, upscale stores, etc...) NOT just an entertainment district (restaurants and bars)... Lacledes Landing has that.
I'm amazed at how negative everyone is about this project. I've waited for years for privately funded new urban development. .... now we actually have people proposing that very thing and you'd think they just offered to dynamite the arch.
I really think all the negative stuff is way off -
1: the "kitschy crap" that everyone hates is NOT the proposed downtown project - those pictures are from the st. Louis COUNTY project. We basically have no renderings yet as for as I can tell (with the one exception of a "street scape photo" found on SLFP - which appears to be nothing more than a "cconcept drawing"). Lets wait until we actually see what they propose before we attack it.
2: I'm heartened - rather than worried - about what they saying. Yes they did mention "private parks and pools." But they also said they want the area to be a "neighborhood," that they wanted it to be "urban" and that they wanted it to be "distinct" ... those are all good things. And they tend to imply (to me at least) that they want to develop a truly urban environment. I don't get the impression that they want top form a giant gated community open only to the few who happen to live there. They're proposing cafe's a restreaunts for the love of god .. those require people traffic.
3. The are proposing NEW RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION NORTH OF THE LANDING! This is pecisley what everyome has been calling for for years ... its the very thing that we lamented was absent from pinacle's casino proposal. This is a GOOD thing. We will finally get people living on the landing ...
4: for the love of god - its privately financed. Not a TIFF or subsidy mentioned anywhere. How long have we been waiting for THAT to occur.
When I heard this news I was really excited. I'm floored that no one else seems to be ....
Pinnacle unveils details of Lumiere Place development
BETSY TAYLOR
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.'s new casino development downtown will be called Lumiere Place, referencing both St. Louis' French heritage and an arc of light that will be illuminated along a 24-story hotel tower.
Pinnacle Chief Executive Dan Lee provided an update of the project on Thursday. He pitched the project as one that ultimately could transform a roughly 20-block area next to the Mississippi River.
Lee also said Pinnacle would like Missouri to loosen its gambling loss limit, a move he said would help draw high rollers to the casino. Lee highlighted security measures Pinnacle would implement to keep residents and visitors safe in the city.
Construction is underway on a roughly $430 million Pinnacle casino and hotel complex. The casino will feature 40 gaming tables and 2,000 slots. A 200-room luxury hotel, with a tower that will be illuminated from within, will have a 10,000 square-foot spa, two fine dining restaurants and a pool and garden area.
The garden has been designed as a wedding spot, with a view of the Gateway Arch serving as a backdrop, Lee said.
Pinnacle has also purchased an existing Embassy Suites hotel for about $38 million and is spending an additional $10 million to refurbish it, he said.
The company owns or has an option on 20 acres near the Laclede's Landing neighborhood in the city.
A master plan calls for significantly more development at Lumiere Place, with 220,000 square feet of commercial space, 375 condominium units and parking for more than 2,000 cars.
While the company is making those plans, Lee made it clear that the company must prove the markets exist before moving onto the next phase of building and will seek incentives from the government for building downtown.
"Obviously, if you can't find the tenants, you don't build it," he said.
Lee said Pinnacle would support an elimination of Missouri's $500 loss limit rule. "I would like to see the loss limit changed," he said.
The law prohibits anyone from buying more than $500 in chips or slot machine credits over a two-hour period and requires records to be kept of all gambling activity. Gamblers use a club card through which casinos can track their losses.
Pinnacle also will work to convince people that downtown St. Louis is a safe environment to live in or visit. Lee said the casino complex will have strong security.
"I can make 20 acres secure. I can't make a whole city secure," he said.
The executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, Rodney Crim, expressed enthusiasm for Lumiere Place.
"It's the missing link that the downtown and the riverfront have needed for a long time," Crim said.
Pinnacle also plans to build a $375 million casino, hotel and entertainment complex in St. Louis County to be called River City.
matguy70 wrote:Here's a few things to ponder and/or comments I have about this project.
1) Will this likely hurt The Bottle District Plans? OR will it enhance the Bottle District to be completed?
IMHO, both. I think it will hurt it in the short term, but if it is a success, will help it immensly in the long term (a rising tide raises all ships).
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