Enterprise did a great job of bringing this building back to life. I assume this was a car dealership at some point, because there were once several dealerships along Washington Boulevard west of downtown.

I've always been fascinated with mid-century modern architecture. While this building is not as distinctive or in as visible of a location as the Flying Saucer, to me it is special because it comes from an era in which even structures as seemingly mundane as car dealerships had interesting architectural features, and they were built fronting the street rather than being surrounded by acres of asphalt and hundreds of cars.

In my wildest dreams, this would have made a cool Fiat or Mini dealer, or even a VW dealer since that's how I roll. But even if the location would work, manufacturers have rather specific requirements for dealerships, so I can't imagine any of them accommodating an older structure like this. Enterprise, however, did well to repurpose the building. Even though the signage is standard fare, it still looks nice since the building has been restored.

StlToday - Enterprise buying old court building from St. Louis County

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 93142.html

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jun 25, 2020

StlToday - Enterprise buying old court building from St. Louis County

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 93142.html

Figured it was a matter of time. They have been trying to get that for awhile.

Price includes $4million for the county to demo the building.

I seem to remember some renderings of a reimagined Enterprise Corporate Campus, but nothing really materialized. Hopefully this is part of something bigger that may be in the works.

Encouraging to see Enterprise spend $13 million on anything these days. 

Will be interesting to see what they do - a mid-rise consistent with the campus or something taller to take advantage of the views into DT Clayton. Although on a site that size they could do both. 

Even if Enterprise ends up needing to downsize because of COVID, the land is still a great investment.

On a slightly unrelated note, it would be incredibly easy extend a path west from the Clayton metro station with stairs leading down to Brentwood Blvd, offering very easy access to the enterprise campus and that part of town.

If only easy access to transit were a high priority.

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Jun 25, 2020

On a slightly unrelated note, it would be incredibly easy extend a path west from the Clayton metro station with stairs leading down to Brentwood Blvd, offering very easy access to the enterprise campus and that part of town.

Indeed. And that's a great idea. Fortunately, as is it's a pretty short walk from the east side of this lot to the Clayton Metrolink. 

There's a $1M building permit application submitted. For a facelift, I guess.

Awesome! Side note, that has to be the worst Enterprise I've ever rented from.  Wish that was headed toward some new vision..

^How so? The lack of night drop off is annoying, but understandable. Otherwise it felt about par for the course to me. I'm personally glad they're willing to put a location downtown. Had a decent experience renting a truck through them when I picked up my harpsichord. The employees seemed pleasant and competent. There was a broken door handle on the building, as I recall, but it was otherwise clean and seemed well organized to me. Tight space, of course. And I wish they had a garage rather than two surface lots. (For comparison, I've used locations in Crestwood, Columbia, Heathrow, and LaGuardia off the top of my head. Probably a few I'm forgetting. I'd have said LaGuardia was my worst experience so far, but that was partially my own fault.)

Have basically stood in a line with 10-15 other customers outside for about 30-40 minutes at a time both times I used this location out of convenience.  Short staffed, and this was before Covid.  Perhaps I should give them a longer leash.

I've had similar experiences at that Enterprise with crowds. The Avis/Budget on Olive in midtown is only a few minutes farther walking distance from most of downtown, and they do have a night drop box and I've never been stuck in lines there. Although they did call one time asking if I'd returned a car (I had). They never checked it in, but thankfully they located it at a west county location.

Same experience here before/during/after covid
They seemed overwhelmed

Odd. Between my wife and I we have rented at least 40 cars here due to weekly business travel and have maybe had 2 experiences like some of you describe.