As some of you may know, I lived in St. Louis most of my life and moved to Chicago about 1 1/2 years ago. My wife and I were in St. Louis over New Years visiting friends, and I decided to take a tour of downtown, Midtown, CWE, and the Delmar loop.
All I can say is, wow. What 18 months can do! I am so impressed with what is happening on Wash. Ave. There are still a handful of buildings that need help, but I loved that it seemed more like one continuous stretch of development from Broadway all the way out to almost 20th street. I was worried that Tucker Ave. would seperate the development, but it doesn't look this way.
I also visited the Old Post office area, and it is quite sad to see the Century going down. Even more eerie was the fact that they hose the area down with water to keep the demolition under control. The cold, damp area almost makes you think of "death". Despite this, I am excited that the rest of the area will be redeveloped, and I also visited City Grocers and looked around, and even made a purchase.
Midtown too has developed. We drove through Gaslight Square and I was quite impressed. I love the different architectural styles going up, and I bet adjacent blocks will start redeveloping / rehabbing. There is quite a neat housing stock along this corridor, if only it all gets rehabbed.
I was also impressed with how much Delmar loop has progressed. I didn't use to head east of the Delmar lounge, but now it seems that the next 2-3 blocks are seeing action.
Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't take pics, but I'm so happy to see STL progressing. I hope that STL can continue to attract jobs, because that is when the mass urban residential components will start taking place, and you'll see a lot more rehabs and infill housing.
All I can say is, wow. What 18 months can do! I am so impressed with what is happening on Wash. Ave. There are still a handful of buildings that need help, but I loved that it seemed more like one continuous stretch of development from Broadway all the way out to almost 20th street. I was worried that Tucker Ave. would seperate the development, but it doesn't look this way.
I also visited the Old Post office area, and it is quite sad to see the Century going down. Even more eerie was the fact that they hose the area down with water to keep the demolition under control. The cold, damp area almost makes you think of "death". Despite this, I am excited that the rest of the area will be redeveloped, and I also visited City Grocers and looked around, and even made a purchase.
Midtown too has developed. We drove through Gaslight Square and I was quite impressed. I love the different architectural styles going up, and I bet adjacent blocks will start redeveloping / rehabbing. There is quite a neat housing stock along this corridor, if only it all gets rehabbed.
I was also impressed with how much Delmar loop has progressed. I didn't use to head east of the Delmar lounge, but now it seems that the next 2-3 blocks are seeing action.
Unfortunately I was lazy and didn't take pics, but I'm so happy to see STL progressing. I hope that STL can continue to attract jobs, because that is when the mass urban residential components will start taking place, and you'll see a lot more rehabs and infill housing.
