More good news, Hi-Pointe Drive in is coming to Washington Ave.
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... 737f8.html
https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/ ... 737f8.html
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Wow this has become a really hot corner of downtown. The past few months alone have seen openings of BLT, Gringo, and now this. High profile stuff. Looks like the downtown is ramping up for the influx of hotels.
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Sad to hear that Kemoll's is moving to Westport however this seem to add credibility to the rumour that a major Cortex based tech firm is considering a move to the Met Square building. Interesting to see what the future holds.
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Hot take: Kemoll's suckssouthcitygent wrote: ↑Oct 18, 2018Sad to hear that Kemoll's is moving to Westport however this seem to add credibility to the rumour that a major Cortex based tech firm is considering a move to the Met Square building. Interesting to see what the future holds.
I have trouble caring when a restaurant I never care to go to closes or leaves downtown i.e. Mike Shannon's, Prime 1000, Kemoll's, J Buck's, Robust, etc. Kind of a metaphor of changing taste that Sen Thai and Caruso's moved into the old Prime 1000 spot. I could list some others I could do without, or expect to go soon, but I'll never WISH for such a business to close or leave downtown.
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I've been curious for a while just to see the view. I figure that alone might be worth the price of admission once. (I very much enjoyed eating at Chicago's Signature Room at the top of the Hancock Building so very many years ago.) But if they move to Westport they'll have to survive on their food alone.
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Where did you hear Met Square specifically mentioned as a move for a Cortex firm?southcitygent wrote: ↑Oct 18, 2018Sad to hear that Kemoll's is moving to Westport however this seem to add credibility to the rumour that a major Cortex based tech firm is considering a move to the Met Square building. Interesting to see what the future holds.
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I was taken there one time a couple of years ago. A thunder storm was passing through town and the show put on by the lightning was amazing.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Oct 19, 2018I've been curious for a while just to see the view. I figure that alone might be worth the price of admission once.
It's a good view, of course, but kind of a one trick pony. Nothing beats the old Stouffer's Top of the Riverfront revolving restaurant.
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Spoke to the fellas a Washington Ave Post today, looks like they have found a buyer. It's not totally set in stone yet but we will be hearing more in a couple weeks.
The Business Journal reported yesterday that Pharaoh's Donuts is finally moving. They're moving to the former Pitas and More / Pita Pit space at 9th & Pine, which closed 2 months ago or so. The employees knew about this last February so it's obviously been in the works for some time. I'm guessing Pitas and More had no intent to renew their lease and Pharaoh's had to wait for Pitas' lease to end before formally announcing the move.
For those of you not familiar with Pharaoh's, many consider them to be the best donuts in St. Louis, which is not a title given lightly. Unfortunately they're currently in the now condemned Famous-Barr garage at 7th & Pine. Their current space could be described as... uninviting?? or maybe just gross. You have to walk through a small vestibule and down a short hallway before you actually see the donut counter. I've been sitting in there and watched people walk in and immediately turn around. It's also rare to walk in and for there not to be a line. Their new space will have two walls of storefront windows and no temporary supports holding the condemned garage above.
This will be great not only for Pharaoh's but for downtown. Many hotels recommend Pharaoh's to their guests. This is a great opportunity to help St. Louis's image just a bit more.
For those of you not familiar with Pharaoh's, many consider them to be the best donuts in St. Louis, which is not a title given lightly. Unfortunately they're currently in the now condemned Famous-Barr garage at 7th & Pine. Their current space could be described as... uninviting?? or maybe just gross. You have to walk through a small vestibule and down a short hallway before you actually see the donut counter. I've been sitting in there and watched people walk in and immediately turn around. It's also rare to walk in and for there not to be a line. Their new space will have two walls of storefront windows and no temporary supports holding the condemned garage above.
This will be great not only for Pharaoh's but for downtown. Many hotels recommend Pharaoh's to their guests. This is a great opportunity to help St. Louis's image just a bit more.
Would love to see that entire block redeveloped! It needs it (with the exception of Charlie Gitto's at the building at 7th and Olive).
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I would be thrilled with a rebuilt higher quality garage with a similar amount of retail. Same with the crappy abandoned one at Tucker and Locust.
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100% agree. I'd love to see the existing ("condemned"?) garage torn down, then rebuilt as a very large garage (10+ stories) covering the entire block, eliminating that parking lot on the NE corner, and incorporating street-level retail around the whole thing. I envision something similar to the one at the center of the Clayton Triangle (Brentwood, Forsyth, and Maryland) that feeds the surrounding office buildings. Maybe even throw a couple levels of office space on the top. I'd like to see Charlie Gitto's building remain, for aesthetic and historical reasons, but I definitely want to see that entire block turned into a massive parking structure.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Jan 16, 2020I would be thrilled with a rebuilt higher quality garage with a similar amount of retail. Same with the crappy abandoned one at Tucker and Locust.
For those who hate structured parking: yeah, I get it. I throw in two ideas:
1. This would certainly help further the reconstruction of the Railway Exchange.
2. An increase of parking like this could definitely further the potential redevelopment of the two Chestnut garages (between Broadway and Seventh) into office towers. It would increase total gross parking supply and be built in a manner that minimizes potential future disruptions should those Chestnut garages be taken down and turned into something better.
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I assume some parking is inevitable but I would hope the entire block doesn't end up as a 10 story garage. Lets hope for more than that. I would be ok with a garage on the North half with ground level retail and keep the little building on the NW corner. Then the part south of Charlie Gitto's a mid rise residential with ground level retail. Something between 6 and 10 stories. To me that's the bare minimum, anything less is a big disappointment.
Some real garage love here. So rare for this forum.gone corporate wrote: ↑Jan 17, 2020100% agree. I'd love to see the existing ("condemned"?) garage torn down, then rebuilt as a very large garage (10+ stories) covering the entire block..... I definitely want to see that entire block turned into a massive parking structure.GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Jan 16, 2020I would be thrilled with a rebuilt higher quality garage with a similar amount of retail. Same with the crappy abandoned one at Tucker and Locust.
Have to agree with STLEnginerd - the days of super blocks of parking in the heart of Downtown need to be over. Any reconstruction/rearrangement of the garage should at the very least be accompanied by office or residential to counteract the auto voids with human life.
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^ and ^^. My assumption is that both of you would love to see RRX rehabbed and occupied. There is zero chance of this happening without the majority of this current block being rebuilt as a very large parking garage. Regardless of our personal preferences (I certainly have no love lost for parking structures) the RRX requires an enormous garage to be viable. It is the second largest office building by square footage in the metro.
As GC said, provided the RRX is rehabbed, this block being rebuilt with a new garage with retail facing the street on all sides would be a great win. If RRX isn't rehabbed, there's no need for the parking here, as the RRX will most likely wind up being gone anyway in that case.
As much as we all hate it, IMO we should really all be pulling for a very large, new garage here. Other options likely accompany the loss of RRX.
As GC said, provided the RRX is rehabbed, this block being rebuilt with a new garage with retail facing the street on all sides would be a great win. If RRX isn't rehabbed, there's no need for the parking here, as the RRX will most likely wind up being gone anyway in that case.
As much as we all hate it, IMO we should really all be pulling for a very large, new garage here. Other options likely accompany the loss of RRX.
I don't think that's the case. There are major buildings all over the core of Downtown that did not require very large parking garages to be built in order for them to be rehabbed. The Alverne, Paul Brown, OPOP Tower, Hotel St. Louis, Magnolia Hotel, Gallery 515 Apartments, and probably the best example - the Arcade-Wright Building which is a 500,000 sq.ft. former office building without an attached or adjacent garage. To name a few.newstl2020 wrote: ↑Jan 18, 2020^ and ^^. My assumption is that both of you would love to see RRX rehabbed and occupied. There is zero chance of this happening without the majority of this current block being rebuilt as a very large parking garage.
So if it's converted to residential I don't agree with the premise that a very large garage is required.
Office is a different story and would require significant parking. There isn't demand for 1,000,000 sq.ft. of office Downtown, but if that were the case I agree with STLEnginerd: "I would be ok with a garage on the North half with ground level retail and keep the little building on the NW corner. Then the part south of Charlie Gitto's a mid rise residential with ground level retail."
Also, I'm sure this is sacrilege to some, but there are 5-6 stories of block sized department store floors before the higher widowed floors of the RRX. Perhaps some or all could be converted to parking. The conversion of the historic May Dept. Store in Cleveland included 519 parking spaces on floors 2-5.
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^Agreed, I was referring to a redevelopment plan to office space. My understanding was that due to the size/layout of the building, a conversion to hotel or residential was structurally/economically not feasible. It's been a while since I've read up on the RRX though so that could certainly be incorrect.
I have zero idea what this would cost, but a multi-use conversion with the old department floors to parking, main floor as retail/lobby areas, 10 floors of office, then hollowing out the center of the building for the top floors to make residential work would be a very cool building. Assuming that would be pretty tough though as my guess is that the elevator cores are in the center of the building.
I have zero idea what this would cost, but a multi-use conversion with the old department floors to parking, main floor as retail/lobby areas, 10 floors of office, then hollowing out the center of the building for the top floors to make residential work would be a very cool building. Assuming that would be pretty tough though as my guess is that the elevator cores are in the center of the building.
The top 13 or so floors are already hollowed out. I'm not saying it'd be cheap or easy, but ground floor retail/lobby/amenities + 6 floors of parking (yielding 700+ spaces and accounting for the original 400,000 sq. ft. department store) + the upper 13 floors containing 750+ apartments (accounting for around 600,000 sq. ft of the prior May Co. offices) might be a model.newstl2020 wrote: ↑Jan 18, 2020^Agreed, I was referring to a redevelopment plan to office space. My understanding was that due to the size/layout of the building, a conversion to hotel or residential was structurally/economically not feasible. It's been a while since I've read up on the RRX though so that could certainly be incorrect.
I have zero idea what this would cost, but a multi-use conversion with the old department floors to parking, main floor as retail/lobby areas, 10 floors of office, then hollowing out the center of the building for the top floors to make residential work would be a very cool building. Assuming that would be pretty tough though as my guess is that the elevator cores are in the center of the building.
It'd be an enormous project. 2.5X the size of the Arcade Building redevelopment. But it seems like there's a path to redevelopment without requiring an adjacent brand new freestanding garage.
Those 750 apartments, plus mixed-use mid-rise new construction replacing the garage next door, plus mixed-use redevelopment of the Kiener Garages, and in just 4 buildings the core of DT could really get some life back.
The parking is in the basement and in the core of the building, below the atrium, according to this very detailed article. So, it looks like the only exterior alteration is the folding garage doors (which I like very much, and at which Brian Hayden should take a long look).wabash wrote: ↑Jan 18, 2020
Also, I'm sure this is sacrilege to some, but there are 5-6 stories of block sized department store floors before the higher widowed floors of the RRX. Perhaps some or all could be converted to parking. The conversion of the historic May Dept. Store in Cleveland included 519 parking spaces on floors 2-5.
The Cleveland MayCo building is much shorter than Railway Exchange, but somehow still nearly 1 million sf, so must have a much larger footprint. So, I'm not sure the footprint would be large enough here to bury the parking in the interior (and thus avoid any significant exterior alterations), but it is an interesting possibility and comparison.
