urbanSTL

Didn't Kodak sue someone wanting to name a building Downtown the Eastman? Maybe using the Stix name would result in a similar challenge.



As for "laurel, and handy handshake," I've seen Blazing Saddles multiple times, but while laughing all the time, I had never before recognized the pun in that line. Mel Brooks is a comic genius.

Although it has an "e" on the end, "Place de la Concorde" in Paris is in the middle of some of that city's most impressive historic/urban districts. To me, Concord doesn't evoke South County, it evokes Paris..............and grapes.

southslider wrote:Didn't Kodak sue someone wanting to name a building Downtown the Eastman? Maybe using the Stix name would result in a similar challenge

From whom, Charon the boatman or Dennis De Young/ Lawrence Gowan?

We are going to have the "Laurel & Hardy" buildings

If they had called one The Stix, the other should have been The Stones.

TheWayoftheArch wrote:Whomever bought out stix, and owns the Trademark, etc.



but then maybe not.

You may be right. I would suppose that Dillard's would retain the trademark for Stix Baer & Fuller since it purchased the chain in 1984 and retired the Stix name on local stores the following year. However, Dillard's also purchased McAlpin's in Cincinnati in the late 1990s, and shut down its downtown department store as they did here and just about everywhere else. Yet that building, which has recently been converted into lofts, is called The McAlpin.



So based on the McAlpin-named development in Cincinnati, I'm inclined to think that it wouldn't be a trademark issue. On the other hand, I know that Macy's Inc. (formerly Federated Department Stores) retains the rights to over 100 department store nameplates that have been phased out in favor of Macy's over the years, including the recently-acquired May Company stores like Famous-Barr and Marshall Field's.



I would've preferred some acknowledgement of Stix Baer & Fuller in the building name, but I won't lose sleep over it as long as I see some tangible progress soon.

People on this forum are probably too young to remember when Washington Avenue was Laurel Street, unless they were around in, say, 1800.

Laurel Street even co-existed with Washington for a time after 1800, where east of Third Street remained Laurel, but west of there became Washington. Perhaps, the Eads Bridge was the death of Laurel Street in name. However, I don't know of any Concord Street ever being near the site of St. Louis Centre.

Downtown St. Louis needs to be more than a quaint museum of past glory

good call.



I don't mind the names at all. It's interesting to note all the different names of buildings around the city. Everything from the Margeanette to the Argyle.

^ Marjeanette

ecoabsence wrote:People on this forum are probably too young to remember when Washington Avenue was Laurel Street, unless they were around in, say, 1800.

And here I thought they avoided the Stix Baer & Fuller name because it was retired in 1985.



At least I now know that the new name does have a link to the past...even if it's the very distant past.

^ So this is the SE corner of 7th and Wash Ave.? Very cool.

Yeah, that pic would be taken from the conv center.





All i can say is wow! Compared to how that area looks now, i love it.. cant wait for it to start!

Shimmy wrote:NW? I'm going from US Bank's triangle, marble, thing.

I think we're saying the same thing in a different way - the pic was taken from the NW corner looking at the new development on the SE corner and the sculpture on the SW corner . . .

Wednesday, September 25, 2007

POST DISPATCH



http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument



St. Louis Centre developer reveals plans

Mercantile Exchange Village

By Riddhi Trivedi St. Clair

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

09/25/2007





The developer of the much anticipated St. Louis Centre renovation has announced plans for a broader $400 million hotel, condo and shopping district and tapped a prominent national company to help find retailers.



The district, encompassing about six blocks, is an expansion of the St. Louis Centre project proposed a year ago by St. Louis-based Pyramid Cos.



Chicago-based General Growth Properties Inc., the nation’s second largest publicly-traded real estate investment company, will manage the development and attract tenants. The company owns and operates the Saint Louis Galleria in Richmond Heights and Water Tower Place in Chicago.



The district, called the Mercantile Exchange, will include several buildings, all but one of which is owned by Pyramid and its partner, Spinnaker Real Estate Partners LLC of Connecticut.



• St. Louis Centre and the office tower on top, One City Centre, at Sixth Street and Washington Avenue. The 25-story building will be renamed the Concord.



• The vacant Mercantile Library building at Sixth and Locust streets.



• The Macy’s building, which is owned by Cincinnati-based May Department Stores.



• The former Dillard’s building at Washington Avenue and Seventh Street, will be renamed the Laurel.



The Mercantile Exchange plan calls for 160,000 square feet of new retail space, a 216-room hotel, 525,000 square feet of office space, 175 condos and 120 luxury apartments.



The hotel, the apartments and 74 condos will be in the 580,000-square-foot Laurel building. The Concord also will have condos.



"We are starting now. Our goal is to have people moving in by end of next year," said John Steffen, chief executive of Pyramid. "In three years, we will see significant completion; in four years, a substantial portion will be completed, and in five years, it will be done."



This is the second major development announced this week for downtown St. Louis. Clayton-based Centene Corp. said Sunday it will move its headquarters to Ballpark Village in downtown. Centene’s $250 million development will add up to 1.2 million square feet of office space, 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of retail space as well as a hotel. That is in addition to the condos, 360,000 square feet of retail and 100,000 square feet of office already committed by Baltimore-based Cordish Co., developers of Ballpark Village.



Centene’s move will bring 1,200 new jobs to downtown.



The Laurel will be the first portion of Steffen’s project to get underway with a grand opening scheduled for Thursday. The skybridge over Washington Avenue will be demolished in spring of 2008 with construction on the Concord building beginning in the summer. The skybridge linking the building to Macy’s on the other side will be demolished later in 2008.



St. Louis Centre opened to much fanfare in 1985 and was expected to help bring about downtown revitalization. But within a few years, retailers began leaving. Pyramid purchased the struggling mall in August 2006 for $9.1 million and the center was closed less than a month later.



Given the renaissance already underway in downtown, Steffen said, this is the perfect time for a retail district.



"Downtown is on an upswing and we can push the momentum up," Steffen said. "We are not working against the momentum as we were 20 years ago when downtown was going downward. This time we are working with the upward momentum."



Downtown population is expected to grow to 15,000 by 2010 from 10,000 today. Downtown, Steffen said, has a healthy condo and loft market. He also noted downtown attracts a large number of business and leisure travelers.



The retail district will be anchored by the existing Macy’s, Steffen said, and added that General Growth would work to bring national retailers to downtown St. Louis.



General Growth owns, develops, operates and manages more than 200 regional malls in 44 states. The company is the largest third-party manager of regional malls. It has 4,700 employees and its malls have 24,000 stores, theaters, restaurants and entertainment venues.



Being able to bring a company like General Growth to downtown St. Louis is a monumental accomplishment, said Mayor Francis Slay.



"It is a big company that does business in 44 states and they have recognized the potential and opportunity in St. Louis," Slay said.



At least 70 restaurants and local businesses have opened in downtown in the last five years, Slay said, adding that the city needs the kind of mainstream retailers that General Growth can attract.



"I am thrilled that one of the nation’s largest and most successful retail developers is coming to St. Louis," Slay said.



Speaking about Centene and Mercantile Exchange, Slay added, "These are two significant developments."



Steffen’s goal for Mercantile Exchange is to have boutique-type stores on top of national retailers. He also wants to include dining and entertainment spots.



Steffen expects to receive $30 million in tax incentives under the state’s Downtown Economic Stimulus Act to improve the streetscape with planters, trees and decorative street lighting. The upgrades will extend beyond Mercantile Exchange to cover landscaping for about two-thirds of downtown streets, said Barbara Geisman, deputy mayor for development.



"That will allow people to visually tie the pedestrian areas together from the landscaping and bring all the projects together," she said.



Pyramid will receive $85 million in city tax incentives, Geisman said. Those incentives also apply to Mercantile Exchange and two other Pyramid-owned downtown buildings that General Growth will manage: the Arcade building at Eighth and Olive streets, and the Jefferson Arms on Tucker Boulevard.



The Mercantile Exchange will complement other developments planned for downtown, Steffen said, including Ballpark Village, Centene’s new development, and Pinnacle Entertainment Inc.’s new casino, Lumière Place, on Laclede’s Landing.



The hope is that all of them together will create greater density and draw more people to downtown, Steffen said.



"Let’s hope that someday we get to the point where tax incentives are no longer needed to get projects like this done in downtown," Steffen said.



rtstclair@post-dispatch.com | 314 340 8206

awesome

Any updates? Have they started building/constructing anything yet? I hope this doesn't fall through....

From the May 2, 2008 St. Louis Business Journal:



Connecticut-based Spinnaker Cos., Pyramid's joint venture partner on The Laurel and St. Louis Centre, has taken over both of those projects. Spinnaker's local representative, Amos Harris, said he's moving forward with those projects with the same development teams intact. Trivers and BSI Constructors have The Laurel job, and The Lawrence Group and Paric were tapped by the Pyramid/Spinnaker joint venture in 2006 for the St. Louis Centre overhaul. "We're sticking with our team," Harris said.



Here is a direct link: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory1.html