Salad Bowl must choose a fork

By Martin Van Der Werf

Of the Post-Dispatch

05/19/2005



The Salad Bowl may have seen more high school reunions, labor union blowups and political marriages and divorces than anywhere else in St. Louis. Now, it looks as if the regulars who have peopled the place for decades may need to move on.



Dallas developer HSA&D has offered to buy the building, 3949 Lindell Boulevard, and put up 196 apartments. The property is under contract, pending city approval of $3 million in tax increment financing.



"The restaurant industry is changing, our customers are changing. We have to look at what's best for us," said Norbert Sewing, one of three brothers who run the business.



His family started the Salad Bowl in 1948; it's been at this location since 1963.



To read more: Salad Bowl must choose a fork

It would be cool if the developer could somehow incorporate the original building into the design for the new apartments. The Salad Bowl is in an old auto showroom and has great windows and other cool features.

I wonder if the Salad Bowl has been hurting financially since the St. Louis Public School District stopped ringing up huge catering bills there (at least I'm assuming that they've stopped)

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for more apartments/condos/lofts. Metro Lofts is okay pricing and Park East is very expensive, but something needs to charge below $700 a month. Even if the apts. are small and not decked out, college students and recent grads need something in budget. Maybe the current building could be incorporated into the new one.

Arch City wrote:Salad Bowl must choose a fork

By Martin Van Der Werf

Of the Post-Dispatch

05/19/2005



The Salad Bowl may have seen more high school reunions, labor union blowups and political marriages and divorces than anywhere else in St. Louis. Now, it looks as if the regulars who have peopled the place for decades may need to move on.



Dallas developer HSA&D has offered to buy the building, 3949 Lindell Boulevard, and put up 196 apartments. The property is under contract, pending city approval of $3 million in tax increment financing.



"The restaurant industry is changing, our customers are changing. We have to look at what's best for us," said Norbert Sewing, one of three brothers who run the business.



His family started the Salad Bowl in 1948; it's been at this location since 1963.



To read more: Salad Bowl must choose a fork

That site is pretty small for 196 units w/ parking and building amenities. My guess is they will go up.



Very interesting, the CWE and Midtown growing together, this has actually been happening for a few years.



I would love someone to come in buy up Lindell Market Place and redo it as a denser mixed use development (keeping the Shnucks)

You're right, it isn't too small, so I would still think they would go up maybe 5 floors. Definately not 20, but a few definately. I would think these would be popular with SLU students, since it is just down the block from the west end of campus.

Yes

I guess the height would depend if they do surface parking in the back, or put it in a garage. We'll find out eventually, if it even happens.

Lindell Marketplace definitely needs to be redone. But there are many other auto-oriented developments that could go first to new apartments like the Salad Bowl proposal. Immediately west is a drive-thru Arby's. Immediately east are AAA and a drive-thru Rally's.



East of Vandeventer, the Gills have helped make Lindell the place to live for high-rise living in Midtown. Lindell was already known for such high-rises in the CWE. Now, we just need to fill in the gap between these two hot spots.

Gotta say, the arby's and the rally's do good lunch businesses.

I think the Lidell Marketplace is going to be redone, at least the Schnucks portion. When the closed down some of there surrounding locations, it was part of a plan to consolidate at the Lindell location and really rehab the store, which often seem dark, dank and dirty.

I think this site and the arby's and Rally's are in the area marked in the Midtown Strategic Plan as a possible urban village bound between Technopolis on thye south, SLU on east, and stable residential on west and north. In other words the City encourages mixed use and a few blocks of highrises called West Pine Village. The full Plan shows mostly parking lots in the current 2002(3) ariel. The City wants developers to build up the area with live/work/shop like developments.

Just saw on the news that the Salad Bowl is closing soon. A developer from Dallas has purchased the property and is building condos and shops on the site. The Salad Bowl is truly a landmark, but it seems like a step forward for the neighborhood. I just don't understand why developers are buying up existing buildings and tearing them down rather than building on vacant lots first. Anyway, let's hope this project is urban and doesn't mirror the abomination of a strip center to the west. I'm sure it will be nice.

STLgasm wrote:Just saw on the news that the Salad Bowl is closing soon. A developer from Dallas has purchased the property and is building condos and shops on the site.

Is this the same Dallas developer (HSA&D: www.hsad.com) that had offered to buy the building back in May of this year to put up 196 apartments?

A sign that this part of Lindell is getting investment? I hope so. The retail district in this area is a weak spot, including Lindell Marketplace & fast food restaurants. Lindell deserves better retail buildings. If they open a new Metro station at Sarah, even more investment should be on the way.

Is there talk of opening a Metro station at Sarah St?

Not Lindell & Sarah. Sorry, didn't mean to mislead. I am talking about the Metro station for Cortex. Won't that be around Sarah & FP Pkwy? I think it might help Eastern CWE & Western SLU area become more popular.

Obviously, I have no idea what the plans are, but it would be very cool if they could incorporate the original building in with the new plans - maybe they could even get tax credits. I love those rounded windows that many of the old car dealerships used to have. The Salad Bowl building would make a cool ground floor entrance to the new apartment building.