urbanSTL

Work is under way (design) to clean up Serra park. Sticking point is who will maintain it going forward

If only the K-garage wraps and Serra block improvements happen I'd consider that a win.  Projection art, which I love, is only gonna improve those garages after sunset.  Wraps require no maintenance.  Would be great to have a set which could be rotated seasonally.

I realize that the difference between Toronto and STL is night and day, but maybe we could get some tips as  Toronto re-builds their linear downtown greenspace:

https://www.archpaper.com/2024/05/sla-a ... 557DISEDMG

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

Jun 06, 2024

Urban Land Institute was in January to host workshops on gateway mall, I got to participate in a couple.  Here is their final report and recommendations

https://knowledge.uli.org/-/media/files ... -final.pdf

Yes, downtown’s future should be the center social district. Downtown is mostly hanging on from sporting events, concerts/shows, and arch tourism as it is. Short term residents (interns, students), regional visitors and tourists regularly say “there’s nothing to do in St. Louis/downtown”. There are plenty to things to do in this city and even more things to do downtown than a lot of cities in my opinion (restaurants and shopping probably behind others) but to the naked eye, it seems “dead.” This is not unique to StL necessarily. Many of these actions in the plan would activate the spaces and make them more inviting and “bustling”.

Because we have a major tourist attraction and all of our sports stadiums downtown, we have a strong base layer of reasons to come downtown that we can build upon to make downtown more of an everyday destination mixed with residents, workers, and recreation. If we can activate them, not many cities have a better trio of downtown streets than Wash Ave, Olive, and Gateway Mall.

I like the issue spotting by the coalition - activating Market and along the gateway mall as our main “boulevard” is exactly the way to go. Working with the building owners to activate street facing space is the most important idea. So happy to see the movement towards replacing single use garages with mixed residential. While Michigan Ave in Chicago of the early 2000s is no more and won’t be coming back in todays age, a main boulevard can still be the center of activity that leaves a lasting impression on visitors, prospective residents and the rest of the country. Gateway Mall is that opportunity for STL. Not many cities can offer the fabric that could exist from the soccer stadium to the arch. It could be a top 5 major city “main street” in the country.

Ultimately, I like to see the plans oriented towards people. Hopefully with the brick line greenway and these plans, the central corridor becomes a more cohesive walkable corridor.

Wouldn’t mind seeing an idea thrown out there about a street car that runs from CWE to the bottom of Soulard through downtown but that’s neither here nor there.

Are they still getting rid of the raised portion of Kiener?  I'd like to see that become a food truck landing pad/pull in.  The Arch grounds are significantly underserved.  A lot of people would potentially stop at them as they enter/ exit the Arch Grounds.  

Not to be all grumpy, but I'm so sick of talking about removal of the Peabody building. It's been recently renovated, is worth too much money, and has way too much life left to even consider demolishing it for at least several more decades. It's not happening in most of our lifetimes. The money wasted demolishing this building could be better spent a thousand other ways.

dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑

May 27, 2024

No and no.

Has to be Chemical. The other buildings are too big for $100M rehab. 

I was tipped off that a similar price tag project involves riverfront enhancements. Greater St. Louis is apparently involved in that and bankrolling it.

Chemical Building has been silent. I did hear that Campo was pissed that it was listed for sale since it wasn’t him who decided to list it, but rather his partners who got frustrated with waiting to attract additional investors.

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑

Jun 10, 2024

I was tipped off that a similar price tag project involves riverfront enhancements. Greater St. Louis is apparently involved in that and bankrolling it.

Chemical Building has been silent. I did hear that Campo was pissed that it was listed for sale since it wasn’t him who decided to list it, but rather his partners who got frustrated with waiting to attract additional investors.

$100M in riverfront enhancements? That would be awesome if they're actually trying to implement the North Riverfront Masterplan. Beautification and infrastructure work would definitely be needed to make the North Riverfront palpable to new development.

goat314 wrote: ↑

Jun 10, 2024

Chris Stritzel wrote: ↑

Jun 10, 2024

I was tipped off that a similar price tag project involves riverfront enhancements. Greater St. Louis is apparently involved in that and bankrolling it.

Chemical Building has been silent. I did hear that Campo was pissed that it was listed for sale since it wasn’t him who decided to list it, but rather his partners who got frustrated with waiting to attract additional investors.

$100M in riverfront enhancements? That would be awesome if they're actually trying to implement the North Riverfront Masterplan. Beautification and infrastructure work would definitely be needed to make the North Riverfront palpable to new development.

its the Millenium hotel but i don't know now because the building is for sale via bid and anyone can get it

Poplar Street "bridge" needs to be replaced with something a little more, you know, iconic.

^ thats not going anywhere until 2050 

How funny would it be if we replaced Poplar with a smaller but exact replica of the Golden Gate bridge? That's the kind of thing I would push for as Mayor.

I am not a serious person.

PSB should be torn down an replaced with a span to the South near Potomac street

GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑

Jun 17, 2024

Troubled downtown St. Louis office tower, operating in receivership, is offered for sale

Bank of America Plaza

WTH! How many of these downtown office towers are in trouble?

Many of these buildings were purchased at much higher valuations using debt financing and the loans are coming due in higher interest rate environment, making refinancing or rolling over the loans unattractive. Maintenance has been delayed, fees have been collected, and sometimes it is easier to cut your losses. We are just seeing the start of a reckoning in commercial real estate.

State to move 600 workers from downtown to Chesterfield from two different buildings including Wainwright building. Ouch.
What are we going to do with these empty buildings? They have to go residential right?

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/cri ... p-homepage

More. Seems like city was caught off guard by by the news. This is kind of a dick move by the State imho. There should have been better communication.

https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local ... 5e1fa8f01f

Look on the bright side though, now the Wainwright Building, one of the most significant buildings in the country, can be beautifully repurposed and put to better use than state government. This isn’t the worst thing to happen.

I know someone that worked there until recently (retired) She stated that the mold issue in the building bordered on overwhelming

The state doesn't take care f its buildings?! Shocked I tell ya!

Ground floor would be a perfect little Museum of Architecture