urbanSTL

Can't beat the $10 all you can eat sushi at Sushi Ai

To me, Ballpark Village seems inconvenient. (As of now). Maybe that's just me. But I wouldn't want to walk into a mall-like atmosphere for my lunch break.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 17, 2018

During arch madness and sec I walked by the range and rooster and both had very long times outside. Same for red oak at Washington and 14th. Blondies was packed the one time I went during breakfast during sec tournament.

This past week(12-14th) brought in 450 men’s and women’s ncaa club volleyball teams(well over 10,000 people) to downtown from around the country and it was definitely noticeable. I spend a lot of time walking around downtown, so I’m pretty good at judging what a downtown baseline night is vs events

Will say this about bpv, it’s a monster. Even during the off season- January to March the ballpark cid had more taxable sales than south grand cid and the grove cid

I am also under the impression Wheelhouse and Tin Roof do pretty well also. I have seen lines out of them and up the street of weekend nights with nothing going on in town, which really surprised me. I would imagine they did very well during the tourney games.

With the Arch grounds fully open this summer for the first time in 4 years there would be a big uptick in local tourism and outside tourism which will be a good boost for downtown businesses.

For anyone that wasn't down here during the Volleyball tournament, it was pretty amazing. It didn't absolutely flood restaurants like some of the 3 day events but was a more sustained flow of visitors over the whole week. Which is a much healthier way to support downtown. I'm highly skeptical of Silver Bullet projects, and I don't think that convention center upgrades would be a silver bullet, but I do think it's highly needed. I just hope they do it well.

I’m definitely interested in what boost the arch grounds will bring to downtown. Also, to get people to move north for shops and restaurants/bars in downtown there not only needs to be more people coming in, but a seam of options along the streets leading from Clark to wash ave. I’ve definitely had friends talk about taking an Uber from Bpv to wash ave because they didn’t want to walk: the perception being that it’s a dead zone, which makes north of market feel like it’s a mile away

The state of downtown continues to be a massive amount of street/utilities work and building construction.

^ . . .



Sure, that's visually tiny. And it's probably not even what you're talking about. (I'm guessing you mostly mean the street closures every which way.) But I got photobombed . . . by a crane. And I was more than two miles away from the crane.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Apr 17, 2018

During arch madness and sec I walked by the range and rooster and both had very long times outside. Same for red oak at Washington and 14th. Blondies was packed the one time I went during breakfast during sec tournament.

This past week(12-14th) brought in 450 men’s and women’s ncaa club volleyball teams(well over 10,000 people) to downtown from around the country and it was definitely noticeable. I spend a lot of time walking around downtown, so I’m pretty good at judging what a downtown baseline night is vs events

Will say this about bpv, it’s a monster. Even during the off season- January to March the ballpark cid had more taxable sales than south grand cid and the grove cid

That definitely makes me feel better.

And that volleyball tournament was a great boost.

user28 wrote: ↑

Apr 17, 2018

I’m definitely interested in what boost the arch grounds will bring to downtown. Also, to get people to move north for shops and restaurants/bars in downtown there not only needs to be more people coming in, but a seam of options along the streets leading from Clark to wash ave. I’ve definitely had friends talk about taking an Uber from Bpv to wash ave because they didn’t want to walk: the perception being that it’s a dead zone, which makes north of market feel like it’s a mile away

Would have to imagine this is a good opportunity for Limebike and Ofo to shine, as there is a bit of "dead space". I have my own bike so would never use them for straight exercise but if I'm already downtown and want to get somewhere else (i.e. ballpark to Wash Ave), I can definitely see myself utilizing this service.

I suggested to a few far downtown west restaurants ( anything between 18th and Jefferson) to run 10% lunch discount if a person shows up with a LimeBike or Ofo (if they ever launch officially)


unrelated but a soup and sandwich shop to open at 1115 Pine on june 1
https://www.stlmag.com/dining/good-buddy-s/

Bryan Cave commits to Downtown for another 10 years:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 2db50.html

framer wrote:Bryan Cave commits to Downtown for another 10 years:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/ ... 2db50.html

Belleville (St Clair Square) is getting an H & M store. Too bad we can’t get one in Downtown St Louis. I suspect it might be a surprise success downtown in the same way kids came out of nowhere at CityGarden unexpectedly a few years ago. In fact, what would keep Downtown from becoming effectively an outlet style shopping place with individual brand name stores.

http://www.bnd.com/news/local/article212659539.html




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^ Agree. Just a couple of well known signature retail stores would go a long way to channel people to shop Downtown rather than Brentwood. Even a Target or something for Downtown residents. Something to illuminate Olive & Locust.

Draw a 2 mile circle around the edges of downtown. It encompasses Near North, ESTL, and Peabody Darst Webbe. The HH income of residents in the circle is extremely low. We aren’t getting any signature retailers until that changes. Especially in this retail environment.


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downtown2007 wrote: ↑

Jun 07, 2018

Draw a 2 mile circle around the edges of downtown. It encompasses Near North, ESTL, and Peabody Darst Webbe. The HH income of residents in the circle is extremely low. We aren’t getting any signature retailers until that changes. Especially in this retail environment.


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Is the HH income of Belleville/St. Clair Square surrounding area any better than Downtown? Just curious.

^ most nationals are looking at more than a 2 mile radius.... put another way, I don't think they are looking at the Foundry and Maryland Plaza and not at Wash Ave/Warehouse District b/c of big differences in 2 mi. radius HH demographics. It's more because the CWE/Greater Cortex area has captured more of the energy and momentum in the increasingly dynamic city.

Yet another way to put it, I think downtown's problem with retail isn't so much ESTL and Peabody-Darste Webb and Northside, but rather it ceded its position as the place to be that it had pre-recession. If downtown also was experiencing all those jobs filling up the Cortex area and helping fuel surrounding housing developments, downtown would be in a much more attractive position even if it were still surrounded by the same neighborhoods.

In the end, I think downtown is starting to gain some momentum back (and things like Railway Exchange and Jefferson Arms would be a huge boost if they indeed follow the big projects underway now) but first it has to land more basic retail and services before it can expect to land destination/national retail.

Any method to the madness of LCRA buying up downtown parking lots? Would they involve a deal with Convention Bureau eventually or something along that lines

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... b83a7.html

The city of St. Louis' Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority has acquired two downtown parking lots near the convention center for $8.5 million.

The city bought the properties, which are adjacent to each other, from The Parking REIT, a Las Vegas-based real estate investment trust.

The lots are at 1010 Convention Plaza and 901 Lucas Avenue, just north of the Washington Avenue and 10th Street intersection. Combined, the lots have 223 parking spaces spread over 2.33 acres.

Sweet. These will provide a nice revenue source for a while but I hope the long term plan involves finding a developer.

I think they're going to build parking garages on the lots...hope im wrong

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Jul 16, 2018

Sweet. These will provide a nice revenue source for a while but I hope the long term plan involves finding a developer.

How do you figure these will "provide a nice revenue source"? How much do the lots generate? The article in the St. Louis Business Journal stated this-

"Selling the properties for approximately 41 percent higher value than their original purchase price provides value to the REIT and its investors," Chairman and CEO Mike Shustek said Monday in a statement.

stlien wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jul 16, 2018

I think they're going to build parking garages on the lots...hope im wrong

Why does the CVC suddenly need all this parking?

What would make to me is this is part of plan to remove the private parking structure currently tucked away in the Convention Center in order to expand the ballroom space & better connect with the dome, either swapping the existing parking garage for a new garage on these lots or simply diluting demand that the other garage owner wants to sell out.

dredger wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

stlien wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jul 16, 2018

I think they're going to build parking garages on the lots...hope im wrong

Why does the CVC suddenly need all this parking?

What would make to me is this is part of plan to remove the private parking structure currently tucked away in the Convention Center in order to expand the ballroom space & better connect with the dome, either swapping the existing parking garage for a new garage on these lots or simply diluting demand that the other garage owner wants to sell out.

This is for future convention center expansion. Several years ago, the CVC started planting seeds in different political circles about their desire to close 9th street to create a modern truck apron with multiple loading docks for quicker setup/breakdown of events. Coupled with the desire for additional ballroom space, this is a required move among several to eventually create a super-super-super block with no northbound thoroughfare between 11th and 4th street

There's enough barriers separating downtown from everything else!

kinger wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

dredger wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

stlien wrote: ↑

Jul 17, 2018

Why does the CVC suddenly need all this parking?

What would make to me is this is part of plan to remove the private parking structure currently tucked away in the Convention Center in order to expand the ballroom space & better connect with the dome, either swapping the existing parking garage for a new garage on these lots or simply diluting demand that the other garage owner wants to sell out.

This is for future convention center expansion. Several years ago, the CVC started planting seeds in different political circles about their desire to close 9th street to create a modern truck apron with multiple loading docks for quicker setup/breakdown of events. Coupled with the desire for additional ballroom space, this is a required move among several to eventually create a super-super-super block with no northbound thoroughfare between 11th and 4th street

Wow. The super block sounds like a horrible result in order to create loading docks on 9th. Do you actually see this happening? Do you think the CVC will ask for public input?