The old cement plant on Riverview that Cassilly bought is making visible progress. Cement truck canisters have been stood up like fenceposts and some of the silos have been buried by ginormous piles of dirt.
Has anyone heard anything about this since the 2000 RFT article?
I'm really looking forward to watching this one evolve. It'll be nice to have a destination on the other end of the Riverfront Trail for regulars like myself, but also for tourists that rent bikes at the riverfront.
I should have been a little more clear, here is the direct post:
publiceye wrote:
Just for the record, this project is kaput. Too many logistical and building code problems
Just for the record, the artist's energies are focused on a new multi-acre water-and-land project on the City/Riverview line. (Still, don't give up on that roof quite yet. There's a plan for that, too.)
The Post reported yesterday that Cassily and some other guy are still trying to raise the old Minesweeper from the bed of the Mississippi and move it to the Cement Plant thing.
NYT did not forget to add the following gut punches:
...It’s (the view from Cementland) also a shimmering image of a city in need of shining visions. Last October, in a study that critics called simplistic, Morgan Quitno Press, a private research firm, called St. Louis, which has about 350,000 residents, “America’s most dangerous city.” An F.B.I. report showed that violent crimes rose 14 percent in the last five years.
Hey guys, I'm working here for a project. The place is amazing. This is going to be an Outdoor City Museum . I'm taking my camera to work tomorrow, and I'll get some shots of the place, as well as the skyline views, which are all over . It looked like, from where I was, that he's building a castle, at the highest point, which will , most likely, include views of the skyline. I was also told, he plans to implement the water park here.
Apparently, he's always having grand ideas, and then changing his mind later. It's likely he loved the idea of a water park on the City Museum, and then changed his mind, and decided to put it here. There's all sorts of crazy sh*t here. It should become a landmark, much like the City Museum. I'll investigate some more.
To be honest, I hope he scraps the waterpark plan. It's incredibly expensive to put in the pumps/etc. and maintain everything. He could no 5x more 'dry' stuff instead of a couple water slides.
Remember those hippies from Minnesota that are floating down the Mississippi on a home-made houseboat? Well, Cassilly let them use one of the old barge unloading-tower things in the river right across from his Cementland.
Imagine three punk/thrash bands playing for a bunch of wasted party animals, on a round concrete platform 50 feet above the river. Loud, loud music. Wild dancing. A few naked people. Crazy. It's a miracle nobody fell into the river.
Seriously, St. Louis is a much better (and much more fun) place with Bob Cassily around.
Xing, I envy you, not only getting to see all that stuff, but having the privalege to work on a project there. And now you've got me drooling to see some of your fantastic pics of the place...that should be one heck of a fantastic photo thread.
Any ETA on this? The NY Times article said a couple of years. I would take Cassilly's estimate, if he gave one, and add a couple of years. Also, is this site open, or fenced off? Just curious...
Work is finished at Cement Land for the season, and it is secured. Bob and the crew usually work over at City Museum in the winter -- and are doing that this year, too. Right now he is adding a ten floor slide to the caves.
There is really no telling what Cement Land will be when its "finished." The most likely story I have heard Bob say is that it will be his private residence. Whatever, it will certainly be his best known artwork.
