urbanSTL

I wish we knew more about Pyramid's plans. They have so many irons in the fire, and the transformation of St. Louis Centre into 600 Washington, along with renovations to the former SB&F/Dillards and Jefferson Arms will consume not only massive amounts of money, but time as well.



I share Southslider's concerns about Locust Street. With the exception of Famous Barr, it is such a lifeless street. And even Famous (or should I start calling it Macy's already?) cannot live up to its full potential as long as the ghastly skybridge and St. Louis Centre are allowed to screw up the Locust Street front elevation (I know, I should be patient).



While the developers of downtown's major projects (Pyramid, Ghazi, and Cordish) court the likes of Borders and Whole Foods, among other chains, for their respective proposals, I'd submit that the Mercantile Library space would be an appropriate location for a store of this size and scope. Absent of such a plan, smaller retail would work as well, and it would be a natural location for a store like Walgreens IMHO.



The Marquette is one of my favorite developments, and as much as I'd like to live so close to the dome and Busch Stadium, the riverfront, shopping at Famous, etc., I find the immediate area (4th and Broadway, and Locust) to be somewhat depressing in contrast to much of the rest of downtown. The Fed's plaza is every bit as egregious of a mistake as the one that replaced the Ambassador Theater- it sucks the life out of the immediate area and seriously screws up traffic flow from the riverfront area west into the core of downtown. And southslider, you pretty much covered the other serious voids along Locust Street.



So the Mercantile Library represents the one shot we have to bring some life, any life, to this moribund stretch of downtown. The old facade was beautiful to be sure, but after all this waiting, I want to see some signs of life there even if the current facade remains.

ThreeOneFour wrote:I wish we knew more about Pyramid's plans. They have so many irons in the fire, and the transformation of St. Louis Centre into 600 Washington, along with renovations to the former SB&F/Dillards and Jefferson Arms will consume not only massive amounts of money, but time as well.

I've heard: they hope to begin construction on 600 Wash (SLC) as soon as September; they're furiously working on financing. The north skybridge may fall as soon as January, I dunno about the south one.



The Stix building will likely take longer, but there have been some investigative engineering work taking place over there.



Jefferson Arms is likely to sit as-is until Pyramid gets "bored." Don't hold your breath waiting for that one.



Dorsa demo is slowly winding up as we speak.



Contracts are in place for the Arcade, still on track for construction to begin in earnest this winter, but I don't thing design's underway.



And... absolutely nothing about the Mercantile.

Good stuff, phobia - thanks for the update.



I guess this is the downside to having one company so heavily involved in downtown development - we have to do a lot of waiting before certain projects get started and finished. I want the Arcade, 600 Washington, and this project all to be done now!



I agree with ThreeOneFour's assertion that the Mercantile Library building would be great for a large retailer. It even has a great prominent corner entrance at Sixth and Locust, as well as several other entrances on the other sides. Heck, after the re-cladding, it even looks kind of has the look and feel an old department store when you approach it from street level. If the cladding is going to be kept, I think that with some creative touches, it could end up looking pretty cool.



One part of the building/complex that intrigues me is the tiny sliver of a building that faces Olive, next to Geechi's Florist. It would be perfect for small, loft office space - I'd love to see it sealed off from the rest of the building(s) and renovated as a fairly quick and easy project.

I think the gradual build up of downtown is more of a positive than anything. It's growing at a pace that it can be supported at. I think if there were 100 developers doing 100 projects there would be a lot of saturation, and many of the projects would fail. This gradual progress is moving at a pace that can handle it. In 5 years things will be crazy downtown, because it was gradual.



But I'm with you on one aspect...I want it now!