Industrial City: Builtstlouis.net
Rob Powers, the author of www.builtstlouis.net, has added a section called the Industrial City. The North Riverfront Business District is represented in two sections: Riverfront North and North Broadway/Riverfront/Hall Street. http://www.builtstlouis.net/industrial/ ... ial00.html
I encourage all to take a gander.
There was discussion more than a year ago about a loft district is these areas, but now that Powers has wonderfully added pictures we can get a better idea. The Riverfront North contains a collection of warehouses and factories possibly related to Union Electric, there is the McPheeters Warehouse, Laclede warehouses, Beck & Corbitt Iron warehouses. All appear abandoned. Many of these buildings resemble the Cupples Warehouse area.
The North Broadway/Riverfront/Hall Street section has many more buildings and they resemble the Washington Avenue Loft District. Ford Hotel Supply, American Brake, Condie-Neale Glass Co., and many more.
These buildings are underused if not at all since most are boarded up and America has somewhat deindustrialized and manufacturing has moved to places like Westport Industrial area.
Ideas
I imagine that a developers like McGowan/Walsh, Pyramid, Orchard, and others could buy up these buildings and begin a new loft district. Maybe a large developer could combine vacant industrial land and create a riverside community that is LEED or green and environmentally friendly. Tulsa's Channels (http://www.tulsachannels.com/) and Fort Worth's Trinity River District (http://www.trinityrivervision.org/index.asp) are already pushing the idea of redeveloping former industrial areas for environmentally friendly residential districts in close proximity to downtown.
Reclaimation
There has been much talk around the country about reclaiming rivers and the riverfront. St. Louis seems to be missing out on this except for the riverfront competition. A nice promenade and riverside park along the Mississippi could replace the horrid flood gate and patchy grass embankments that are largely ignored except for Trailnet. A streetcar could be built along Broadway to connect to downtown or if the railroad is not highly used it could become a Metrolink extension that would eventually connect up to Alton. The noise is an issue. The united States is supposed to add a 100 million people by 2040. Where are they going to go? Why continue to waste what we have and start reinvesting and rebuilding with our current infrastructure.
Land Availability:
28 blocks between Mullanphy on the north, Mississippi River on the east, I-70 onthe west, and Biddle on the south. This area has the most vacant land and open riverfront. It has few historic buildings making it all new construction like an environmentally friendly built village. Four blocks wide sounds nice. One problem is the future Missouri River Bridge or Reagan Bridge?
The areas around North Market is seen in the first picture and looks like the area is well-used at least from ariel photographs. Accessing the river from there will be somewhat difficult, and the area may have to become one large project.
So, what say you? Allow a former and underused industrial district saulter away into abandon and return to forest/prairie/no-man's land or revive into another Washington Avenue this time with a riverfront view?
