^ Why do I still get the feeling there's going to be a long wait before the skybridge is demolished?
Or, is there actually progress on this front? I sure hope so!
Or, is there actually progress on this front? I sure hope so!
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These renderings look absolutely fantastic. Coupled with a great outdoor street-level retail sector, this is really going to tie washington avenue into the landing and (choke) the gateway-mall, eventually hopefully all the way to the stadium.
MattnSTL wrote:Today's article says sometime in 2008.
From that article:
Business > Story
Major retail district announced for downtown
By Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/26/2007
The developer of the much-anticipated St. Louis Centre renovation has announced plans for a broader, $400 million district that would include a hotel, condos and shopping, 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 St. Louis Galleria in Richmond Heights and Water Tower Place in Chicago.
and:
The Laurel will be the first portion of Steffen's project to get under way, with a reception scheduled for Thursday. The skybridge over Washington Avenue will be demolished in the spring with construction on the Concord starting in the summer. The skybridge linking the building to Macy's on the other side will be demolished later in 2008.
-RBB
- 10K
It's great to hear that this is part of a cohesive plan that includes the Mercantile Library. And I can't wait to see the streetscape improvements that come about through the use of MODESA funding.
I'll get us a keg so that we can sit out in lawn chairs at 6th and Washington to watch the skybridge demolition.
I'll get us a keg so that we can sit out in lawn chairs at 6th and Washington to watch the skybridge demolition.
DeBaliviere wrote:It's great to hear that this is part of a cohesive plan that includes the Mercantile Library. And I can't wait to see the streetscape improvements that come about through the use of MODESA funding.
I'll get us a keg so that we can sit out in lawn chairs at 6th and Washington to watch the skybridge demolition.
^ That would be an event work taking the time and money to come back to St. Louis and see it happen.
Maybe a good forum meet idea, if and when it happens.
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^
Check out the historical pictures on the Laurel site - incredible.
Check out the historical pictures on the Laurel site - incredible.
The people walking on the streets in the 1960's pics is just incredible. Hopefully the new developments will bring some of that feel back.
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Looks like pricing might range between $219 and almost $300 a square foot? Renderings look nice, views look great, but wonder how high up you need to be to get those views? Kind of has a hotel feel with all the available amenities and wonder if Pyramid will finally have some real 2-bedroom floor plans?
This will look awesome once the skybridge is destroyed.
Love those old pics. Cannot wait to see Washington Avenue when this is finished.
- 11K
Just add 600,000 predominantly white middle-class residents and voila!
- 10K
Grover wrote:
Just add 600,000 predominantly white middle-class residents and voila!
And let them run wild in the streets!!
^
I think the website said that that picture was taken on the day after Thanksgiving.
I think the website said that that picture was taken on the day after Thanksgiving.
unless I am mistaken, the building in the foreground of the second historic pic was replaced by that short squat modern structure.
Some oldies but goodies...
Broadway & Washington, looking west:
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6th & Locust, looking north (Pre-St. Louis Centre-- the Dillards Building is visible in the background):
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I remember those green and blue Bi-State buses-- that color scheme is so much cooler than the current red, white and blue.
Broadway & Washington, looking west:
6th & Locust, looking north (Pre-St. Louis Centre-- the Dillards Building is visible in the background):
I remember those green and blue Bi-State buses-- that color scheme is so much cooler than the current red, white and blue.
The historical photos of the 1960's and early 70's bring back wonderful memories...a downtown St. Louis I well remember. I long for those old days. A shopping or business trip has absolutely no comparison today in the St. Louis area. Those who missed this era, all I can say is you missed seeing a bustling, vibrant and healthy urban center functioning as it should.
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Marmar wrote:The historical photos of the 1960's and early 70's bring back wonderful memories...a downtown St. Louis I well remember. I long for those old days. A shopping or business trip has absolutely no comparison today in the St. Louis area. Those who missed this era, all I can say is you missed seeing a bustling, vibrant and healthy urban center functioning as it should.
That's why I cherish the relatively few and vague memories I have of downtown in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The level of activity obviously could not compare to the time you mentioned, but there was a sense of unbridled optimism in the 1980s with projects like St. Louis Centre, Union Station, and the various highrises constructed during the decade like One Bell (AT&T) Center, One Centerre (Bank of America) Plaza, and the Metropolitan Square Building.
That Woolworth's picture from the early 1980s reminds me of the pre-St. Louis Centre days. Back then, I was excited to see a new and shiny mall in the middle of downtown linking its two major department stores. I was too young and naive to know that project would soon lead to the undoing of downtown retail as we knew it. By taking the storefronts off the streets, the life was sucked off the streets.
People frequently reflect on that era and the decline that ensued in the 1990s, wondering if we're setting ourselves up for failure again. I'm not out to change anyone's minds here, but I firmly believe this time is drastically different.
Downtown is a much more diversified place than it was 20 or 25 years ago. There have been setbacks, yet we've gained so much more than many St. Louisans realize. For thousands of people, it's now a place they call home. There are still about 90,000 workers downtown, and the presence of Centene should strengthen downtown's reputation as a great place to do business. Local and out-of-town investors have spent billions of dollars and have cast their votes of confidence in downtown's future. Dozens of projects big and small are transforming downtown- there's no longer reliance on a single bullet or a panacea that will bring the masses back to the region's traditional center. At any rate, if some people see this as a problem, I'd say it's one of the best problems I've seen in St. Louis in a long time!
What the hell happened?
Crime.
Charging for parking when one could shop and park for FREE in the county.
Decentralization of St. Louis- more sprawl. Think about it, there was little west of 270 in the 1970's/80's.
Crime.
Dozens of projects big and small are transforming downtown- there's no longer reliance on a single bullet or a panacea that will bring the masses back to the region's traditional center.
This is exactly why this time is different imho. Also, all the residential going in keeps intelligent citizens at the doorstep of the area.
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JCity wrote:What the hell happened?
Crime.
Charging for parking when one could shop and park for FREE in the county.
Decentralization of St. Louis- more sprawl. Think about it, there was little west of 270 in the 1970's/80's.
Crime.
Dozens of projects big and small are transforming downtown- there's no longer reliance on a single bullet or a panacea that will bring the masses back to the region's traditional center.
This is exactly why this time is different imho. Also, all the residential going in keeps intelligent citizens at the doorstep of the area.
I admit it's a guess, but I'd say that the number of crimes in the city hasn't changed much, but if a city loses hundreds of thousands of upper and middle class residents (presumably those who did not commit many crimes), the crime rate skyrockets. All scholarly and popular literature that I've read cites increased affluence, car ownership, government policies of road building and subsidizing suburban development and racism for the city exodous. Crime and pollution did exist in St. Louis, the above policies allowed people to move away to homogenous, safer and cleaner communities where they could avoid encountering the less pleasing aspects of life.
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STLgasm wrote:I remember those green and blue Bi-State buses-- that color scheme is so much cooler than the current red, white and blue.
I'm with you - it just looks really good.
That's one of my favorite pictures that's been posted here.
What the hell happened?
Crime was only a symptom, and not the problem. The problem was that our old, outdated city was abandoned. There was little appreciation for our architecture, little interest in urban lifestyle and those sentiments were felt by the corporate sector that left the city for Clayton, West County, or other cities altogether. The general feeling was that the city was a crowded, old, outdated, dirty place. Only people who couldn't afford better stayed. Slumlords bought up the old houses that needed repair by the truckloads. They rented to poor people, didn't make needed repairs and bled the old houses for every penny they could get out of them for profit until they finally had to be abandoned. (With much of the city left with poor/low income residents, crime is the accomplice, not the perpetrator.)
Essentially, much the same thing occured downtown. Sure, there were a few exceptions, but the handwriting was on the wall.
The future lay in Clayton and West County. Big mistake. No other major city had abandoned it's CBD like St. Louis, except Detroit. But, I think our civic leaders thought this was the way of the future and acted accordingly. Anyone that questions this was a mistake need only look at the CBD's of the cities that have passed us by. I've witnessed our city go from the top of the list to the bottom, while watching other cities catch up and pass us by. I remember when Atlanta was NOTHING compared to St. Louis, and look where Atlanta is today. What drew so many to Atlanta? The ocean? Mountains? Urban living (almost non existant there 40 years ago)? No. Civic pride. Pride felt by it's vast general metro populace, all for that city. That's what we need here, and it shouldn't be misplaced pride. Our suburbs are our suburbs, and should remain just that. It's time to put our pride where it belongs, even if you abhore city living, because if IT propers, we all prosper. The folks in and around Atlanta 'got it'. We didn't. Yet, by some comments made by some posters on this forum, they still just don't get it. Continue trashing your front door and no one wants to come in.
This project and the announcement made by Centenne are indications that the tide is hopefully, finally, turning in St. Louis. I wish these projects roussing successes with more to follow.
Crime was only a symptom, and not the problem. The problem was that our old, outdated city was abandoned. There was little appreciation for our architecture, little interest in urban lifestyle and those sentiments were felt by the corporate sector that left the city for Clayton, West County, or other cities altogether. The general feeling was that the city was a crowded, old, outdated, dirty place. Only people who couldn't afford better stayed. Slumlords bought up the old houses that needed repair by the truckloads. They rented to poor people, didn't make needed repairs and bled the old houses for every penny they could get out of them for profit until they finally had to be abandoned. (With much of the city left with poor/low income residents, crime is the accomplice, not the perpetrator.)
Essentially, much the same thing occured downtown. Sure, there were a few exceptions, but the handwriting was on the wall.
The future lay in Clayton and West County. Big mistake. No other major city had abandoned it's CBD like St. Louis, except Detroit. But, I think our civic leaders thought this was the way of the future and acted accordingly. Anyone that questions this was a mistake need only look at the CBD's of the cities that have passed us by. I've witnessed our city go from the top of the list to the bottom, while watching other cities catch up and pass us by. I remember when Atlanta was NOTHING compared to St. Louis, and look where Atlanta is today. What drew so many to Atlanta? The ocean? Mountains? Urban living (almost non existant there 40 years ago)? No. Civic pride. Pride felt by it's vast general metro populace, all for that city. That's what we need here, and it shouldn't be misplaced pride. Our suburbs are our suburbs, and should remain just that. It's time to put our pride where it belongs, even if you abhore city living, because if IT propers, we all prosper. The folks in and around Atlanta 'got it'. We didn't. Yet, by some comments made by some posters on this forum, they still just don't get it. Continue trashing your front door and no one wants to come in.
This project and the announcement made by Centenne are indications that the tide is hopefully, finally, turning in St. Louis. I wish these projects roussing successes with more to follow.