urbanSTL

Cinder block beats the living daylights out of vinyl. And those houses in Chicago would be 1/3 the price here.

The architecture of our city is too valuable to be met with substandard infill, and I and others consider brick front/vinyl side substandard for St. Louis...it LOOKS CHEAP, and the light color draws your eye away from the front to the sides, unless you're standing smack dab in front of one. Just drive west on 44 and look at Botanical Heights....how can someone even begin to call these homes attractive with that sea of white dominating and drawing your eye to it?

Opus's Park East Lofts project on Euclid will be very similar (although smaller) than that Philly job.

I noticed the cinderblock on the sides of new buildings in Chicago. I guess I'd prefer the cinderblock over the vinyl, but still not much of an improvement.

Isn't the renovated Days Inn on Washington going to look somewhat like the building that gasm pictured?

DeBaliviere wrote:Isn't the renovated Days Inn on Washington going to look somewhat like the building that gasm pictured?

I think it's hard to tell from the one freaking window panel they've replaced. Has anyone seen and actual rendering?

DeBaliviere wrote:Isn't the renovated Days Inn on Washington going to look somewhat like the building that gasm pictured?

I hope so!

Marmar wrote:If I had my druthers about the whole infill thing, I'd insist that the old methods of construction be used...and before you guffaw at the cost of doing so, a couple years back I saw on "This Old House" that in Boston, several builders, craftsmen, carpenters, etc. were learning the old methods of construction in order to truly fit new construction in with the old. I think St. Louis architecture is every bit as important to itself as Boston's (though much of Boston's is from an earlier era), and therefore just as worthy to follow suit. Should I even mention that the same thing was done in many European cities after the ravages of WW2? Methinks some of our developers aim too low, or are cutting corners to reap higher profits in these vinyl sided monstrosities. Vinyl belongs in the far out burbs, with all the other plasticity that they offer.

"This Old House" -- that is a great show.



Have they ever come to St. Louis?



I think they should, there are plenty of old homes for them to test their magic.

I haven't seen any new homes go up in two years on 5700 McPherson, but some new brick entry columns are going in. What are these called exactly?

That will be a big topic for the next meeting which will be in late summer. We'll see what comes of it. The main reasons I hear in opposition are fear that it will lead to a rise in crime that they experienced decades ago, drivers will drive too fast and run over their kids, and drivers will cut through the neighborhood. One lady said that they're still using Des Peres and Waterman to get around the FPP/Skinker intersection which became popular during the I64 rebuild.

In the meantime there will be meetings for the TOD study for Forest Park and Delmar stations.

I can't imagine removing the MASSIVE Metro garage at Delmar and DeBaliviere is even remotely feasible.

And extending Lucier Park to Delmar seems like a bad idea to me.

The Metro garage going away seems fanciful to me too. H3 said they called them up and on a 25 year time scale they said it's not out of the question. So what would we like to see if it happened?

Rearranging Lucier Park is to put more eyes on the park. As it is everything faces away.

I haven't asked every person I've met in the neighborhood, but those that I've brought up the topic with want to keep them citing traffic and crime reduction. I recently heard someone say they're still (that is since the Metrolink construction finished) cutting through Des Peres and Waterman to avoid FPP/Skinker. People get real nervous when the idea of opening some of them up. I guess they envision drive-thru drug-dealing, burglars making quick getaways, and rush-hour traffic cutting through. A lot of residents have been here for decades and I think worry the bad times in the 70s and 80s might return. It certainly frustrates visitors, but I guess that's the point.

Seems to backfire in some instances for example school buses can't get to Hamilton Elementary from Delmar so they add traffic to the neighborhood getting there. I don't envy the people on the 6100 blocks trying to make lefts on to Skinker. I've also heard it theorized that criminals like closed streets because they know there's only one direction to worry about someone in a car seeing them. No doubt it makes it harder for first responders to get where they're going.

I hope the topic gets a full airing in the Neighborhood planning meeting on Tuesday.

What would the justification be for opening the grid up?

Skink-D is a great neighborhood as it is. If you need to get across it, take Waterman. If you need to go east from the 6100 block take the alley. If you need to get to the 6100 block from the 6000 block take the alley. The only change I would make is to open Des Peres to Delmar. Other than that, I like all of the odd dead ends, curving streets, and alleyways. Those oddities and inconveniences (Nina Place, DeGiviervile, Greg Freeman Park, the bridges over the Metrolink tracks), along with being sandwiched between the Loop, Forest Park, and three Metrolink Stations make it a great walking neighborhood. Not to be blunt, but who cares if non-resident drivers are inconvenienced?

It's a waste of time and money to make people drive all the extra to get to their house or other destination.

It funnels traffic onto the streets that are open. I don't think it's fair to those on Waterman to have all the extra traffic, and the school bus example I cited earlier. It adds to the rush hour gridlock on the surrounding big streets because traffic trying to access the neighborhood has to spend all that more time on them.

First responders can't get to where they need to be as quickly.

The blockages are ugly. Some you can't ride a bike through.

The neighborhood bills itself as open and welcoming, but the street configuration says differently. They say "we're scared" "stay out"

How did the streets become closed in the first place? Votes among block members, neighborhood council, squeaky wheels complaining to the alderman?

The streets belong to the city not to people on a given block.

Way back when the Metrolink extension construction was about to commence people were furious that Des Peres was going to be closed at the tracks. Seemed ironic to me.

I'd open Rosedale from Washington to Waterman, and Nina at McPherson right now. I'd open Des Peres at Delmar when development fills in more near there. I'd like to see the streets connected again around a reconfigured Lucier Park along with the development as shown in the neighborhood planning.

I live in Skinky-D and I don't necessarily mind the streets... you sort of get used to them. I'd be okay with opening them up, particularly Des Peres from Forest Park to Delmar. That's the big one for me. Would love to see that happen.

Permits pulled for 5789 and 5791. They're filling up fast, get 'em while their hot!