urbanSTL

Would love to see Rainforest Cafe AND a T-Rex here! They are great places, even if you don't have kids.

Cincinnati's aquarium is also a for-profit sort of mall anchor with 1,000,000 gallon tank display. It seems to do alright along with the rest of the Newport on the Levee entertainment development.

wabash wrote:Cincinnati's aquarium is also a for-profit sort of mall anchor with 1,000,000 gallon tank display. It seems to do alright along with the rest of the Newport on the Levee entertainment development.

I feel like the Newport Aquarium will be identical to the St Louis aquarium.

Denver's aquarium wasn't bad, but I wasn't impressed either (my feelings in general about that city). I did notice the restaurant but didn't eat there. What I didn't like was that they had a large indoor pen with some sort of tiger on display, which seemed wildly inappropriate given the space. They also had a very small tank with a very large octopus in it. I don't want to see anything like that at ours.

^ My assumption is if Landry's does win this contract, they'd go with something other than Aquarium as they already have Landry's Seafood there. Hard Rock, Landry's Seafood and T-Rex or Rainforest Cafe along with whatever options they have planned for the Train Court would be a decent line-up. I guess a less appealing option would be to axe Landry's Seafood and replace that with Aquarium.

STLrainbow wrote:^ My assumption is if Landry's does win this contract, they'd go with something other than Aquarium as they already have Landry's Seafood there. Hard Rock, Landry's Seafood and T-Rex or Rainforest Cafe along with whatever options they have planned for the Train Court would be a decent line-up. I guess a less appealing option would be to axe Landry's Seafood and replace that with Aquarium.

If Landry's wins what contract?

Something like the new Orlando Polercoaster would be more thrilling than a Ferris wheel. Make it taller than theirs and stick a Dave and Buster's in the ground level. NOLA is getting something similar, but much shorter.

I think you just broke the heart of my last boss. He collected ferris wheels, if you can believe that. (I think before I quit he had three twelve car Big Elis, a sixteen car, a four car kiddie wheel, and maybe something smaller. Not counting about a thousand models and toys everywhere.) I'm going to have to say I'd rather see the wheel downtown. Put that out by Forest Park . . . somewhere. Somewhy. And with a pool and a dry bobsled track. And a tilt-a-whirl. And a carousel. And another ferris wheel. Anyway . . . whatever they do I hope the bulk of the station's formerly public spaces will remain public. I have a lot of fond memories in that building. Ex-post trains even.

All that stuff would be cool. Anything fast is better than a Ferris wheel, which we already have Downtown anyway. They're cool and all, but still, eh. I'll ride this Union Station Ferris wheel once and that will be it until I maybe have kids someday.

Gateway City wrote:

Something like the new Orlando Polercoaster would be more thrilling than a Ferris wheel. Make it taller than theirs and stick a Dave and Buster's in the ground level. NOLA is getting something similar, but much shorter.

While this would be a mega-draw and certainly looks better architecturally with the station, two big draw backs would be seasonality and people screaming like they were about to die (making adjacent outside areas unusable). I will say the wheel looks goofy where it is placed now in LHM renderings. It should be on the west side running north-south where the extra tracks were added for the Worlds Fair (which was famous for it's wheel). Plus, if the axis were pivoted 90 degrees, the cars while facing north would give you a view of the entire mega-downtown area vs just east from the station toward the arch.

Chalupas54 wrote:I feel like the Newport Aquarium will be identical to the St Louis aquarium.

I hope not. The Newport District in Covington was nice, however, the Newport Aquarium was a snooze-fest for me.

Some of the exhibits needed updating.

I went with few adults and children. The children liked it though.

I was pretty bored. I hope the St. Louis Aquarium is better.

Now the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is KING.

Overall, I wish a "Show-Me Aquarium" was going up on the land (Deaconess, Forest Park Hospital site) purchased by the St. Louis Zoo - an aquarium that would rival the Georgia Aquarium.

arch city wrote:Overall, I wish a "Show-Me Aquarium" was going up on the land (Deaconess, Forest Park Hospital site) purchased by the St. Louis Zoo - an aquarium that would rival the Georgia Aquarium.

but that site isn't large enough either, is it?

STLinCHI wrote:I will say the wheel looks goofy where it is placed now in LHM renderings. It should be on the west side running north-south where the extra tracks were added for the Worlds Fair (which was famous for it's wheel). Plus, if the axis were pivoted 90 degrees, the cars while facing north would give you a view of the entire mega-downtown area vs just east from the station toward the arch.

Agreed! Something like, say...this (poor MSPaint mock-up aside...):



Though in my 2012 idea for Transitioning the Trainshed, instead, I had the ferris wheel rising up through the roof, rather than at its western edge. How cool would that be rising up through the trainshed roof to view the city and then coming back down through it for an elevated view of all the cool, new activity in the trainshed proper!

By my guess, you're really not looking at removing a significant portion of the roof. Of course, I'm not privy to what safety/building regulations demand for clearance/sway/etc. Her's what the cut looks like, with it mostly centered perpendicular to Clark Street:

stlien wrote:

STLrainbow wrote:^ My assumption is if Landry's does win this contract, they'd go with something other than Aquarium as they already have Landry's Seafood there. Hard Rock, Landry's Seafood and T-Rex or Rainforest Cafe along with whatever options they have planned for the Train Court would be a decent line-up. I guess a less appealing option would be to axe Landry's Seafood and replace that with Aquarium.

If Landry's wins what contract?

the contract to operate the aquarium... they already operate similar-sized Denver Aquarium and a couple others. It was reported that LHM was in talks with three operators and should have an agreement soon.

shadrach wrote:^Sorry, but I think the East orientation better (view of downtown/arch vs north city.) Tourists want to see the Arch, not neighborhood rooftops and trees.

Agree with Shadrach's sentiments on orientation.

Also, from what little I can remember from structural engineering classes is how much easier it will be to have the ferris wheel parallel with shed roof trusses if you are looking east west on the ferris wheel itself. Having ferris wheel north south orientation looks like a serious structural endeavor

It's really going to depend on where you put the ferris wheel.





I trust they'll make the right decision . . .

(Besides, they really don't want to cut a hole in the roof at all. Who wants to lose their landmark money?)

^ cool photos... and I can't believe someone stole the Arch!

^^ Nice, assume some drone shots.

The first photo screams MSL stadium to me. Knock down where the VA was, relocate the DEA and plop a soccer stadium in the right hand side of the photo

I don't think we've heard anything about the two office buildings in the rear backing up to the elevated lanes... I believe they are pretty underutilized. I wonder if this would help occupancy or if their might be another way to re-imagine that space. I kind of like the thought of "The Residences at Union Station." Thoughts?