After snapping pictures of the new Arch Museum entrance, I went by the old Macy’s Garage. The entrance was fenced off and the ramp on 7th was blocked off. It is in bad repair and makes me wonder if it is going to be demolished or closed like the Garage at Locust and Tucker. Anyone have information on this?

Interesting. I get some suspicion about Kiener garages too. Especially with Hardee's gone. Some of the storefronts have paper signs up on them and are completely cleared out.

They may just be for lease, but it seems like once things close there, nothing goes in. Signs of demo? Redevelopment? Or just terrible luck for downtown?

dylank wrote: ↑

Jul 05, 2017

Interesting. I get some suspicion about Kiener garages too. Especially with Hardee's gone. Some of the storefronts have paper signs up on them and are completely cleared out.

They may just be for lease, but it seems like once things close there, nothing goes in. Signs of demo? Redevelopment? Or just terrible luck for downtown?

I would have to say the first part is combination of too much stand alone structured parking, surface parking and not enough demand supported in part by city treasurer office supporting more structured parking over the years. Downtown's job hit is also a hit in demand over the years. Demolishing the Arch parking garage and not building a new garage on the landing was the first sensible step in a while. I believe Great River Greenway owns the surface parking lot where Chouteau Greenway/Park is going in near Busch. Think the asphalt should be pulled up and at least some temporary playing fields whether it be softball/soccer go in place for downtown residents.

The second part and more difficult going forward is the change in tenant demands and development. Filling ATT One center is going to be a problem in part that any major tenant will ask about parking and saying that their is such and such garage two blocks away won't cut it. To top that off, I'm assuming BPV will incorporate more parking in phase II for revenues and residential tower which is also crazy with two garages already sandwiching the project, Those will require some creative solutions but now sure the answer

dylank wrote: ↑

Jul 05, 2017

Interesting. I get some suspicion about Kiener garages too. Especially with Hardee's gone. Some of the storefronts have paper signs up on them and are completely cleared out.

They may just be for lease, but it seems like once things close there, nothing goes in. Signs of demo? Redevelopment? Or just terrible luck for downtown?

There have been multiple good credit, recognizable name tenants that have wanted to be in the Kiener garages. The owner is a REIT out of Chicago and requires a clause in the Lease that they can terminate with X days notice and they will not bend on it. No tenant is going to invest $100k in a space and risk having their Lease terminated a few months later.

The bottom line is the owners just don't care-- they are a parking company and that's the revenue they care about.

^ then this sounds like an ideal case for an eminent domain threat. they either ease their lease terms so that their f*cking garages aren't a complete blight on downtown, or they lose their garages.

I called the parking company on Tuesday who runs this, got a voicemail...they haven't returned my call