What about ownership for those lots near the intersection of Cass and 12th? Those will really set the tone of the area.
Northside Neighbor wrote:So what happens if a Waffle House, a Motel 6, a Wendy's, or a Dobbs put up "Coming Soon" signs?
I completely agree with this sentiment. The opportunity to transform HUGE swaths of a major urban center is an opportunity that isn't just rare in the world today (I can't think of a single other urban area in the world except detroit where this opportunity exists) but is an opportunity that is historically extremely rare too. It is something that is similar to the chance to rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire or the redevelopment of Paris during the Haussmann renovations or rebuilding Tokyo after the WWII firebombings.roger wyoming II wrote:^ McKee will have failed the city.
Just look at the awesome city videos thread. We can look just about anywhere in the world for leadership or examples. Whatever we build will affect our city for at least several generations, if not forever. We have the once in a century chance to turn the core of our city into anything we want. If all we can put forward is a another suburban car slum, then we will have proven ourselves to be the backwards, small thinking people that many people in the outside world think we are. We can do better than that.
Personally, the first step in seeing successful developement coming into this corridor is getting the new RAMS stadium built along north Riverfront and not on the Bottlework site. The Rams stadium is going to happen if Stan K wants to stay and will be the next big dollar expenditure after the MRB and Arch Grounds whether people agree with it or not.
Not to be a complete troll, but I'd be fine with North Tucker between Cole and Mullanphy being auto-centric. If a few hotel/motels open up (probably on the lower end like Holiday Inn Express, Drury, Hampton Inn, etc...), along with Waffle House, Steak & Shake, Applebee's, Popeye's, Chick-Fil-A, drive-thru Starbucks, a Dirt Cheap, and a few gas stations, in addition to the McDonald's that is there, I don't see how that's a bad thing. I get that this is a great opportunity to build a continuous urban corridor from scratch, but that's nothing new for St. Louis or even downtown. I'd rather have residential and office development focused in downtown (which they are). I don't see why people would want to have their apartments, condos, or offices on Tucker, which is the widest street in downtown, is now a glorified on-ramp, and will have 24 hour traffic. I'd be supportive of a bunch of new businesses open up shop along North Tucker to get business from commuters who are coming and going across the Stan Musial, even if they build in a car-centric manner. I honestly don't think that'd be a bad thing.
wabash wrote:Not to be a complete troll, but I'd be fine with North Tucker between Cole and Mullanphy being auto-centric. If a few hotel/motels open up (probably on the lower end like Holiday Inn Express, Drury, Hampton Inn, etc...), along with Waffle House, Steak & Shake, Applebee's, Popeye's, Chick-Fil-A, drive-thru Starbucks, a Dirt Cheap, and a few gas stations, in addition to the McDonald's that is there, I don't see how that's a bad thing. I get that this is a great opportunity to build a continuous urban corridor from scratch, but that's nothing new for St. Louis or even downtown. I'd rather have residential and office development focused in downtown (which they are). I don't see why people would want to have their apartments, condos, or offices on Tucker, which is the widest street in downtown, is now a glorified on-ramp, and will have 24 hour traffic. I'd be supportive of a bunch of new businesses open up shop along North Tucker to get business from commuters who are coming and going across the Stan Musial, even if they build in a car-centric manner. I honestly don't think that'd be a bad thing.
I'd be happy if those businesses moved in too as long as they had an urban, pedestrian-oriented design. But it would definitely be negative for downtown and the near north neighborhoods if this stretch is built into a purely auto-oriented street. One of the only advantages the city has against the suburbs is its architecture and walkability. We have an opportunity to re-connect parts of the near north to downtown here. If it is built purely for cars, it will fail.
And I'm 100% behind Northside Neighbor's comments that we need become more proactive in promoting urban planning and design standards on a neighborhood or ward level, if not city level, rather than continue to b**** about individual developments after the fact and on an ad hoc basis. There is absolutely no reason that urban design standards couldn't have been set for McKee's Northside redevelopment area by the CIty prior to granting him the TIF. With that being said, there are plenty of parcels here which aren't owned by McKee. Theoretically, the residents of the 5th Ward with their Alderwoman could still set design standards for future development in this area. Unfortunately, this is Tammika Hubbard's ward, so I have very little faith this will happen. My bet is we'll see solely auto centric development on this stretch and a huge opportunity for the city will be nearly wasted.