Tuesday, March 09, 2010

A reasonable facsimile of Baltimore


This snug row of buildings along Broadway, just a little southwest of the Off Broadway night club, has always been one of my favorites. The grade of the street and the turn in the road reminds of the style of architecture you see all around Baltimore.

Some say St. Louis is the "western-most eastern US city", and buildings like this show it. The historic collection is located in the Marine Villa neighborhood (or is it Benton Park?), near one of the city's historic fire houses.

With its historic charm, tavern feel, and roadhouse location, this spot reminds me of the places back east where you find neighborhood seafood restaurants, where the owners spread newspapers over the table, serve cold beer, steamed crabs, crackers, chowder, and good times.

Can you picture an establishment like that filling in the side by side permastone covered store front spaces?

Monday, March 08, 2010

Eiler view

STL Rising isn't the most tech savvy blog around. In fact, it's probably one of the least. So we are just now figuring out how to upload pictures from an old camera phone to the internet.

At the end of last week, a commenter on the River City post requested pics of the cool views we found there. So, the team here at STL Rising did some homework over the weekend and we are now able to provide our readers with visuals. Not great mind you. We will work to do better. These things take time...

With our new found, low-tech, photo capability, STL Rising has a long backlog of city landscapes to bring to readers. Stay tuned for a wide range of scenes from across St. Louis to appear at this site in the days and weeks ahead.

We begin at one of the many historic blocks in South St. Louis, featuring one of the city's finest examples of "bakery brick" masonry construction. It's a block where, before the age of texting, no doubt countless numbers of school-aged children communicated through open windows via tin cans and string across the street and over parked cars: the 600 block of Eiler. The twin steeples of St. Cecelia's Church can be seen through the bare trees at the end of the block.



Apologies in advance for the grainy image. And the reverse view. The staff is all-volunteer and still in training. Poor as the image quality may be, we have also updated the River City post below to show one of the old relics from the shipping industry days along the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri.

Friday, March 05, 2010

Views from River City impressive



With over $400 million invested, the new River City Casino in South County raises a lot of curiosity. To find out more about it, I ventured over there this morning for a look.

The location is rare in St. Louis: a true riverfront setting. Just south of the confluence...that is the confluence of the Mississippi River and River Des Peres, you find it: an entertainment oasis equal to or superior to anything of its kind anywhere in the midwest. In fact, as I was walking up to the shiny gold metal and sparkling glass entrance, the man walking next me had driven all the way from Michigan to check out the place.

It was early, so the place was pretty empty. Workers were busy on ladders makinig little fixes. The gaming floor had not yet opened. I only got a little glimpse of one area of the casino. But it was all very nice. If you're into the gaming lifestyle, this place will keep your interest.

For me, it was the outside areas that were the most interesting. The overall site is huge. It's got to be a couple hundred acres. And it sits right next to the Mississippi River. The water is less than 100 feet away. There are relics of historic shipping operations right across the street from the main casino entrances. One of them is an old round house structure that appears to have served as an old freight office. Hopefully these authentic riverfront effects will be preserved for the long term interest of the community.

From outside the casino you have panoramic views of the river on one side and the bluffs on the other. The historic convent adjacent Notre Dame High School is prominent on top of the bluff. Given its size and unique setting, it's amazing that this site was available for this project. I confess to not knowing the history. Perhaps it was once an industrial site with lots of contamination, thus abandoned for years?

Whatever it was before, there's little sign of any of that history today. Now it's a first class casino, situated right alongside the South St. Louis riverfront, offering locals and visitors alike a rare opportunity to get up close and personal to the Mississippi River.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

The Art and Science of Demolition

With gentrification the topic of tonight's City Affair, here are some random things to consider...

St. Louis city population has dropped from 800,000 + persons to 350,000.

Our region has a stable population, with a 50 year history of people moving to the suburbs. The result is a lessening demand for our older housing stock, creating an inventory of vacant and abandoned buildings in the urban core.

In Clayton we see tear downs to build luxury homes in place of smaller historic housing. This translates to $500,000 historic tear downs for $1,000,000+ luxury townhomes. It's the free market at work.

In St. Ann Missouri, Northwest Plaza is a candidate for National Register listing - and a possible demolition candidate. What do the people of St. Ann want in its place?

Public safety concerns - most neighbors don't like having abandoned homes on their block.

Lack of investment - a man was killed last year while sitting on the front porch of the derelict building where he lived when the front wall of the building collapsed on top of him. Now the site is a vacant lot.

LRA inventory high cost maintenance - little to no demand, often leading to more demolition.

Gentrification requires reinvestment. St. Louis requires reinvestment.

Without more gentrification do we have more demolition? Maybe we're not gentrifying fast enough.

See you tonight at City Affair.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Anonymous commenters say the darnedest things...

Over at STL Today, there is continuing discussion on the editorial about planning for removal of the I-70 lanes through downtown. An anonymous commenter (posting under the pseudonym name "Renew STL") hits the nail on the head with this comment:

"Big Ups to the Post for supporting this idea. There is a great amount of positive energy working in STL right now, and it will lead to great things. If you support this idea, quietly go about the work of making it happen. Talk to people. Discuss reconnecting the city. Do what you can in your sphere of influence. Don’t wait for Gov.– it will never solve our problems, but enough engaged people can alter the landscape. This was once a great place; a confluence of ideas and cultures. Fear and ignorance split it apart, and those same forces will work to keep it that way. So… work humbly, dutifully and diligently to reconnect downtown to the river — it is symbolic of a greater reconnection. And don’t engage the fear and negativity, it only exists to slow the process down."

People often ask what they can do to help City to River's efforts to reconnect downtown to the Arch grounds and riverfront. Following this advice is a great place to start...

Monday, February 22, 2010

East Riverfront Improvements


While this blog has focused a lot of attention on the Missouri side of the river, the National Park Service has made plans to improve the east riverfront a focus of its new General Management Plan for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Just as St. Louis has spent years trying to figure out how to reconnect the city to the riverfront and Arch grounds, there has been a lot of attention spent on how to revitalize the East St. Louis riverfront. With views of the downtown St. Louis skyline and Arch, the east riverfront has a unique setting.

Those looking to improve the area must address many planning and development challenges including a long distressed local economy, a maze of interstates cutting through the area, railroad rights of way, an aging levee, a flood plain, a massive grain elevator, and a large casino operation.

With $300 million being the estimated cost for implementing the National Park Service's plans for improving the Arch grounds and east riverfront, there might be up to $150 million available for the east side. With such a budget, what would you like to see happen across the river from the Arch?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Riverfront Boulevard Plan Reconnects City to River


"City to River", a citizens group formed to advocate for improved connections between downtown St. Louis, the Arch grounds and the riverfront, has developed a plan to reconnect the city to its historic riverfront through the creation of a new Memorial Drive.

Check out the group's proposal at the new City to River website.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Two kinds of cities...

...those with symbols and those without. St. Louis has a symbol: the Fleur de Lis.

Can you think of any other cities with a symbol? Big cities? Does Denver have a symbol? What about Austin, Nashville, Portland, Seattle, LA or San Francisco? I don't think any of those places have a unique symbol. They all have flags, but are they recognized by a symbol?

What does it say about St. Louis that we have a recognized symbol and the other places that don't?

Just for grins, check out the flip side of the Oregon state flag on the link. Are they the only state with a different image on the front and back side of their state flag?

Friday, February 12, 2010

City Street Parties Coming in 2010



These promise to be fun and healthy unique city events.

Which is harder: Fix the Public Schools or Build a New Memorial Drive?

The debate over the city's public schools has gone on for a long time. Everyone wants to see them improve. Many people are working to make them better.

A new Memorial Drive is a dream for some of us. Like fixing the public schools, it's a complex challenge too.

So, which do you think is more doable? Fixing the schools or building a new Memorial Drive? Which do you think is more complicated?

One thing's for certain about St. Louis: there is more than enough to keep everyone busy!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Carondelet Impressions Rising

Twice now in the past 24 hours, I have heard the name, "Carondelet" on the radio. This is more than I can remember hearing it in the past 6 months. And this is only the beginning.

The new River City Casino is about to open, and advertisements on major radio stations are telling people to exit I-55 at the Carondelet or Germania exits.

Everytime you hear the name Carondelet or Germania, you are reminded of those south city landmarks. This is a good thing.

Casino activity will increase traffic into the area, and that will be good for local businesses.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

City + Arch + River Design Competition Update

For Immediate Release:

ST. LOUIS -- Contest organizers today announced the names of nine design teams selected to advance to the next round of the competition to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

The lead designers and design teams are:

Behnisch Architekten, Gehl Architects, Stephen Stimson Associates, Buro Happold, Transsolar, Applied Ecological Services, Limno-Tech, Herbert Dreiseitl, Arne Quinze, Peter MacKeith, Eric Mumford

FIT (Fully Integrated Thinking) Team – Arup, Doug Aitken Studio, HOK Planning Group, HOK

Michael Maltzan Architecture, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Richard Sommer, Buro Happold

Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Steven Holl Architects, Greenberg Consultants, Uhlir Consulting, HR&A Advisors, Guy Nordenson and Associates, Arup, LimnoTech, Ann Hamilton Studio, James Carpenter Design Associates, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Project Projects

PWP Landscape Architecture, Foster + Partners, Civitas, Ned Kahn, Buro Happold

Quennell Rothschild and Partners and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Vishkan Chakrabarti, Buro Happold, Atelier Ten, and Nicholas Baume

Rogers Marvel Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, Urban Strategies, Local Projects, Arup

SOM, BIG, Hargreaves Associates, Jaume Plensa, URS

Weiss/Manfredi, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Mark Dion

"The Jury had the challenge of evaluating portfolios that represented designers of international and national recognition, emerging designers and design teams comprised of individuals that provide great promise as collaborators,” said competition manager Don Stastny, of StastnyBrun Architects. “The lead designers and design teams invited to participate in Stage II represent individuals and firms that have local, national and international ties – and have the potential to come up with extraordinary solutions to the design challenges presented by the City, the Arch and the River."

The nine design leaders and teams now have five weeks to complete their teams and present full qualifications to the competition jury, Stastny said.

In addition, local contractors, minority, disadvantaged, or women-owned businesses and others are invited to meet Feb. 18 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Old Court House with representatives of the short-listed design groups for potential teaming opportunities.

“This will be an excellent opportunity for these businesses to learn about the project and to begin considering participating,” Stastny said. “We look forward to a strong turnout.”

The competition, launched Dec. 8, 2009, has three stages. Portfolio submissions in Stage I included a description of the design team, a statement of design intent and philosophy of the lead designer, a profile of the design team and examples of their work. Each team was required to include representatives of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, engineering and an artist.

Stage II involves the formation of the complete teams capable of executing the project, submission of required paperwork and a jury interview. This phase will culminate April 7, 2010, with the narrowing of the field to four or five teams.

The final stage, Stage III, to take place over the summer, will include a 90-day design concept competition to explore the finalists’ design approach and test their working methodology.

The competition’s goal is to create an iconic setting for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, honoring its immediate surroundings and weaving connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois.

The public will be invited to two events this spring and summer. A “meet the designers night” will be held in late April. This summer, there will be a public exhibition of the designs. Details will be available soon.

The final jury pick will be announced on Sept. 24, 2010. The project is set to be constructed by Oct. 28, 2015.

The new design is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan, which was developed with extensive public input over an 18-month period and approved Nov. 23, 2009.

The competition is sponsored by the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, which includes National Park Superintendent Tom Bradley, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, community leaders from Missouri and Illinois, academics, architects and national park advocates.

Financial contributions to the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation are being handled by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, a public charity with more than $140 million in charitable assets and representing more than 350 individual funds.

Donors to the competition include: Emerson, Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis (Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park), Peter Fischer, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Civic Progress, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Danforth Foundation, John F. McDonnell, Bryan Cave LLP, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, National Park Foundation, Monsanto, Alison and John Ferring, Bank of America, David C. Farrell and others who choose to remain anonymous.

A full list of registrants for the competition, “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015,” has also been released. It can be found with other competition information at www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.

PUBLIC NOTICE

WHAT: A Networking Session for local contractors and minority, disadvantaged, or women-owned businesses, and others, to meet competing Design Teams for possible teaming opportunities

WHERE: Old Courthouse
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 11 North 4th Street, St. Louis, Mo.

WHEN: Thurs., Feb. 18, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

WHY: Lead Designers/Design Teams chosen for Stage II of “The City + The Arch + The River 2015” competition have until March 18, 2010, to form and present complete teams who are capable of executing project design and related construction administration services. Teams are vying for opportunity to develop designs that create an iconic setting for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, honoring its immediate surroundings and weaving connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois. The competition is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan.

FOR INFORMATION:
Janis Cooper, 314-259-2015, Janis.Cooper@CityArchRiverCompetition.org

# # #

"Speed Camera Enforced"

Could signs like these soon be rising in neighborhoods across St. Louis? STL Rising hopes so.

Reducing speeding traffic on residential streets has been a long time effort here at STL Rising. The host of this blog has served as a St. Louis regional contact for the Keep Kids Alive - Drive 25 program for almost ten years.

Just this week we received a telephone call from a nice lady in University City interested in bringing the KKA - Drive 25 program to her neighborhood. Like many other concerned citizens, she and her neighbors have grown weary of distracted drivers racing down their neighborhood streets.

When the issue of dealing with speeders gets down to the block level and the nitty gritty of what works and what doesn't to slow traffic, that's where talk of controlling speeding traffic goes from someone else's idealogical conversation to the din of noisy engines, squeeling tires, and frequent distress over cars racing past your front yard.

People think controlling speeding is easy. It's not. These are real problems that have plagued neighborhoods for decades. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "All you have to do is put a police officer on the block for a month and the speeding will stop."

Besides the fact that once the officer leaves, the speeding goes back to the way it was before the cop sat on the block, I have this question for those who think cops should set up speed traps to catch speeders: Do we really want the limited resources of our police departments devoted to sitting in the cars ticketing speeders?

There is technology today that does this automatically. It works and it is not prohibited in the state of Missouri. The use of speed cameras can enforce speed limits in targeted areas 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There is no constitutional protection to violate the law. If our aim is to enforce speed limits, especially on neighborhood streets, why not use the most recent technology available?

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Trucks on a new Memorial Drive

One of the biggest concerns about merging I-70 and Memorial Drive through downtown into one at grade boulevard is what would happen with the trucks? The answer is simple. Trucks would either be allowed on the new boulevard, which is the way it is now, or the road would prohibit through truck traffic.

Today, as I was driving on Memorial Drive, I was next to a full size, semi tractor-trailer rig. It really was no big deal. The truck did not slow traffic. It wasn't particularly loud, and it moved right through the area without any problem. I'm no trucking expert, but from years living about a half mile from a highway, I remember that you could hear the trucks going by at 60-70 miles per hour, but not the ones driving at 25-30 miles per hour through town.

Standing above the depressed lanes, or along the elevated lanes of I-70 next to Laclede's Landing, what you hear are those trucks zooming by at high speed. Moving truck traffic to a new Memorial Drive would possibly make the area quieter than it is now.

In terms of driving times and convenience, trucks should have no problem getting through the 1.5 mile stretch of a new boulevard the same way cars would. Maybe a 3 or 4 minute longer trip would be about it.

Trucks on a new Memorial Drive? Why not?

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Urban Mining

There was a time when mining was common practice in St. Louis. Mostly, mining was done for clay to make bricks. And back then, people probably didn't think of it as "urban mining". In those days, there wasn't much if any focus on the difference between "urban" and "suburban". Pretty much everybody lived in the City. Or on a farm.

If anything, the difference was between "urban" or "rural". The suburbs really hadn't been born yet. That would come later, with the introduction of the interstate highway system, the GI bill, and baby boomers looking to move to new housing. The suburbs were appealing. Mid-century neighborhoods, places like "Dellwood" and "Crestwood", were popping up.

In the new suburbs, home buyers were finding modern conveniences like attached garages or carports, driveways, built-in appliances, non-maintenance aluminum windows, and energy efficient, eight-foot ceiling heights. People were moving out of the old neighborhoods.

They were getting away from older houses, faux drop ceilings, detached garages, ongoing window maintenance and tuckpointing, and sometimes things they didn't want for neighbors anymore, such as nearby factories. And when they left, they left behind empty houses. Or perhaps, they'd rent them out.

Over time, some of the old houses began to deteriorate. Maintenance budgets weren't keeping up with the needs of an aging home. And so deterioration might lead to vacancy, abandonment, and foreclosure (often for unpaid property taxes). The very end of the line for an old, unwanted house, would be demolition. St. Louis has seen lots of demolitions of vacant, abandoned houses. Thousands of them in fact. Thousands and thousands. Those demolition have left a legacy, buried under 12-18inches of non-engineered fill: the remains of beuatiful, historic homes.

Without much time or effort at all, some heavy equipment, and a collection of historic maps, there's a cottage industry waiting to be capitalized in St. Louis: mining the remnants of these demolished houses. When they tore the old places down, they pretty much just pushed everything into the basement. Buried in the walls of those basements are treasure troves of architectural artifacts of decades worth of solid St. Louis construction.

While young families were happily moving to those mid-century, modern neighborhoods, a couple of guys and bulldozer were uncermoniously imploding the historic architecture of St. Louis into the basements of once proud homes. They were probably talking about the St. Louis Cardinals or the hapless Browns, maybe the disappearance of the street car lines, and as they were doing so, with a cigarette hanging from their lips, they'd push the accellerator on the bulldozer, and knock down another wall or staircase. When they were through, you'd never know a house was there. They'd buried the whole thing in the ground; the remains left undisturbed for decades to come under a vacant lot.

Today, those remains await to be brought back to the surface. They might be salvaged as part of a redevelopment effort, but why not expedite the process by mining the valuable artifacts at these sites? Old bottles, marble, brick, slabs of solid granite, old brass fixtures, slate, tile, terra cotta, the sorts of things vandals and scappers might tear off of someone's property and try to sell in antique stores or salvage yards, are just waiting for some enterprising entreprenuer to bring back to the surface and salvage in a respectable enterprise.

While many see the vacant lots and years of demolitions as a scar on the St. Louis landscape, today, those remains also present an opportunity. After mining the sites for the valuable artifacts underground, the land could then be put to a productive use such as urban farming, solar installations, parks or open space, or new home or business development.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Urban St. Louis Forum Goes High Speed

One of St. Louis' best issues forum is now also one of her fastest. Urban St. Louis has always been filled with interesting discussions and information, but the site was so painfully slow that it was almost impossible to access.

Those problems have now been solved, with all the interesting discussions continuing at the site. STL Rising will permalink Urban St. Louis on our links section. In the meantime, we recommend you start your reading here...

Neighborhood Association Promotes Architectural Guidelines

With the help of an architectural student, the City of St. Louis, and a local urban planner, the Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association has established a set of recommended architectural guidelines to foster new development and existing building renovations, "The Southwest Garden Neighborhood Association's Suggested Architectural Guidelines for Exterior Facades".

Washington University architecture graudate Christopher Rehwoldt, St. Louis urban planner and SLU graduate Steve Patterson, and the City of St. Louis Planning and Urban Design Agency collaborated on the design project. Use of the guidelines is not mandatory but is intended to aid in the development of residential properties that are both aethestically pleasing and economically viable.

Strong and clear community design standards are an important resource for maintaining and improving the quality of our neighborhoods. Congratulations to all involved in taking this step toward guiding future community improvement efforts in the Southwest Garden neighborhood. It will be interesting to see if other neighborhoods follow similar efforts.

For additional information about the Southwest Garden neighborhood, visit the neighborhood's website or contact its executive director, Dana Gray, telephone (314) 772-6082.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Reality Programming - Arch Design Competiton Q and A

Organizers of the Arch design competition have recevied lots of questions from Stage One participants in the process. Here are highlights from the questions and answers received to date:

Q67: What role will the Casino play in the project?
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A67: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q66: Will river front access be provided within the project boundary along the eastern shore from the Eads Bridge to the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park? (It looks like this portion might be privately owned by the Casino.)
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A66: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q65: Are ridership volume statistics available for the Arch Lacledes Metrolink Station (just north of the site under the Eads Bridge)?
January 19, 2010 – 2:28 pm

A65: Necessary data will be provided to the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q64: Are the existing Rail Yards and Barge Docks along the eastern shore north of the Poplar Street Bridge to remain in operation within the park boundary?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A64: Design and operational parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q63: Are there statistics available on existing vehicular traffic flows for the Eads Bridge?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A63: Necessary data will be provided to the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q62: Is the Poplar Street Bridge Structure included within the limit of the project? (as opposed to simply representing the project boundary with no opportunities to annex or co-opt the structures programmatically).
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A62: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing. Also refer to Q/A #57.

Q61: Is the Eads Bridge Structure included within the limit of the project?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A61: See Q/A #57.

Q60: Will there be “Air Rights” opportunities over the I-70 Expressway between the Market and Chestnut overpasses? Between Walnut and Pine?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A60: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q59: Is the option of highway removal, especially the vacation of the depressed lanes, combined with some restoration the city’s original street grid to connect with the Arch grounds, a possibility for consideration in the design competition?
January 19, 2010 – 2:27 pm

A59: Design parameters of this specificity will be discussed with the Stage III participants at the Stage III Briefing.

Q57: On page 9 the Manual outlines a broad set of design goals that serve as the Competition Program for a “complex urban situation.” Those 10 goals clearly will require reaching beyond the geographic area outlined on the companion map on page 8. Can we therefore assume that the competition and the work that follows with a winning scheme can venture beyond those site boundaries? Who owns the land in the area outlined on the map on page 8? Can an entry, in its design effort in stage three, suggest urban design or other improvements outside of the area designated as the Competition Site?
January 19, 2010 – 2:26 pm

A57: The land is currently held by a number of public and private owners. The boundaries of the project are shown in the Competition Manual and impact areas will be identified for Stage III of the Competition.

Q55: There is reference in item 4.4 on page 22 that “competition results will be used to solicit and allocate capital improvement funds, and construction may be phased as funds become available.” Has there been any determination of what level of funding might be required for the project, or what level of funding might be available from different sources? If so, what are these sources?
January 18, 2010 – 5:55 pm

A55: Funding is ongoing and is from a number of different federal, state, and local sources. Competitors will be apprised of the status of fundraising at the Stage III Briefing. See also Q/A #12.

Q48: Is this competition is open to other countries, and what is the procedure to attend the meeting, and individual professionals like designer, architect…etc are eligible?
January 18, 2010 – 5:50 pm

A48: Yes, refer to the Competition Regulations on page 17 of the Competition Manual for eligibility requirements. See also Q/A #6.

Q43: Will you be sharing the sign-in list [from the Pre-submittal Meeting] with attendees or on the website?
January 18, 2010 – 5:44 pm

A43: Yes, it will be posted to the Competition website.

Q42: Is identifying one or more artists to be on our team required for meeting the criteria of Phase 1, or can we postpone this decision until Phase 2.
January 18, 2010 – 5:44 pm

A42: The team must be composed as described in the Competition Manual. See also Q/A #18.

Q12: Have a budget and funding sources been identified for the project?
January 18, 2010 – 5:05 pm

A12: The complexity of the project is such that the competition seeks design solutions based on goals rather than a pre-defined program and so it is not possible to determine a budget at this time. A large consideration for budget purposes should be the goal to complete the project by October 2015. Fundraising has already begun.

Q4: How might I link up with a designer for this competition?
December 22, 2009 – 11:00 am

A4: A networking session will be held in St. Louis in the beginning of Stage II for the short-listed design firms to meet and explore potential teaming opportunities with other individuals and firms. The Competition Manager cannot provide recommendations or assistance in teaming.

A2: The Teams that are invited to participate in Stage III of this competition will receive an honorarium of $100,000. There is no compensation for Stage I and Stage II participants. Refer to page 17 of the Competition Manual.

Q1: What is the registration cost?
December 21, 2009 – 12:58 pm

A1: There is no fee for registration.

For the full list of questions and answers, visit the Arch Competition website link here: Design Competition Q and A

Monday, January 18, 2010

"Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition"


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Louis, Missouri


"Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition", a new reality show based in St. Louis, Missouri, begins production this month for airing in the spring of 2010. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will showcase the efforts of the National Park Service and the City of St. Louis to revitalize the historic Mississippi Riverfront, the Gateway Arch, and downtown St. Louis. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" creates a rare opportunity for the public from across the country to participate in this exciting project.

In 1965, the final section of Eero Saarinen's masterpiece, the Gateway Arch, was installed, creating a landmark commemorating the westward expansion of the United States. Saarinen, a relative unknown at the time, made his mark on St. Louis and the international scene with his modernist Arch design masterprice. Saarinen was the unlikely winner of an international design competition held to create a landmark monument for the St. Louis riverfront.

Nearly fifty years later, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" aims to renew that world-wide excitement by bringing forward the best possible ideas for reconnecting the historic St. Louis riverfront, the Arch, and downtown St. Louis. In an era where sustainable communities, valuing diversity, and a return to cities is becoming an increasingly popular lifestyle of choice, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will give viewers the opportunity to experience the process of community renewal first hand, while also maximizing public participation in the process.

A variety of interested governmental, non-profit, commercial and neighborhood groups are working together to remake the historic riverfront and Arch grounds. These efforts are being led by a collaboration of St. Louis and national leaders focused on a dramatic, transformative effort for the Arch, riverfront, and downtown St. Louis. "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will add major public relations and community participation dimensions to the process. Each week, show producers will highlight participants in the project and viewers will be able to text their votes for the teams and design ideas they like the best.

While focusing on the Arch design competition, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" will also profile the St.Louis community, a city famous for its historic riverfront, jazz and blues music, great restaurant scene, and strong neighborhood traditions.

DISCLAIMER - So as to avoid similar confusion attributed to the RFT's parody story about project design at Ballpark Village, "Extreme Makeover - Riverfront Edition" is not really going into production for airing this spring or anytime soon. We wish it was! Our aim is get more people talking about the exciting potential of the Arch Design Competition for transforming downtown St. Louis!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Arch Design Competition Begins Today

Efforts to reconnect the Arch, the Riverfront and Downtown St. Louis begin today. The chosen method begins with an international design competition. The design competition program will lead to a plan for repositioning the way the Arch connects to the region. That plan comes with the possibility of substantial federal funding to make the project reality.

Among the world's most famous landmarks, the Arch is on par with the best. Unfortunately, it is located in a horrible setting, walled off from the community it represents. The setting is not appropriate for such a world class monument. As the design competition begins, consider how these other iconic landmarks relate to their surroundings:

The Sydney Opera House:



The US Capitol and Washington Monument:



The Eiffel Tower:



What do these landmarks have in common with the Gateway Arch? Do they suggest possibilities we might pursue?

Some say creativity is not really about originality but rather the combining and reworking of good ideas already learned.

Will our efforts result in experiences on par with visits to the world's other top landmarks? What would such an outcome mean for St. Louis?

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Open Letter to Participants in Arch Design Competition

Dear Design Community:

Welcome to St. Louis! The magnificent Arch you will soon be studying is the cherished icon of St. Louis. It is our landmark and logo to the world. Unfortunately, it is like a precious gem placed in an inferior setting. For the past couple of years, the National Park Service has led an effort to fix that problem and reconnect the Arch, the riverfront, and downtown into one vibrant area. The designs you create will set in motion a process to transform downtown St. Louis.

Early on in this effort, Senator John Danforth encouraged big thinking for the future of downtown and the riverfront. The design competition will be where those ideas emerge. As you shape your plans, look around and see the challenges we are addressing. What big ideas are possible? How can infrastructure leverage transformative change? If we succeed in this effort, the answers to those questions will be revealed for St. Louis.

Comments on this website are unmoderated. What would others add to this open letter to the individuals and firms embarking on this potentially transformative project for downtown St. Louis and the region?

Monday, January 11, 2010

Jury Selected for Arch Design Competition

From the press release:

FOR RELEASE: January 11, 2010

Contact: Janis Cooper

(314) 259-2015

Janis.Cooper@CityArchRiverCompetition.org

Jury Selected for International Gateway Arch Design Competition

Pre-submittal meeting set for January 13 in St. Louis

Eight-Member Panel Will Determine Winning Design to Connect the Gateway Arch with
the Mississippi River and the St. Louis Region by 2015

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation today announced the formation of a nationally prominent jury to choose the winner of the international design competition to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding one of the world’s most iconic monuments, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

The announcement of the jury’s formation comes two days before the competition’s pre-submittal meeting on January 13. Potential competitors are invited to St. Louis for a briefing and a tour of the site. This meeting is open to the public and the media. Additional information can be found at: www.cityarchrivercompetition.org/competition/meeting-information.

Among those selected for the jury are a Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic, a professor in the humanities, a former Deputy Director of the National Park Service, an urban designer, a museum curator, and a renowned landscape architect. Specifically, jury members are:

· Robert Campbell, architecture critic at The Boston Globe and contributing editor for Architectural Record

· Gerald Early, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and Director of the African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis

· Denis P. Galvin, former Deputy Director of the National Park Service

· Alex Krieger, founding principal of Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, architecture and urban design firm and professor at the Harvard School of Design, Cambridge, Mass.

· David C. Leland, an urban strategist and managing director of the Leland Consulting Group, Portland, Ore.

· Cara McCarty, curator of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City

· Laurie D. Olin, partner and landscape architect of the OLIN Studio, Philadelphia

· Carol Ross Barney, founder and Principal of Ross Barney Architects, Chicago

The jury will work together to select the winning firm in the design competition – “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015” – launched December 8, 2009. The competition will invite selected teams to create a new design for the Arch grounds and surrounding areas to create an iconic place for the international icon, the Gateway Arch, and weave connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River, including the east bank in Illinois.

The new design is called for in the National Park Service’s General Management Plan, which was developed with extensive public input over an 18-month period, and approved on November 23, 2009.

“We are honored that this diverse group of experts has agreed to devote its time to finding the perfect design for the region and the park,” said Tom Bradley, Superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which includes the Gateway Arch.

“The distinguished jury represents a diverse but experienced and knowledgeable set of perspectives,” said Bruce Lindsey, Dean of the College and Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis. “They were chosen carefully from local and national nominations and have committed their considerable collective expertise to helping identify an inspired and dynamic future for the Arch, its immediate surroundings, and connections to the city and the river.”

A governance group, which includes Bradley and Lindsey, as well as St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and business and community leaders from Missouri and Illinois, academics, architects, and national park advocates, was established by the non-profit the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation to manage the competition and select the jury.

The winning design will be announced in October 2010, with the resulting work completed by October 28, 2015 – the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Arch.

Firms have until Jan. 26, 2010 to register for the competition and submit for Stage I of the competition. The jury will then select those firms with the most outstanding portfolios to continue in the competition.

“We want to create a comprehensive, transparent process to establish a high level of design expectations for all of the competitors, including known and emerging designers.” said Donald Stastny, chief executive officer of StastnyBrun Architects in Portland, Ore, who is managing the competition.

Stastny will help guide and prepare the jury, whose members will participate throughout all phases of the competition process. The jurors will be offered an honorarium for their time and be reimbursed for travel, lodging and meal expenses.

Financial contributions to the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation are being handled by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, a public charity with more than $140 million in charitable assets and representing more than 350 individual funds.

Donors to the competition include: Emerson , Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis (Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park), Peter Fischer, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Civic Progress, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Danforth Foundation, John F. McDonnell, Bryan Cave LLP, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, National Park Foundation, Monsanto, Alison and John Ferring, Bank of America, David C. Farrell and donors who choose to remain anonymous.

Additional information can be found at www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.

Jury Members

Robert Campbell FAIA

architecture critic/boston globe contributing editor/architectural record

Robert Campbell received the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for his work as an architecture critic for the Boston Globe. He has published more than 100 feature articles in national periodicals, and is a contributing editor and columnist for the magazine Architectural Record. His book, Cityscapes of Boston: “An American City Through Time,” a collaboration with photographer Peter Vanderwarker, has achieved critical acclaim. Mr. Campbell also reviews books on architecture, urbanism, popular culture and poetry for the New York Times.

Mr. Campbell has been in private practice as an architect since 1975, chiefly as a consultant for the improvement or expansion of cultural institutions. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, he has received the AIA’s Medal for Criticism, the Commonwealth Award of the Boston Society of Architects, a Design Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and grants from the Graham Foundation and the J. M. Kaplan Fund. Mr. Campbell was the 2004 recipient of the annual Award of Honor of the Boston Society of Architects.

Mr. Campbell has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Boston Architectural Center and the University of North Carolina. He is a former Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1993-2002, he was visiting Sam Gibbons Eminent Scholar in Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of South Florida, and in 2002 he was Max Fisher Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan. In 2003, he was a Senior Fellow in the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University.

Mr. Campbell is a graduate of Harvard College, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His poems have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harvard Review and elsewhere. In 1997, he was an artist-in-residence at the American Academy in Rome.

Gerald Early PhD

professor washington university in st. louis

Gerald Early is an essayist, cultural critic, educator and poet. He is the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters and the Director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis. He was formerly Director of African and African American Studies.

Gerald’s publications include One Nation Under A Groove: Motown and American Culture, Daughters: On Family and Fatherhood, Tuxedo Junctions: Essays on American Culture, and The Culture of Bruising: Essays on Prizefighting, Literature and Modern American Culture. He most recently served as series editor for Best African American Essays 2010 (with guest editor Randall Kennedy) and Best African American Fiction 2010 (with guest editor Nikki Giovanni). He has served as a consultant on Ken Burns’ documentary films Baseball, Jazz, Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson and The War and he is a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air. His essays have appeared in numerous editions of Best American Essays Series.

Gerald Early earned an A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a Masters Degree and PhD from Cornell University. He has received numerous awards including the Whiting Writer’s Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism.

Denis P. Galvin

former deputy director national park service

Denis P. Galvin joined the National Park Service in 1963 as a civil engineer (B.S. Northwestern University) at Sequoia National Park, Calif., after completing a two-year Peace Corps assignment in Tanzania, East Africa. Subsequent assignments saw Mr. Galvin serve as an engineer at Mount Rainier National Park, Wash.; in the Park Services’ Southwest Regional Office, based in Santa Fe, NM; as a training specialist at the agency’s Horace M. Albright Training Center in Grand Canyon, Ariz.; and, as a management assistant at the New York District Office, overseeing park operations for units in New York and New Jersey.

In 1974 when a new NPS Regional Office was opened in Boston, Mr. Galvin became Associate Regional Director for Operations; two years later, he became Deputy Director for that region. From that post, he transferred to Denver, Col., in 1978 where he was manager of the Denver Service Center. That office oversees most of the agency’s planning, design and construction program. In 1985, he was selected as Deputy Director of the National Park Service.

Mr. Galvin returned to planning, design and construction in 1989 when he was named Associate Director for Planning and Development. That position also included policy, information management and land acquisition programs. In September 1997, he accepted a re-assignment to Deputy Director. Mr. Galvin retired from the National Park Service in January, 2002. He is currently a Trustee of the National Parks Conservation Association and a Commissioner of the Second Century Commission, a group of nearly 30 diverse and distinguished Americans charged with developing a 21st century vision for our National Parks.

He received numerous awards throughout his career. In 1991 he was honored with the Pugsley Medal for outstanding service to parks and conservation. In 2001 he was given a Presidential Rank Award for exceptional achievement in the career Senior Executive Service.

Alex Krieger FAIA

founding principal chan krieger sieniewicz

Alex Krieger has combined a career of teaching and practice, dedicating himself in both to understanding how to improve the quality of place and life in our major urban areas.

Mr. Krieger is founding principal of Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, an architecture and urban design firm based in Cambridge, Mass., since 1984. Offering services in architecture, urban design and planning, the firm has received more than two-dozen regional, national and international awards for its work. The firm has served a broad array of clients in over 30 cities, focusing primarily on educational, institutional, health-care and public projects in complex urban settings.

Mr. Krieger is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he has taught since 1977. He is Chairman of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, presently and from 1998-2004, as Director of the Urban Design Program, 1990-2001, and as Associate Chairman of the Department of Architecture, 1984-1989. He has also served in several university-wide roles including as senior planning advisor for Harvard’s campus expansion into Allston, Mass., and on the newly established design review committees for both the Allston and Cambridge campuses. In addition to design studios and seminar courses at the GSD, he teaches a core curriculum class at the College whose enrollment is regularly among the largest classes at Harvard.

Mr. Krieger’s major publications include: co-editing Urban Design (University of Minnesota Press, 2008), two volumes of Harvard Design Magazine (focusing on the evolution of urban design as a discipline), 2005-06; Remaking the Urban Waterfront, 2004; Mapping Boston, 1999; Towns and Town Planning Principles, 1994; A Design Primer for Towns and Cities, 1990; and Past Futures: Two Centuries of Imagining Boston, 1988. He has also authored more than two-dozen essays on American urbanization for various publications. He lectures frequently at national conferences and universities and is a frequent advisor to mayors and their planning staffs.

Mr. Krieger received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and a Master of City Planning in Urban Design degree from Harvard.

David C. Leland

chief executive officer leland consulting group

Dave Leland is among the more knowledgeable urban strategists in the United States, with more than 45 years of experience in the real estate industry as a consultant, advisor, developer and owner. As the former CEO of a national real estate acquisitions and development company, and educated in architecture, city planning and urban economics, he brings a unique and thorough perspective to any project.

Mr. Leland’s particular interest lies in downtown revitalization, smart growth and sustainable communities, transit oriented development, and innovative mixed-use centers. He has worked with development organizations from privately held firms to Fortune 500s, and more than 300 communities with a portfolio that includes 80 downtown revitalization and implementation strategies, 70 light rail transit stations, 45 urban corridors, and a host of smaller centers, corridors, main streets and greenfield communities. Mr. Leland’s philosophy is to balance his firm’s workload between public and private developer clients and thereby maintain continuous awareness of the issues that always arise in building successful public-private partnerships. He has served as both panelist and chair on numerous Urban Land Institute Advisory Panels, guest lectured at universities, professional associations and conferences, and served on boards ranging from the National Charrette Institute to Portland State University’s School of Urban and Public Affairs (Ore.).

Cara McCarty

curatorial director smithsonian institution’s cooper-hewitt

Cara McCarty is Curatorial Director at the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City, where she supervises all exhibitions and related activities in the broad field of design, including architecture, environmental, landscape, and urban design. For 14 years prior to joining the Cooper-Hewitt in 2007, Ms. McCarty was at the Saint Louis Art Museum as the Grace L. Brumbaugh and Richard E. Brumbaugh Curator of Decorative Arts and Design.

In St. Louis, Ms. McCarty served on the Executive Committee of the Saint Louis Art Museum's expansion, participating in the selection of the architect and landscape architect and working with David Chipperfield, the architect of the master plan and design. In New York, she is playing a lead role in the programming, scheduling and redesign of Cooper-Hewitt's premises. She initiated the thesis for the Museum’s 2010 Triennial Exhibition, Why Design Now?, which will focus on the latest worldwide innovations in the fields of urban mobility and energy use and she is supervising curator of the Museum's other forthcoming major exhibitions.

Ms. McCarty is a graduate of Stanford University. In 2004, she was selected to the mid-career Loeb Fellowship at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, attending courses at the Kennedy School of Government and doing advance work in urban design and architecture both at Harvard and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2008 and 2009, she was the American juror for the annual Dutch Design Awards to select the major design awards in the country, including architecture and landscape design.

Laurie D. Olin RLA FASLA

partner/landscape architect olin

Laurie Olin is a distinguished teacher and author and one of the most renowned landscape architects practicing today. His involvement often marks the signature of OLIN’s distinguished portfolio of projects, which span the history of the studio from Bryant Park in New York City to the Brancusi Ensemble in Romania. Recent projects include Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Ore., and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Mr. Laurie and his fellow partners at OLIN recently received the 2008 Landscape Design Award from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum for excellence and innovation in landscape design and dedication to sustainability.

Mr. Laurie is currently a practice professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for 30 years. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and recipient of the 1998 Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Carol Ross Barney FAIA

design principal ross barney architects

Carol Ross Barney FAIA is founder and Principal of Ross Barney Architects. She is responsible for the design excellence of all projects undertaken by the firm. Dedicated to improving the built environment, her work has an international reputation in design of institutional and public buildings. The work of her firm has been published in national and international journals, books and newspapers and has received numerous honors including four Institute Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and over 25 AIA Chicago Design Awards. Her drawings have been widely exhibited and collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Historical Society, The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the National Building Museum. Ms. Ross Barney is the recipient of the American Institute of Architects 2005 Thomas Jefferson Award for Public Architecture. This award recognizes excellence for a career of architectural achievement. Recently, Ms. Ross Barney’s firm received an AIA COTE Top Ten Project award for the LEED Platinum, Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois.

Recently completed projects include the new Commodore John Barry Elementary School in Philadelphia, Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, U.S. Border Station in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan, Swenson Science Building for the University of Minnesota at Duluth, Arts Science and Technology Pavilion for Oakton Community College, the Champaign Public Library and the Chicago River Walk. The Bloomingdale Trail, a new linear park in Chicago, a Civil Engineering Building at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and a Central Chiller Plant for Ohio State University are among the studio’s current commissions.

Ms. Ross Barney is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Following graduation, she served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica planning national parks. Ms. Ross Barney is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, one of the highest honors the Institute bestows upon its members. She has taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Oklahoma (Goff Chair for Creative Architecture) and the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she is teaching an advanced Design Studio and serves on the College Board of Overseers.

###

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Rhode Island effort to reconnect city, river

"Removing a Barrier" (a New York Times feature story)

St. Louis has the same opportunity with plans to reconnect the City, Arch, and River. Highway removal is key to making it happen.

Lots of other cities are considering their own highway removal options. Will Arch design competition entrants be so inspired?

Removal of the I-70 depressed and elevated lanes separating downtown from the riverfront and Arch grounds might seem like an impossible dream. However, here's what the National Park Service says about it in its recently adopted General Management Plan for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (from Section 5.4 "Comments, and Responses to Comments, On the Draft Plan"):

COMMENT: The portion of I-70 adjacent to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial should be removed in order to eliminate the physical and psychological barrier it creates.

RESPONSE: The National Park Service would prefer and strongly supports the removal of the Interstate highway between the Poplar Street Bridge and Eads Bridge at some point in the future. We recognize an undertaking of this magnitude may not be possible during the timeframe this GMP addresses (15-20 years), but we would amend the GMP should such an opportunity become feasible prior to the expiration of this plan.


At Ecology of Absence, Michael Allen makes a compelling case for analyzing the potential of highway removal in connection with the rerouting of I-70 over the new Mississippi River Bridge.

While the life of the GMP is 15-20 years, improvements built through the results of the design competition will surely be planned to have a useful life of much longer than that. We are likely to live with the decisions made today for the next 50 to 100 years. Unless of course the New Madrid decides to make a major move. In that case, all bets are off.

LA Football Stadium in Planning Stage

Click to view LA stadium promo video

Here, LA stadium developer John Semcken describes moving an existing NFL franchise, maybe two, to LA:

I want a 3-car garage...

...especially on mornings like this. You can always tell who has a garage-parked car and who parks on the street. The people with cars still half covered in snow and ice, they're street parkers. The warm and toasty drivers in shiny clean, snow free cars, they're garage parkers. It's a dead giveaway.

We have a garage. It's the original brick garage that came with the house back around 1932. Back then, cars were big as boats. Which makes the mystery about why our garage is tiny even stranger. Our garage looks more like a Missouri Ozarks smokehouse than a garage. In the summertime, when the back yard is in full bloom, visitors think the garage is "cute". Some say it looks like a garden house. It does. It sure looks alot more like a garden house than a garage. On days like these, I wish we had a garage that was more like a garage.

For a while, we were parking one car in the garage. To give you an idea of how small this garage is, in order to get our mid-size sedan in the garage, I'd first have to roll the lawnmower out into the alley, then park the car, then roll the mower back in the garage. It's tiny. However, given the vintage of its construction, if our neighborhood were ever designated a local historic district, I'm confident this tiny 1930s relic would be designated as a "contributing building" to the historic district. If it was, I'd still want a three-car garage.

Over a warm cup of coffee, I can dream about what that three-car garage would do. It would have a place to park two normal sized cars. It would have room to store tools, shelves, a couple of locking cabinets, and in the third bay, someday, it would be nice to park a tiny electric car or golf cart. I want to cruise the alleys of St. Louis in a golf cart. It's the thing to do and a great way to build up your neighborhood watch. None of this is possible in our quaint little smokehouse of a garage.

I've looked at options for expanding the existing garage. There are some possibilities. But they all leave us with still a tiny overall situation. The interior dimensions of the existing building are probably about 7 feet wide and 14 feet deep. Maybe.

But here's the real thing. Sure, this tiny garage is historic. It's neat to look at it, and it's scaled to the yard. It definitely has charm. I like it and I love the charm of our home, our neighborhood, and St. Louis. On the other hand, I want something that works. This garage definitely does not work for much except to store rakes, a mower and yard tools. Our quality of life in our city home would be much higher with a three car garage. Getting bigger garages with older homes is one way to make living in our older neighborhoods more competitive with our suburban neighbors.

We are in our second city house. The first one also had a tiny garage - a frame one. We lived with that one much like our current one. It was mostly good for storing yard equipment. Eventually, we took out a loan and did a lot of upgrades on the house, and demolished the old garage and built a new one. It was a one-and-one-half car garage built by Bullock Garage.

The garage was on sale as part of a promotional deal at the 1998 St. Louis Home Improvement Show. Counting demolition of the old garage, the cost of the new garage was about $11,000. It was awesome. Neighborhood kids played in there. It served as a roller hockey rink. In bad weather, I could work inside with the door open and be comfortable. We'd sit out there and drink beer, host parties, lots of stuff.

So now I have a goal for our current home. We've got to figure out a way to upgrade our garage situation. Three-car would be wonderful. Two-car would be good. And one-and-one-half-car would be better than what we have now. And to get there, I really wouldn't want to be required to preserve our existing historic garage.

In the future, I might be open to building it according to neighborhood design standards. Would people in my neighborhood want to establish a neighborhood or urban design code? I don't know. Either way, I'm betting I could get a new garage built long before neighbors would come to a decision about implementing neighborhood design standards. A guy can dream, can't he?

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Locations for Transit Oriented Developments

There has been an increase locally in the efforts to construct higher density housing near transit stations. A partnership between McCormack Baron Salazar and Bi-State is working on a mixed use housing and retail development on the surface lot accross from the DeBaliviere Metrolink Station.

What about the area adjacent to the bus stop/passenger drop off area at the Metrolink station at Manchester in Maplewood? When they built the parking/drop off area, they regraded a large area next to the site. It seems like a great location for a transit oriented development. Any Maplewood experts know about the prospects for T-O-D there?

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Why No Pipe Organ at College Church?

It's one of the most beautiful churches in St. Louis. It's on the campus of St. Louis University. Lots of people have their weddings there; and, for the most part, a church wedding without a pipe organ is nowhere near as impressive as one accompanied by wonderful organ music.

So how is it that such a wonderful church has no pipe organ? There is the place in the building that is designed to house organ pipes. But there are no pipes and there is no organ. Do you know the story about what happened?

The answer says a lot about the utilitarian ways of St. Louisans.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Downtown's Year-End Economic Stimulus

Between Christmas and New Year's, a week you might think things would slow down in St. Louis, it has been anything but slow. There are hundreds - if not thousands - of energetic, college-age, young people all over the streets of downtown.

They are walking everywhere and filling downtown restaurants and creating lines around the block, even in this freezing weather. Where do they come from and why are they here in St. Louis?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Chronicling the digital divide

There is an excellent article at STL Today about neighborhood organizations. Refreshing to see are the positive comments from readers. A lot of the discussion is on the interaction on social media versus neighbors showing up in face to face meetings.

No matter how busy you are, there's no replacing face to face meetings. Twitter, facebook, myspace etc do not take the place of showing up in person, especially when you consider that many people do not use these services at all.

Alley cleanups, neighborhood watch, community gardens, block parties etc all happened long before the advent of social media. Read the comments at STL Today's site. It's clear that among the strengths of urban neighborhoods are the active neighborhood organizations serving our communities.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Planning to build markets

The following link provides an interesting discussion of the relationships between urban planning, private development, government, citizens, collaboration, and markets:

article

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Reconnecting the city to the riverfront

St. Louis architect Paul Hohmann tracks St. Louis architecture, history, and construction at his blog, Vanishing St. Louis.

Hohmann is currently featuring photographs of downtown taken at the time of Arch construction. The images dramatically show the moment in time where downtown, the Arch, and river were cut off from each other.

It's ironic that the disconnect happened at the time the Arch was built. 50 years later, under a new management plan for the Arch, everyone is looking for ways to reconnect the city, the Arch, and the river. A review of these images would be a good place to start.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Fixing the hail problem

At a recent holiday gathering, a group of us were having a conversation about the latest developments in solar power. One person said that with current technology it's possible to power a typical single family through solar energy. I was amazed. The rest of the story gets in to issues of public incentives and project financing, and we didn't have time to get into those details. If you're familiar with any of the public incentives available for installing solar panels on your home or business, please comment below.

So with all of the underutilized land in St. Louis, whether it's in the form of publicly owned properties or highway embankments, I started wondering about the possibility of building urban solar electric farms. If you can power a house with the electricity from solar panels on your own property, what if we developed acres of solar electric farms in St. Louis neighborhoods? We could turn underutilized land into a sustainable energy source.

Filled with optimism, I mentioned this idea to a person of liberal persuasion here in St. Louis. He liked the idea, but he threw up a major barrier: hail. He said that solar panels in our region are problematic due to our occasional hail storms. Hmmmph. I hadn't thought of that. And I like St. Louis weather. It never occurred to me that our whether might be an obstacle to building a more sustainable community.

Okay, so I'm no expert on this, obviously, but it seems to me the hail problem could be solved. Why not simply shield the solar panels from hail storms with some sort of transparent covering? If clear plastic or glass protection are not workable due to a loss of solar waves making it to the solar panel, what about fitting sturdy metal screens over the panels?

More research needed.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Southwest Avenue outdoor dining expansion planned

If you read some of the local St. Louis community affairs blogs, you have probably learned that Favazza's restaurant at the entrance to the Hill is proposing to demolish two buildings on its Southwest Avenue side. The purpose is to create space for an outdoor seating area.

Outdoor seating is a popular amenity at lots of area restaurants. It's available at a grill and bar next to Southwest Bank just a little east of Favazza's. It's wonderful at Bar Italia on Maryland Plaza in the CWE. It's an activity generator in neighborhoods. It's understandable Favazza's would want to do the same.

Some are opposed to the demolition on the basis of historic preservation. The buildings proposed for demo are brick buildings in the neighborhood of 100 years old. Others would say, it's their property, they should be allowed to do with it as they choose. There is no local ordinance prohibiting demolition of these buildings.

I side with those who support expansion of the business and creation of an outdoor seating area. Many of our area's most successful restaurants feature outdoor dining. While some people oppose the loss of these buildings, the business is making a significant investment to improve its offer to the community.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

And now for a new front door....

(Note - this post has been updated with the following National Park Service press release - click on the image for a larger view):


From our original post:

The City of St. Louis and the National Park Service have made a joint announcement regarding the design competition for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial:

FOR RELEASE: December 8, 2009

Contact:

Tom Bradley, Superintendent
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial
(314) 655-1600

Jeff Rainford
Office of St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay
(314) 622-3201

International Design Competition to Invigorate the Gateway Arch Starts Today

Goal is to “Frame a Modern Masterpiece” and Connect the Gateway Arch with the Mississippi River and the St. Louis Region by 2015

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The National Park Service and St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay today launched an international design competition to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding of one of the world’s most iconic monuments, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

“The competition begins today,” said Tom Bradley, Superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which includes the Gateway Arch. “This competition is a unique and important opportunity to integrate the Arch and the park surrounding it into the fabric of the city and region and embrace the Mississippi River and its east bank. It’s an opportunity to energize the park with new amenities and attractions. By achieving these objectives, we will design people into the area – and establish a national model for urban parks.”

The winning design will be announced in October 2010, with the resulting work completed by October 28, 2015 – the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Arch.

“Critical stakeholders are engaged and the architectural and design communities are excited to get started,” said Slay, who, with Bradley, is a member of the CityArchRiver2015 Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to drive the effort. Also represented in that group are regional business and university leaders, national park advocates and architects.

“We’re very lucky to now have Tom Bradley as a partner in this initiative,” said Slay. “He has worked diligently to drive federal action, solicit community input, and engage and reassure the park advocacy community, all of which have been absolutely essential to launching this competition.”

The competition – “Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015” – is called for in the National Park Service’s new General Management Plan, which was developed with extensive public input over an 18-month period, and approved on November 23, 2009.

“Engaging the wider community, including and extending far beyond the St. Louis region, has been and will continue to be an important element in this process,” said Slay.

The competition will invite teams to create a new design for the Arch grounds and surrounding areas with 10 goals in mind:

* Create an iconic place for the international icon, the Gateway Arch.

* Catalyze increased vitality in the St. Louis region.

* Honor the character-defining elements of the National Historic Landmark.

* Weave connections and transitions from the city and the Arch grounds to the Mississippi River.

* Embrace the Mississippi River and the east bank in Illinois as an integral part of the national park.

* Mitigate the impact of transportation systems.

* Reinvigorate the mission to tell the story of St. Louis as the gateway to national expansion.

* Create attractors to promote extended visitation to the Arch, the city and the river.

* Develop a sustainable future for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

* Enhance the visitor experience and create a welcoming and accessible environment.

The competition is being organized and managed by Donald Stastny, one of the nation’s most experienced design managers. Stastny is the chief executive officer of StastnyBrun Architects in Portland, Ore., and has served as professional advisor for more than 35 design competitions. Among them are the recent Flight 93 National Memorial in Stonycreek Township, Pa., the Oklahoma City National Memorial, the new U.S. embassy in London and Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Stastny will instruct and assist an eight-person jury. The names of jury members – from design, architecture, landscape architecture and related fields – will be announced in early January 2010, closer to the deadline for initial registration for the competition.

“The challenge is great – to take one of America’s first urban parks and weave it into the fabric of the region,” Stastny said. “I’m confident that this competition will foster an environment in which leading and emerging design professionals can do their best work and walk in Eero Saarinen’s footsteps. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the participants – and I’m proud to be involved.”

“This competition will honor the character-defining elements of the National Historic Landmark, which includes the Gateway Arch and its grounds,” said Lynn McClure, Regional Director for the National Parks Conservation Association, America’s leading voice for our national parks.

“The national park, downtown St. Louis, the riverfront and the Illinois side will finally be brought together as a vibrant and exciting destination,” said McClure, who is also a member of CityArchRiver2015 Foundation.

Dr. Robert Archibald, President and CEO of the Missouri Historical Society, praised the competition plan, stating, “This park symbolizes the American spirit, the sense of optimism and energy. The Gateway Arch is truly stunning; as magnificent today as it was the day it was completed. We need now to free it of its isolation and connect it to the region and the river on whose banks it sits.”

Archibald was among a small group of civic leaders tapped two years ago by Mayor Slay to explore new options to connect the city, the Gateway Arch and the river, and to bring new vitality to the riverfront.

This new competition honors the spirit of the 1947 national challenge that inspired architect Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch design. In the effort to produce a memorial to Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase and the era of American Westward expansion, the jury chose the most audacious entry – a gleaming 630-foot stainless steel arch. It was the first of several masterpieces by the gifted but short-lived Saarinen.

Completed in 1965, the Gateway Arch instantly became an international destination and won immediate recognition as one of the world’s premier works of public art. The grounds immediately surrounding it, designed by the late Dan Kiley, are also widely recognized as a landscape masterpiece. However, those grounds, and the city streetscape, highways, and the Mississippi riverfront which they abut, lack the “buzz” of constant activity associated with a vibrant urban park – one of the issues the competition is meant to address.

In addition to Superintendent Bradley, Mayor Slay and Lynn McClure, CityArchRiver2015Foundation also includes: Bruce Lindsey, Dean of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis; Walter Metcalfe Jr., an attorney with Bryan Cave LLP and another of Mayor Slay’s original team of civic leaders; Deborah Patterson, President of the Monsanto Fund and director of social responsibility for the Monsanto Company; and, Dr. Vaughn Vandegrift, Chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. This volunteer group has coalesced over the last six months as the National Park Service’s General Management Plan took shape.

Financial contributions are being handled by the Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, a public charity with more than $140 million in charitable assets and representing more than 350 individual funds.

Contributors to the design competition include: Emerson, Gateway Center of Metropolitan St. Louis (Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park), Peter Fischer, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, Civic Progress, Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Danforth Foundation, Bryan Cave LLP, Greater St. Louis Community Foundation, National Park Foundation, Monsanto, Alison and John Ferring, Bank of America and donors who choose to remain anonymous.

Additional information can be found at www.cityarchrivercompetition.org.

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Monday, December 07, 2009

St. Louis gets a new center hall

I took a detour this morning to try out the new 64 and was impressed with the results. I entered the highway east bound at McCausland. McCausland had a lot of traffic and it surprised me that I was the only driver entering the highway. Everyone else continued north on McCausland toward Forest Park. The new 64 improvements will help them also as many of the highway interchanges are widened and improved.

In particular, the new interchange at 64/Hampton and the Zoo is beautiful. There's a roundabout by the Zoo which replaces the old bottleneck at Clayton at Hampton. It will be interesting to see how traffic flows there next summer.

Up on the new 64, drivers get a different look at St. Louis. Graceful embankments lead the eye up to landmarks of our area along both sides of the new roadway. The Highlands office development across from Forest Park looks much better in its new setting. As does the Central Institute for the Deaf and pretty much everything along both sides of the new highway. Quality infrastructure makes a powerful statement about the health of a region and the new I-64 sends a good message about St. Louis.

Highway 40 was the oldest highway in the St. Louis area. Many of our region's core assets line the route. It takes drivers through the heart of our region and it gives them an intimate view of what we have here. They're "in our house". While the "center hall" aspects of the new I-64 are back in place, the view from the roadway is impressive. Travellers on the new 64 will be reminded of many of the things that make St. Louis special.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Ballpark Village Residential

Today on KMOX, radio personality Mark Reardon hosted a roundtable discussion with local elected leaders. They were discussing a variety of local issues including the future of Ballpark Village.

Concerning Ballpark Village, the news is reporting that we shouldn't expect anything coming out of the ground in 2010, and, much different from what was originally proposed (shops, residences, offices and restaurants), there won't be much of a "village" at Ballpark Village at all. The project is being described now as a development of one or more office buildings.

Here's what makes no sense to me: How is it possible that a condo tower with views of Busch Stadium would not be marketable in St. Louis? This is baseball heaven, isn't it? You would think the players alone would snap up half the units. From ad companies, to millionaire ballplayers, to team owners, to local corporations, you'd think the units would be in high demand.

Granted, we are in a slow economy. But things are improving. Other residential projects are getting going downtown. But not across from Busch Stadium? In our humble world, our son is dreaming that we'd sell our place and buy a condo in Ballpark Village. I like the idea. Are we nuts for considering it?

Monday, November 30, 2009

NPS clears way for 2010 Arch design competition

NPS Press Release regarding selection of Preferred Alternative - Program Expansion for JNEM General Management Plan (click to read the document):



In this article in the Post Dispatch last Friday, NPS official Frank Mares describes the timeline for the design competition.

One of the questions to be decided is the scope of the design competition. What should the boundary of the competition area be?

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Meet the author: Nini Harris at Urban Eats

Nini Harris, author of the new book Historic Photos of the Gateway Arch, will give a presentation and sign books at the popular south side gathering spot Urban Eats.

Details below:

Who & What: Local author NiNi Harris to sign copies of her new book Historic Photos of the Gateway Arch

Where: Urban Eats Café, 3301 Meramec, St. Louis, MO 63118; (314) 558-7580

Join interested and interesting folks in Downtown Dutchtown

• 6 PM -Arrive and Imbibe! Our Happy Hour Menu pricing for food and drinks is 4-7 PM- It’s an unparalleled incentive to come early for a nosh and a nip.

• 7-8 PM – Book Readings & Signings on our cozy stage

Why: Well–Read Wednesdays …the second Wednesday night of each month, beginning December 9, 2009. Listening, sharing and conversation with local authors, or authors who have written about local subject matter, in an intimate, casual setting, with breaks for refreshing your food and bev.

When: 7:00-8:00 PM; December 9, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Holiday Special

Downtown Macy's is offering a holiday parking special. Park in their adjacent garage for $1 if you spend $25 in Macy's. Shop downtown. Prices are good! Park downtown. Parking is cheap!

Monday, November 09, 2009

Solving that vacant building problem

There's a saying in some old neighborhoods "a vacant building never hurt anyone, it's the occupied ones that you have to watch out for!" It's true that a building can't do much by itself. Unfortunately, vacant buildings do cause problems, and the longer they remain vacant, the more expensive it is to save them. So what can neighbors do to help get vacant buildings back on line?

Vacant buildings come in lots of shapes and sizes. For years, downtown St. Louis had scores of (mostly) empty, 19th century warehouses. With passage of the state historic tax credit, most of these buildings are seeing new life as office buildings, market rate and affordable housing developments, restaurants, and retail shops.

Some newer neighborhoods are seeing a wave of vacant buildings as a result of the foreclosure crisis hitting the country. In some places, as a result of softening prices, foreclosures breed more foreclosures. A correction is underway in the residential real estate market with the air coming out of the mid-2000's housing bubble.

Some neighborhoods have a specific vacant building they are concerned about. The Avalon Theater on South Kingshighway is an example. Carter Carburetor on North Grand is another. Around town there are others. Years of vacancy and neglect may lead to the ultimate loss of the Avalon to the wrecking ball. Carter Carburetor appears to be a solid building, but's it's still a high cost, environmentally challenging redevelopment situation.

And what can neighbors do to try to bring about the reutilization of these properties? If you're concerned about vacant buildings in your neighborhood, what are some of the things you see happening, and what are some of the things your neighborhood is doing?

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

You gotta be there

After regular business hours, there's a worker with a high pressure spray gun washing down the sidewalks around Met Square.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Draw your own conclusions...

Hawaii, Seattle, and San Francisco are last in tipping percentages in restaurants

St. Louis is tied for first.

Frozen pee

The massive influx of residents in downtown has brought with it something else: a lot of pets. Every day, around 7 am in the morning and shortly after 5 pm, there are lots of dog walkers. And those dogs leave their mark.

This morning, there was a fresh wash of dog pee on one of the stone planters in front of the Old Post Office. I feel for the dogs, they gotta go when they gotta go. Unfortunately for them, lots of downtown is solid concrete or asphalt.

As more people walk their dogs downtown (which is a very GOOD thing), pet waste will become a bigger nuisance. In winter, it will be a different challenge. The issue is a concern for pets, their owners, workers and visitors alike.

Has anyone heard what the plan is, if any, to keep the sidewalks and greenspaces of downtown clear of pet waste? A sign of a healthy downtown is a daily routine of cleaning/washing down sidewalks. Maybe St. Louis is close to reaching the critical mass of needing such a program? That'd be a good thing.

History repeating itself - 133 years later

Today voters in St. Louis County will decide whether St. Louis City goes smoke free. Thinking about the situation, I've been trying to think of any possible scenario where the tables would be reversed? When would St. Louis City voters decide the fate of an issue in St. Louis County? I can't think of any. Can you?

I believe the only time this has happened, around here at least, was way back in 1876, when the voters of St. Louis City decided to permanently separate themselves from St. Louis County creating the so-called "Great Divorce". However, even then, voters in St. Louis County had a say on the issue. It just didn't make any difference. They were so heavily outnumbered, their votes didn't matter.

Indeed, St. Louis County, if memory serves, voted against the Great Divorce. It was the vote in St. Louis City that made it happen. And so today, something similar might happen again. Whether or not St. Louis City voters favor a smoking ban, St. Louis County voters will decide the issue.