urbanSTL

According to Downtown St. Louis Parntership, Old Post Office Plaza will break ground next Wednesday, August 8.



Link to renderings: [/url]http://www.bsnarchitects.com/PORTFOLIO/ ... ge_01/[url]



Edit: sorry link is not hot, but the following is the text of the Downtown Partnership's email:



"A weekly memo to members of the Downtown St. Louis Partnership



August 3, 2007



On Wednesday August 8, 10 a.m., we will officially celebrate the start of construction on Old Post Office Plaza. Joining us on the program will be

former Senator John Danforth, Mayor Francis Slay, Alderwoman Phyllis Young, Downtown Now! Chairman Ron Kruszewski and Architect Barry Sampson of Baird Sampson Neuert. The ceremony will take place on Locust Street between 8th and 9th.



When completed next spring, the award-winning design will incorporate

extensive landscaping and water features with a sculpture "Torso di Ikaro" by

Artist Igor Mitoraj as its focal point. Development of the Plaza was

identified as a key component of revitalization of the Old Post Office

District in the 1999 Downtown Development Action Plan.



Funding for the project is a total of $8.16 Million, including support from

the Danforth Foundation, the US Bancorp Community Development Corporation andthe St. Louis Brownsfields Cleanup Fund (via SLDC). In addition, GatewayFoundation has funded the design fees and will install and maintain the sculpture. The budget includes funding for active and ongoing programming and enhanced maintenance. The Plaza is owned by Downtown Now!"

Looks to be a unique space. Through I'm not keen on the idea of more greenspace DT, it seems as though this could have the potential to draw people during lunch or after work.

Not only does the OPO site have better pedestrian-scaled surroundings and more 24/7 land uses than Gateway Mall, but now this half-block urban plaza will have a much cooler, inviting design, which looks a lot more like Millennium Park than Gateway Foundation's donated scrap metal set to be dumped along Market Street.

^^^^FYI



OPO link

holy crap! from the link above ^



this is looking north, with the orpheum theater behind the screen. and i guess the new roberts tower is the dark thing in the top right. more pictures in link







COPYRIGHT © 2006 BSN

How will this affect construction of the Roberts' tower? I guess part of the plaza will be closed if it is completed before the tower actually breaks groud?

This isn't really related, but I've been wondering why the city put No Parking signage along the east side of Ninth Street in front of the OPO instead of meters?



I realize they're probably encouraging people to park in the Garage Mahal across the street, but seriously, why is that extra lane necessary?



Anyway, the plaza looks pretty nice in the renderings I've seen.

ThreeOneFour wrote:This isn't really related, but I've been wondering why the city put No Parking signage along the east side of Ninth Street in front of the OPO instead of meters?



I realize they're probably encouraging people to park in the Garage Mahal across the street, but seriously, why is that extra lane necessary?

I also don't get the "no parking zone" around the entire Post Office building (although the north side allows special permit parking). When 9th street reopened they didn't have the "no parking" signs up for a few days and of course people jammed in there for the free parking. It looked great (dense and urban) and the sidewalk was much more inviting with the cars parked there.



Also, I was hesitant about more green space downtown, but I think this urban plaza looks really cool.

Maybe St. Louis is ready for the return of a public space like this? Does it encourage gathering rather than passing through?



In Europe, urban plazas don't just have tables and chairs for a few but for several hundred.



I'd like to see the design of the OPO Plaza operate something like Amsterdam's Leidseplatz. I think the primary function is to people watch while you eat and drink.

AvantStL wrote:I also don't get the "no parking zone" around the entire Post Office building (although the north side allows special permit parking). When 9th street reopened they didn't have the "no parking" signs up for a few days and of course people jammed in there for the free parking. It looked great (dense and urban) and the sidewalk was much more inviting with the cars parked there.

My car was one of those jammed into the spots on Ninth Street several times. I'm a big fan of Espresso Mod, and by parking on Ninth, I could also walk to Macy's and City Grocers to do some shopping with a walk that was neither too long nor too short. I don't just miss the parking for selfish reasons, though. Like you, I thought the block looked denser and more attractive with cars parked adjacent to the OPO. Unfortunately, those in charge of this stuff simply don't get it!



(I'm surprised Steve Patterson hasn't mentioned this one yet. He's rightfully complained about the lack of parking on WashAve in the past, which is due to a combination of no parking zones and oversized valet parking areas.)

yeah, it's a joke that you can't park anywhere in front of the OPO, especially on 9th and 7th. It is because it's the home of a federal court room? safety reasons? The same reason why Eagleton still has those ridiculous and unnecessary highway barriers wrapped around it?

State courts.

steve wrote:How will this affect construction of the Roberts' tower? I guess part of the plaza will be closed if it is completed before the tower actually breaks groud?

From the renderings, it appears that all of the complicated stuff, e.g. pool, sculpture, video screen (and whatever that thing is that it is mounted on), lights, etc., are on the western half of the block, while the eastern half is just trees and benches. I suspect the eastern half will be used as a staging area for the Roberts Tower, assuming it ever happens.

I believe the line of thinking is that there will be a restaraunt/cafe in the bottom of Robert's tower facing the west side of the OPO, and that there would be plentiful outdoor space in the plaza associated with the cafe. The renderings might just contain filler if that is the plan, as they would not have a set-up yet for how this would look.

Well, they officially celebrated it. No groundbreaking. No equipment on hand for starting work. They just pulled a cloth off of a sign. I wonder how long this thing is going to sit around before something happens. In a side note, Ed Boxx's handiwork on the side of the Orpheum (where the facade returns) has been re-exposed and looks like they may be treating it with some kind of paint dissolving process. Either that or they got it to its present condition before painting over it before. It looks pretty bad. Giant yellow smear across the terra cotta and some barely legible black words hear and there.

Recently checked out the Old Post Office as a possible wedding reception site. It is the most expensive hall rental we've seen so far except for the Art Museum and History Museum.

I was passing by the OPO at just after 10 this morning and there was a press conference/groundbreaking for the urban plaza. They unveiled a sign with more images on it (the various images meld together and are kind of confusing).



I couldn't really hear what Slay and some other guy were saying, but I'm glad to see some action.

dweebe wrote:Recently checked out the Old Post Office as a possible wedding reception site. It is the most expensive hall rental we've seen so far except for the Art Museum and History Museum.

Congrats.



Sucks about the pricing, though. OPO is a good choice, wouldn't have thought about it (didn't realize you could rent it for something like that).

^^ Friday rates at the Jewel Box in Forest Park weren't too bad, if I remember correctly. I've also been to a great reception at the Schlafly Tap Room - though that may not be your thing.

Grover wrote:^^ Friday rates at the Jewel Box in Forest Park weren't too bad, if I remember correctly. I've also been to a great reception at the Schlafly Tap Room - though that may not be your thing.

We're down to either the Mad Art Gallery or Windows on Washington as our choices for the reception both price out about the same. Wedding will be at St. Stanislaus.



BTW: our friends Desco are the ones that manage the OPO. Their offices are down on the lowest level. (That's where we had to go to get the pricing info.) I forgot to ask about the new Schnucks. I was going to try and work it into the conversation but forgot to ask.

dweebe wrote:Wedding will be at St. Stanislaus.

I dunno there, Pan Dweebeski. Will it count? (Perhaps a small tithe to the archdiocese will pursuade his eminence to grant you a dispensation.)



FWIW (and this was a while ago), we got married in the Sheldon and held the reception there as well. At the time, it was extremely reasonable.

bonwich wrote:

dweebe wrote:Wedding will be at St. Stanislaus.

I dunno there, Pan Dweebeski. Will it count? (Perhaps a small tithe to the archdiocese will pursuade his eminence to grant you a dispensation.)



FWIW (and this was a while ago), we got married in the Sheldon and held the reception there as well. At the time, it was extremely reasonable.

St. Stanislaus was a big church in my fiance's family. Her family is all from north St. Louis but most of the churches they went to are closed or gone. St. Stanislaus is the only remaining one that has any ties.



We thought about the Sheldon, but I was worried about crowds/parking if there was a performance at The Fox. I attendeded a wedding and reception at St. Francis Xavier the same weekend as homecoming and a Fox performance: it was a big hassle



Really, most reception halls charge around the same amount. The big swing in price is in food/drink.

^

Yes.

Juice13610 wrote:Isn't the Old Post Office building where Webster Univ. downtown location is?



At least, that's what I thought their website said.

Yes. You can see a couple of class rooms and computer labs from the lobby.



Just go have lunch at the Pasta House Pronto location in the building. They have a door back door that lets you into the interior of the building so you can look around. The OPO lobby is pretty cool. There's also a city library in the building, but there's no way to access the lobby from the library though.