urbanSTL

That would be really amazing. I was driving down Washington from Fourth Street last night, and the bridge really is hideous. Not only is it a visual barrier, it darkens the street-level shops of St. Louis Centre and the entrance to the Dillard's building. If the Gundaker development is to succeed, the bridge has got to go!

yeah, I don't know if I buy the bridge being a psychological divide, but I would say it does damage to a pedestrian's psyche. It's honestly kind of creepy under there at night. Plus the city needs to in general get away from the bridged structures. Those damage pedestrian street activity greatly. People can go downtown, park their car, go into their building and never see the street.

It is also good to see the Dillard's Building being rehabbed. I would like to see the eastern edge of Washington Ave and the area near the dome become more heavily used. There's a number of parking lots around that building near the dome that needs eventual development. The Dillards building is a good first step.

This is the kind of demolition we need in downtown! Hopefully the wrecking ball misses and takes a chunk off the St Louis Centre.



Kidding aside, street level retail will be great there, maybe the new owners of the Centre can do the same.

It wouldn't surprise me if once the bridge is torn down and the Dillard's building is redeveloped, we'll probably see a restaurant or some sort of interesting retail in the long-vacant ground floor space at 555 Washington.

looks like there may be a movement to keep the skybridge. check it out at the Arch City Chronicle http://www.archcitychronicle.com/

or at the Commonspace Blog http://blog.thecommonspace.org/

or at Urban Review StL http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/



all of which you should read everyday (which is a lot easier when they all have the exact same post)

DeBaliviere: I've always wondered why that space at 555 Washington has been vacant so long. It's one of my favorite buildings downtown (not that that has anything to do with its vacancy). Do you know anything else about it? I know there's this crazy ad agency in there, but other than that...

par wrote:looks like there may be a movement to keep the skybridge.

Someone should send this to The Onion. Good read!

The Onion, I like that. Sounds like something they might have written. The movement seems so surreal. Where were these people during the Century fight? And do they honestly think that saving the skybridge will help attract young people? They obviously haven't been young in quite some time.



Seriously, who can say that they had such fond memories of times spent in a skybridge? Oh, those were the glory days!





(Edit): I honestly thought this was for real. Don't I feel stupid!

Jennings suggests. ?It?s

not necessary for Downtown lofts to have, for example,

40 windows per unit. In our research, windowless

condos are increasingly popular in rain-saturated,

low-light cities such as Portland and Seattle

This is pretty funny stuff! Thanks for the laugh

I to remeber the halcyon days of my youth spent wandering from window to window on the skybridge, with its white walls and paterned tile floors, it was almost like a fantasy trip to the Men's room at the Savvis Center. If this bridge into the history of St. Louis were to fall would not the Eads be next?. Save the Sky Bridge I say!!



I admit, I had to read the article a few times before I knew what was up too.

There are two options for St. Louis Centere. First, tear it down and try to put up come class A office space, even if the market is terrible. Second, leave it alone. Alone? Yes alone, because the failure of St. Louis Centere is not because the mall isn?t pleasant on the inside. The mall failed because it offers nothing unique. Why would any St. Louisan want to drive downtown to shop at the same stores that can be found in malls much closer to home? Yet, here in lies how St. Louis Centere can succeed. If you divide up the St. Louis region geographically, most areas have a mall: Mid County (Galleria), North County (Jamestown), South County (South County Center). You get the idea. Well, St. Louis Centere would be just the mall for the downtown area, nothing more, nothing less. St. Louis is currently on a course to grow the population in the area that surrounds St. Louis Centere. The mall need not have a massive overhaul, simply allow the residential developments to move forward, and retailers will respond to the demands for a mall in the area by returning shops to St. Louis Centere. If St. Louis focuses on the residential side of the equation, the ?problem? with St. Louis Centere might well fix itself. (Though it would still be nice to see the bridge over Washington come down. )

MattnSTL wrote:It is going to be used as an event area using the whole mall for various activities. There should be more info on it as we get closer to the Final 4.

Here is the latest from the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission... "The SLOC is arranging for a portion of St. Louis Centre to come to life with catering and activities in the event of inclement weather."





The following is from Martin Van Der Werf's column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

St. Louis Centre, will have a whisper of excitement. Pasta House kingpin Kim Tucci is arranging to set up a temporary restaurant, Hoops Cafe, near the entrance at Seventh Street and Washington.



All the jackhammers and debris could be a positive. "Hopefully, people will see all these construction cranes and say to themselves, 'There is a lot going on here,'" said Tom Reeves, executive director of Downtown Now. "This is going to be a pretty hot city in a couple of years."

I don't guess they had the same vision metzgda had. Why hope people will see what is happening and say to themselves, "There is a lot going on here"? Why not show them in full color what is happening?

metzgda wrote:Wouldn't it be great to use the St. Louis Centre to "showcase" some of the new development projects going on in the city, during the 2004 final four? Developers could setup booths with renderings of buildings, floor plan layouts, etc... A lot of people will be in town, and this would really sell our city, showing all the new developments going on. You never know, it might get out-of-towners interested in moving, company owners to take a look at STL as a relocation area, and out-of-town developers interest in investing in our region.

Yeah, I read the article by Martin Van Der Werf and that is too bad. He's correct that people are going to say "wow, there is a lot under construction here", but there's nothing to show what it will become. Too bad - the city is really missing out on a prime opportunity here.



I do think that downtown is still going to put on an impressive showing for all that are here.

metzgda wrote:I do think that downtown is still going to put on an impressive showing for all that are here.

I agree!

Has anyone heard of any plans for the St. Louis Centre? I thought I read that the mall was finally sold. Are the new owners doing much to get it back on its feet?

For a school project, I am interviewing Cristina Rotter, the mall's current manager, on future plans for the Centre. I'll let everyone know what is said.

Ugh... My wife and I went downtown just to hang out and see all the people. It was really, really cool to see how packed Downtown was. But man, it had been probably 3-4 years since I actually went into the St Louis Centre, and it depressing to walk through today. I remember the reports were that when this new company bought the Centre out of forclosure that the occupancy was at around 50%, but I don't even think it is that high now. Something really needs to be done about that place. I seriously hope that the new owners have a plan for redevelopment. I wouldn't be sorry to see the whole thing go.

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS

From the April 15, 2005 print edition



<A HREF="http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... l">Burning bridges: At St. Louis Centre, it's developer Barry Cohen vs. everybody else</A>

Christopher Tritto

Barry Cohen likes his bridge. Nobody else does.



The bridge spans Washington Avenue, connecting Cohen's mostly vacant St. Louis Centre shopping mall to the old Dillard's building owned by Gundaker Commercial Group.



<A HREF="http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/ ... tory2.html">>>> read more</A>

Good article. I have a feeling though that if the city can get the Century torn down, this shouldn't be a huge problem for them.

It's never easy, is it?



I like the plasma screen/restaurant idea as well, but that bridge has got to go. Downtown Now! made a great offer, and he would be wise to take them up on it. If we can get past this whole bridge issue, it sounds like Cohen will work hard to turn the Centre into an asset to downtown.



It would be great to be able to see the entire facade of the Dillard's building - I was just a kid when the Centre was built, so I don't really remember what it looked like in the days before the bridge.

The other part would either collapse, or obnoxious collumns would have to be put up in the middle of Washington, and it would probably lead to emergency condemnation and demolition of cohen's portion.



BTW, not to make you feel old, but I wasn't even born when the Centre opened, so I really don't remember seeing the facade at all. That is one of the things I want to see, the entire facade of that building.