urbanSTL

I have no time to read through all of the forum posts right now so what exactly is the purpose of this garage. Is it even going to have cars parcking in it or what. I have never heard of a garage with retail in it. That just vexes me. And if all it will do is hold cars, then why the hell did they tear down the Century Building? There is plenty of parking room in St. Louis.Plus look at all the damn green space excuse my french. So much of the land isnt being used and needs development. In my opinion St. Louis is still rotting if they have to tear down a historic place for a garage that has retail in it.

All new garages have retail at the ground level. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I would suggest you do read through this thread, because all your concerns have been covered over and over again.

I had to laugh at this...



I was paging through Time magazine and came across a full-page ad for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It shows a schoolteacher standing with her class in front of a parking garage, and the caption reads "No one looks back fondly on the time they spent in a parking garage." The ad then basically goes on to say how great the NTHP is for preventing old buildings from being torn down for parking garages. Anyone else see this? I don't have a scanner or I'd post it.



Whatever good work they do, they've made some enemies in St. Louis.

That's really funny.



But yeah, I suppose now that what's done is done, does anyone know how far along construction is? Any pictures? Any news on tenants?

jefferson wrote:I had to laugh at this...



I was paging through Time magazine and came across a full-page ad for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It shows a schoolteacher standing with her class in front of a parking garage, and the caption reads "No one looks back fondly on the time they spent in a parking garage." The ad then basically goes on to say how great the NTHP is for preventing old buildings from being torn down for parking garages. Anyone else see this? I don't have a scanner or I'd post it.



Whatever good work they do, they've made some enemies in St. Louis.

I have this hanging on my wall at work. The most ironic part was that the ad was in Parade magazine at the height of the Century/Garage Mahal debate. I'll scan it in Monday for everyone to enjoy.

^I'm not Jewish, but I know what chutspah is, and THAT is CHUTSPAH...!

took this back in march, those are arcs from 2 people welding:







i always assumed the paul brown and post office were the driving force behind it's construction, though some people talk like it was a random act of evil.



also, its really tall eh? i counted like maybe 13 stories



it seems like its going up fast, they have the stair piers done & the first 4 or 5 levels poured.



theres a good vibe in the area during the day, with all the construction, and rehab in the post office - plus the crowds at the city grocer & the new shops on Olive & in the p.o.



more from the last few months, laclede gas bld:







inside post office











between the 2 atriums in the post office































the chemical bld

I love the shots of the OPO's interior atrium - that's definitely a perspective I have not seen before.

^ Agreed... I worked across the street from the OPO for 2 years and i never even knew it had an atrium...Now that it's finished I have to go see it!!! Thanks for the pics. awesome

Did there use to be stained glass panels across the horizontal (white) beams? Look underneath the former glass roof, the pitched roof with small holes, directly underneath it are large rectangular frames.. I wonder if there were stained glass ceilings there before. anyone know?

Does anyone know when this garage is suppose to be complete?

The sign doesn't say, but it definitely announces, "The Excitement Is Building!"

Does anyone know if the painted green template on the east side of the Syndicate building represents the finished height of the Century Garage?



Since the finished structure of the garage will be close to the Syndicate building is this paint some type of protective coating for the brick and mortar?

^It looks like after a nuclear bomb blast and all that's left are people's shadows.

rickC wrote:Does anyone know if the painted green template on the east side of the Syndicate building represents the finished height of the Century Garage?



Since the finished structure of the garage will be close to the Syndicate building is this paint some type of protective coating for the brick and mortar?

The garage will be 12 stories tall. The windows you see at the base of the lightwell represent the 10th floor on the Syndicate. So yes, it looks like that green paint represents the height of the garage.

I think it's completely sad that the "nation's worst newspaper" didn't cover the real reason why the Century had to come down. As bikin'_man says, it's obvious that it wasn't for the OPO's parking needs.



Our leaders and their cronies devised a way to award a no-bid contract to major campaign contributors and sweeten the deal with even more unnecessary demolition and construction. The OPO had just been completely renovated with taxpayer money less than 20 years prior. So the added demolition and construction provided in the Century sweetened the no-bid contract on the OPO, and made the developer fees paid to these preferred companies headed by major donors all the more lucrative.



But the real irony is that while the Post didn't cover the real scoop years ago, the same mayoral insider is now blogging about how poor the paper is, when he likely just misses his former influence over it. Back when there was an inside-deal to be covered and before the boom of blogs, the mayor's political stategist got the Post to play the story as a traditional battle of preservation-vs-progress. It's then funny (or really sad) then how cell phones or midnight basketball can become mayoral scandals, thanks to Post "coverage," but to this day, most think only of the Century as a botched opportunity for preservation, instead of a real scandal.

Amen!

bikin'_man wrote:does any think it's kind of funny, well, not funny, sad actualy that the whole reason that the this grage was built was because the people that wanted to renovate the old post office was to have their own parking garage? but the old post office is 100% leased and a fully functioning building while the garage is no where near done. every time i walk by i get a tear in the eye.

I know that the Paul Brown building would not have moved forward with it's renovation if it were not for the century garage going up. Both the Paul Brown and Arcade will utilize the century garage... The OPO district needed that garage, too bad they couldn't have built it on soon to be waste of space urban plaza on the north side of the OPO

southslider wrote:I think it's completely sad that the "nation's worst newspaper" didn't cover the real reason why the Century had to come down.

Actually they did cover the real reason it came down. It's just that the real reason differs from your version.

Right, but they seem to be functioning just fine with the garage still many, many months from completeion.

MattnSTL wrote:Right, but they seem to be functioning just fine with the garage still many, many months from completeion.

But classes aren't in session yet. So they will live without it for a while.