urbanSTL

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Jul 22, 2021

I wonder if people can actually use that front door on the street. I have a feeling it will be an emergency exit or for staff only.

I walked through the place today, and inquired about that door facing Forest Park Ave.  It will serve as a separate entrance for a cafe in the northeast corner of the Fresh Thyme store.

I didn't ask, but presumably they will replace the solid steel security door that's in there now with something a bit more inviting...

imran wrote: ↑

Jul 24, 2021

urbanitas wrote: ↑

Jul 23, 2021

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Jul 22, 2021

I wonder if people can actually use that front door on the street. I have a feeling it will be an emergency exit or for staff only.

I walked through the place today, and inquired about that door facing Forest Park Ave.  It will serve as a separate entrance for a cafe in the northeast corner of the Fresh Thyme store.

I didn't ask, but presumably they will replace the solid steel security door that's in there now with something a bit more inviting...

That’s better news than I was expecting. Why frost the windows then?

The two easternmost windows where the cafe is won't be frosted, I don't think.  But the rest of the Forest Park Avenue side of the building appears to be all back-of-house and loading dock space.

And hopefully they will provide some sort of screen between the cafe and said loading dock (and plenty of ventilation). *crosses fingers*

urbanitas wrote: ↑

Jul 29, 2021

A landscaping bid package for the Foundry apartment project is posted on the SLDC Planroom site.  It's going to be called Vande East, apparently.  Must say I've never seen a landscaping package go out for bid first, or be the only thing out for bid, but whatevs.

Anyway, the Design Development drawings for the apartment towers and garage podium are also included, here:

SLDC Planroom: Vande East_Project Drawings

One interesting note: the garage podium screen will double as an LED message board/signage on the south and west sides, albeit one with very large, and widely spaced, pixels...sort of a current version of the Lumiere Glohawk, maybe, only see-through...

Project Description:

"The Vande East Apartment project is a 14-story development location near the intersection of Vandeventer Ave. and Forest Park Ave. adjacent to the City Foundry development. The ground floor shall consist of a retail space and parking, floors 2-6 shall be provided as solely parking, and floors 7-14 shall be residential with a total of 270 apartment units. Amenities shall be provided on levels 7 and 14, with Level 7 housing a pool deck, rooftop garden, and interior lounge and Level 14 providing another roof deck and interior Club Room/Game Room.

The building will be constructed as a post-tension concrete structure bearing on deep foundation piles. Three (3) elevators shall serve the main residential portion of the development, with an additional two (2) elevators serving the parking levels only. Residential units shall be served by a dedicated split system HVAC system, with an in-unit furnace and rooftop condenser.

The façade of the residential portion of the building shall be comprised of primarily fully captured window wall with metal panel accents. The parking floor facades shall be vertical aluminum mullions spaced evenly around the perimeter of the floor. The parking façade shall allow for ‘open, ventilated’ parking floors. The ground floor shall be a combination of brick and storefront"

Fantastic find sir!

Some screen grabs from page 49 of the project drawings re: the LED garage screen:



And the upper bit in greater detail:




-RBB

^Was just about to do this, thanks. I will post some plans instead.

Unfortunately, there isn't as much retail on the ground floor of the podium as hoped.  Most of the ground floor is apartment lobby/amenities, service and garage access, and parking.  I had hoped they would put all the lobby and amenities on the 7th Floor.  There are only two retail spaces, a ~9,000sf space on the Vandeventer side of the building, and a ~2,500sf space in the middle facing Foundry Way.  So, no Target...  

It looks like the main storefront of the larger space, with three large bi-fold doors (which you can see on the elevation above), is right on the Vandeventer sidewalk though.  That will be awesome if it happens, but those doors imply a restaurant space, which...seems unlikely.

^ Thanks for finding and posting Urbanitas.   Could it be as simple as the landscaping plan/bid package was the simplest so they chose to get out there instead of waiting. 

I assume the lack of retail is driven by a fair share of it in current Foundry phase I.   Agree that better to have as much of it along Vande.   

dredger wrote: ↑

Jul 30, 2021

^ Thanks for finding and posting Urbanitas.   Could it be as simple as the landscaping plan/bid package was the simplest so they chose to get out there instead of waiting. 

I assume the lack of retail is driven by a fair share of it in current Foundry phase I.   Agree that better to have as much of it along Vande.   

Looking at the bid instructions, it looks the building would be a Design-Build Guaranteed Maximum Price project w/ ARCO/Murray as the GC therefore handling all the construction bidding, except for landscaping, which I suppose makes sense given it involves all the 7th Floor outdoor amenity infrastructure and likely a lot of replacement and repair guarantees.

I'll be working in the Food Hall at City Foundry. 

I've been able to explore the different stalls a bit and see what they'll offer. Definitely a wide variety of foods. I look forward to trying...

• Good Day (Breakfast type foods)
• Hello Poke (Hawaiian Bowls)
• Subdivision Sandwiches (as it sounds)
• Buenos Aires Cafe (Argentinian)

I've already tried 6 of the 7 items at Press Waffle, which is where I'll be working and I have four recommendations for that (Cristo, Chicken and Waffles, the American, and the Happy Camper). Training and working inside the Food Hall these past couple of days, it's cool to see the finishing touches go in place. Floors are being cleaned, decorations and window covers are going up, tables and chairs have been brought in (made by Refab), and wraps are being removed from bar tops. They also put up a Food Hall listing sign when you walk in that tells you the names of the 15 food stalls that are, or will be, in the Food Hall. On August 11th, 11 of the 15 stalls should be open. The other 4, including Fordo's, should open up by the end of the year.

Quick thing to point out from the City Foundry website, two retailers have quietly been announced including Mix and Match (clothing, currently at Devonshire and Macklind) and Vibe Szn (custom, affordable jewelry). We haven't been told when those will open but I was told that the jewelry store will be able to be accessed from within the Food Hall. The clothing store is new to me.

Walking down to the Punchbowl Social space, there is definitely work going on in there. They cut large chunks of the concrete floor out and have been running new water and sewer pipes in there. The Fassler Hall space has been dormant the past few days I've been there but it's assured that they'll still open there, just final design tweaks are being made before formal work can start.

I definitely do not get the mall food court vibe in the Food Hall. It's just different. It seems more unique than other places and the 20 food stalls give me hope that there will be crowds. To me, this seems like they (Lawrence Group) did this one right and that the wait is worth it. It's too bad that we'll have to wait till the Spring or so to enjoy places like the Alamo Movies, Fassler Hall, and Punchbowl Social (along with maybe some other stores) but the Food Hall will be the main draw for now and I'm ready for it.

Lastly, the Foundry has some hidden goodies that some people will appreciate once they find them. Some are in the floors, some are in the ceilings, and some are out in the open but not obvious as other things.

Hours...
Monday-Friday: 7AM-10:30PM
Saturday and Sunday: 8AM-11:30PM

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Aug 08, 2021

Hours...
Monday-Friday: 7AM-10:30PM
Saturday and Sunday: 8AM-11:30PM

You opening a stall?!

And thanks for the hours.  I see they are posted on their website now, and they have finally updated it a bit as well, including a short before-and-after drone shot.  But it also says under the Food Hall hours:

"COME IN, WE'RE OPEN!"

Only, they aren't open, yet...

So anyway, regarding the hours, it's definitely not a late night drunk food kind of place, at least not yet.  And that's just the Food Hall doors.  I assume each of the stalls will have their own hours, some likely closing earlier.  But you'd think they'll want to keep the Food Hall open later when the Punch Bowl, Alamo, Fassler Hall all open up next year.

Do you know if the outdoor mall retail spaces will try to keep the same hours as the Food Hall...whenever that part gets some tenants, that is...

Worked this tonight at Press Waffle. We did good business. My observations of people without masks were people who had drinks and were walking around with them. And I was the one at the cash register watching everyone and talking to them. People being maskless didn’t bother me any but a lot of people approached me put theirs on and then walked away with it on before getting their waffles. So pictures can be deceiving, especially when you can’t see the drinks people had. Plus, it was a private event. Mask rules probably didn’t apply, if they did, I’m sure there were people who knew what their choice was. People are more responsible than they seem, especially here in St. Louis.

I’d say there were just over 250 there. Could be wrong though. Alderwoman Pihl was there along with former Mayor Slay. Neil Richardson of the SLDC was there and so was Jason Hall. No other city officials were there from what I could see.

Press Waffle did over 90 orders and made over 100 waffles in about a 2 hour time span. We have our flow and are ready to go come Wednesday.

Here are some of my pictures from tonight...

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Aug 10, 2021

 People being maskless didn’t bother me any   

^That's not how masking works, though

People are more responsible than they seem

No, no they aren't.  Even excluding COVID.  People are stupid and selfish.  People may appear reasonable when it benefits them.

^ Ouch!

Technically, there is a loophole here for masks. 

The City Foundry Food Hall wasn't open to the public yet, not until tomorrow morning, so it was not a public space at the time of this event. This was a private event, which the mask mandate in the City doesn't mention anything about.
https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/d ... ariant.cfm

Come tomorrow, everyone inside the Food Hall will be wearing a mask while standing and walking around and won't have them on when sitting. Why? Because tomorrow, this becomes a public space.

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Aug 10, 2021

Worked this tonight at Press Waffle. We did good business. My observations of people without masks were people who had drinks and were walking around with them. And I was the one at the cash register watching everyone and talking to them. People being maskless didn’t bother me any but a lot of people approached me put theirs on and then walked away with it on before getting their waffles. So pictures can be deceiving, especially when you can’t see the drinks people had. Plus, it was a private event. Mask rules probably didn’t apply, if they did, I’m sure there were people who knew what their choice was. People are more responsible than they seem, especially here in St. Louis.

I’d say there were just over 250 there. Could be wrong though. Alderwoman Pihl was there along with former Mayor Slay. Neil Richardson of the SLDC was there and so was Jason Hall. No other city officials were there from what I could see.

Press Waffle did over 90 orders and made over 100 waffles in about a 2 hour time span. We have our flow and are ready to go come Wednesday.

Here are some of my pictures from tonight...

Wow. This has really come together. Amazing to think what it was before this vision was pursued. Thanks for posting. 

chriss752 wrote: ↑

Aug 10, 2021

I think each food stall will have their own hours. Just 10:30 and 11:30 are when the Food Hall should close to visitors, but it hasn't really been made clear to me yet. Food Hall hours will change once Punch Bowl, Fassler, and Alamo open next year since you'll be able to access the first two from within the food hall. Only then, the bar may be the only thing open but we'll see.

The outdoor shops will have their own hours based on the store. So for example, one could close at 6PM and another at 9PM. Just depends. 10:30 and 11:30 are just "blanket" hours for now. Two stores are signed up for two of the retail spaces. Vibe SZN and Mix and Match. 

As cool as it would be for the Food Hall to match the Punch Bowl, Fassler Hall, and Alamo closing hours (whatever those may be), I think that's very unlikely.  

First, you'd need nearly 24 hour security in a large space with a lot of dark corners, nooks, and crannies.  Then, you've got drunk people wandering about said space.  And last, those anchor tenants have late night food they want to sell too, and probably wouldn't appreciate the additional competition.

Not sure if any images of this model have been posted (pic found on Social Media)

framer wrote: ↑

Aug 11, 2021

Not sure if any images of this model have been posted (pic found on Social Media)

I have a picture of it somewhere prior to the residential building showing up. It's interesting that the office building massing is still shown in this updated model. Maybe that means we'll still get it in a later phase. I also think it's telling just how much taller that building would be than the phase 2 apartment building (Vande East).