urbanSTL

SoulardD wrote:

JMedwick wrote:
As for the remaining sky bridges, given the retail and parking they are talking about, it dones't sound like the mall will be a mall anymore, pretty much making the Famous connections worthless. I am sure when the work is done, the may even just block them off, so it would be in everyone's bes interest for them to be taken down. The one n 6th street I bet stays as i think it also provideds access to the garages across the street to the office tower. The US bank one looks like it is gone in the drawing above, besides, the only reason it would stay is if it offered access to parking.

(I know alot of people hate this skybridge, but I'm just saying.)

If they keep the skybridge over Washington they could turn it into the best lofts in the area. Imagine owning the views down Washington from those huge windows.

Imagine the view of you from Washington.



This is a day that will live in infamy.

Does anyone get a "Hanging Graden" vibe from this. I think this is goig to be awesome, and really bring the street to life. It even has a Link stop under it!



The connection to the Landing just got 100x stronger.

I wouldn't expect to get torched, because I think most people were praying for a tear down and rebuild. However, given that isn't the case, this looks to be a solid project, by a reputable, and consistently high quality company.



As far as feeling flat...Turning the beast inside out to engage the street, along with the removal of the skybridge and completion of the Dillards buildig and its retail, will really put an entirely new face on this end of Wash Ave. Lets face it, the action section has been west of tucker. There is now a bonifide retail cluster being developed on the east end. I think this is going to be great.



And as far as being par for the course...hell I'll take it any day. Seeing as how we used to bogey everything. Lamenting the addition of more condos is a GREAT problem to have.

Nice! This is a good thing to see after a long day of work.

A new vision for St. Louis Centre

By Martin Van Der Werf and Tavia Evans

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

02/17/2006





St. Louis Centre opened in 1985, filled with sparkling shops and fueled by predictions that it would be the rebirth of a struggling downtown. Instead, it became a high-profile symbol of decline.



Now there are plans for a rebirth, but not with shopping. As with most of the rest of downtown, developers say housing is the answer.



Pyramid Cos., one of the leading developers of downtown lofts, has agreed to purchase St. Louis Centre, as well as the former Dillard's department store across Washington Avenue linked to the mall by a skybridge. Pyramid also has agreed to buy One City Centre, a 25-story office building attached to the mall, and the Jefferson Arms, an 11-story apartment building, mostly occupied by the elderly, on Tucker Boulevard.



In all, Pyramid plans to spend more than $260 million.



City officials have called the mall the albatross of downtown, blocking redevelopment near the central business district. It advertised "shopping" on outside walls near the convention center, but out-of-town visitors arrived to find abandoned stores and broken escalators.



"It's highly visible and has received a lot of complaints," said Mayor Francis Slay.



Pyramid plans to keep retail on the first floor of the St. Louis Centre building, but turn the second through fourth stories into condominiums at price tags up to $900,000. The plans call for removing the green-and-white aluminum cladding and making the walls mostly glass, with a series of terraces on the upper floors. Many of the condos would look onto an open-air courtyard with a swimming pool.



"Retail doesn't work here," said John Steffen, owner of Pyramid. "The only way you can have an inward-facing mall is because it is so busy on the streets, there is nowhere to go but inside. That's not the problem in downtown St. Louis."



Pyramid is asking for $34.3 million in tax-increment financing for the St. Louis Centre and Dillard's buildings, and hopes to get another $34 million in state and federal tax credits. For the Jefferson Arms building, Pyramid is seeking another $8.75 million in tax-increment financing.



Pyramid hopes to start the project this spring by tearing down the skybridge that links St. Louis Centre with the Dillard's building. It may take up to three months to tear it down, said Matt O'Leary, Pyramid's senior vice president.



"It's very difficult to tear the bridge down if the mall is still operating," he said. The mall will close no later than January, when the last lease expires. Of the current tenants, only Walgreens and a recently relocated Gold's Gym figure in the post-construction plans submitted by Pyramid to the city.



The adjoining Famous-Barr, soon to be a Macy's, will remain open, said Sharon Bateman, a spokeswoman for the store's new owner, Federated Department Stores, Inc. Her company hasn't seen the plans, she said, but is supportive of any effort to revitalize downtown.



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