ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown

[Arch City]

Here are photos of the Carondelet Park Recreation Complex completed in South St. Louis in November 2009. The $21-million, 75,000 sq. ft. complex building is Silver LEED Certified and includes:

Aquatic play structures and slides
Double gymnasium
Babysitting service
Locker rooms
Meeting spaces
Ares for seniors and teens
Outdoor pool
Aerobics training facility
Weight training facility
Elevated indoor running track
Indoor pool
Lazy river















Links:
More Photos #1
More Photos #2

[sentinel]

Question for St. Louis forum friends:

Pardon my ignorance and frankly, not sure if this has even been discussed before, but have any downtown St. Louis locations (either vacant lots or otherwise) been appropriated or even mentioned for future HSR, for a new terminal, or re-utilization of an existing rail center? If not, would any forumers be kind enough to propose any specific sites where a hypothetical terminal might best be located?

Working on a conceptual project for future HSR, trying to visualize locations, massing projections, etc., for how a new high speed rail system would terminate in various cities around the country..and I'm willing to entertain a number of possible sites..

If possible, a snapshot of google maps of downtown St. Louis with the specific site in mind indicated would be greatly appreciated

[newstl2020]

A new transportation hub has just been completed in the last year in downtown St. Louis. It currently connects Greyhound, Amtrak, and Metrolink light rail at the intersection of 14th street and clark (ish). I am around 99% sure that this is already the terminous for the high speed upgrade currently being constructed from Chicago's Union Station to St. Louis.

[BG918]

Really hope the HSR is built between St. Louis and Chicago. What is the timetable for its construction? It's not part of the current plans but I would love to see Tulsa connected to St. Louis via HSR. It could be also connect Chicago/St. Louis to Oklahoma City/Dallas/Austin/San Antonio. Building through the Ozarks would be difficult though.

[Arch City]

St. Louis did recently open the new St. Louis Gateway Transportation Center. Greyhound, MetroLink, Metro, Amtrak, cabbies and others connect at the Center, so the new facility gets the job done and is much, much better than what used to be there, however it is still underwhelming in my opinion. It certainly gets the job done in terms of moving people and is functional, but it is so modest and underwhelming in design that it more than slightly disappoints. Perhaps with the new HSR line some funding will be given to enhance the center.

The main terminal sits next to the MetroLink Civic Center station.

















Source

Read more and see more photos here and here.

[Arch City]

Not only is Downtown aiming to dress up the Gateway Arch grounds, but there's a long term plan to redevelop the Gateway Mall. Phase 1 was Citygarden. The rendering below is of the western half the mile long green strip in the heart of downtown St. Louis. The Civic Room of the Gateway Mall includes the Soldiers Memorial, City Hall, Peabody Opera House, Central Library, Savvis Center Arena, etc.



The Gateway Mall Project: See plans and rendering here!

[Arch City]

The 25-story Roberts Tower is nearing completion and is really showing itself to be a great addition to downtown St. Louis. Shula's 347 is coming soon to the tower.

Count On Downtown (St. Louis) is a website that gives awesome updates of projects and happenings in downtown St. Louis. All pictures below come from the site. Check out more here.

And no....these are not renderings - just high quality images.


The Marquee


Sleeking in the Old Post Office District


8th Street (North)


Backside from Washington Avenue


25-stories, sleek and downtown's first new construction residential tower in about 30 years or so.

Can you see it? In the last photo above.......underway the district is adding new retail, a movie theatre, a Blues Museum, a hotel etc.

Isn't the tower better than what used to be there...............

[Arch City]

Here's an update on Arlington Grove.

Source



$41 Million Arlington Grove Residential Redevelopment Project Is a Vision of Revitalization for the Neighborhood
by Betty Moore, SLFP.com

ST. LOUIS (SLFP.com), October 15, 2010 - Ground breaking ceremonies were held today for a residential redevelopment project in north St. Louis City that symbolizes positive changes for a neighborhood's economy and its residents.

Arlington Grove, located at the corner of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Burd Avenue, has been the vision of residents, local politicians and businesses for many years in a continuing effort to revitalize the Wells/Goodfellow community.

The start of the residential project also represents the continuation of investment in the neighborhood by the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, adjoining the construction site of the former Arlington School, designed by St. Louis architect William B. Ittner and built in 1899.

[Arch City]

Downtown St. Louis is emerging as a major IT center. Unisys recently selected downtown St. Louis (Washington Avenue) to put up to 300 jobs in an historic building (555 Washington Avenue) in the burgeoning Mercantile Exchange District, where a new hotel (Embassy Suites, retail, museum, residential etc.) are under construction.


Photo Credit

Unisys plans for St. Louis facility, add 300 jobs
Bloomberg/Businessweek
ST. LOUIS

Unisys Corp. plans to bring an information technology center to downtown St. Louis, creating about 300 high-tech jobs.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Mayor Francis Slay made the announcement Thursday.

The Philadelphia-based company plans what it calls an "application modernization center of excellence" that will work to develop applications for Apple Mac, Apple iPhone and iPad. Officials say the average salary will be $55,000.

The state awarded Unisys $4.5 million in Missouri Quality Jobs program tax credits as an incentive, along with $900,000 in New Jobs Training funding and $212,500 in recruitment assistance.

Nixon's office says Unisys has already begun staffing at a temporary site, with plans to move to the permanent location later this year.

Source
Read more here

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Question for St. Louis forum friends:

Pardon my ignorance and frankly, not sure if this has even been discussed before, but have any downtown St. Louis locations (either vacant lots or otherwise) been appropriated or even mentioned for future HSR, for a new terminal, or re-utilization of an existing rail center? If not, would any forumers be kind enough to propose any specific sites where a hypothetical terminal might best be located?

Working on a conceptual project for future HSR, trying to visualize locations, massing projections, etc., for how a new high speed rail system would terminate in various cities around the country..and I'm willing to entertain a number of possible sites..

If possible, a snapshot of google maps of downtown St. Louis with the specific site in mind indicated would be greatly appreciated

If you can wait another generation, I do believe this here little building will be the terminus for HSR in St. Louis:


...

[STLouisCardsfan]

Does anybody have any new news about the MW Tower or Ballpark Village?

btw love your shots of Roberts Tower Arch City

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

If you can wait another generation, I do believe this here little building will be the terminus for HSR in St. Louis:


...

Union Station already has a light rail station, the current (new) train station could continue to serve all other arrivals and modes, while Union Station is reborn as the grand terminus of the HSR line. They are both already close together. Perhaps eventually all modes could be combined into the old Union Station. I would assume that facilities would need to be constructed for the storage and maintenance of these trains, we could tear all of those stupid restaurants and ponds out of the massive covered train shed (visible to the left-rear in the post card), stop gnashing our teeth over what we should do with the OMG train shed, and make it into a...wait for it...train shed. There's also an underutilized adjacent freeway spur from a canceled inner-innerbelt that could in theory be removed for more rail related infrastructure. The current light rail line runs underneath the floor of the existing train shed, and I-64, the expressway in the vicinity, is elevated....there's plenty of room for all kinds of HSR goodness, I would imagine.

[STLouisCardsfan]

anybody know what's going on at the Hilton??

[timothyjohn78]

Originally Posted by STLouisCardsfan

anybody know what's going on at the Hilton??

Hilton St Louis at the Ballpark to Open Rooftop Bar
Posted on January 28, 2011

The Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark plans to open a $7 million rooftop bar this summer called Three Sixty that will offer a 360-degree view of the riverfront, Arch city skyline and Busch Stadium.

St. Louis-based Lodging Hospitality Management Inc., led by President Steve O’Loughlin, owns the hotel. LHM picked Atlanta-based firm Concentrics Restaurants to develop the 6,000 square-foot bar.

Concentrics hired The Johnson Studio of Atlanta as its architect. Paric of O’Fallon, Mo., is handling construction.

http://www.paric.com/index.php/blog/...en-Rooftop-Bar


Lodging Hospitality Management bought the hotel, which was formerly a Marriott, in 2005 and has spent $30 million renovating it.

[Arch City]

• Video Link

The $110-million make over of 600 Washington Avenue, formerly One City Center (Centre), and the old St. Louis Centre mall are in the late stages of completion. It and The Laurel (formerly the Stix, Baer and Fuller/Dillards building), which are a part of the Mercantile Exchange District, is a new retail, residential and commercial development situated on the eastern edge of Washington Avenue in downtown St. Louis. 600 Washington Avenue is supposed to help stimulate more retail along Washington Avenue.

600 Washington Avenue, a 25-story tower, which was left largely vacant after TWA was purchased by American Airlines is receiving a $35-million renovation.

In addition to renovated Class A office space, a 212-room Embassy Suites, 205 apartments and a parking garage will serve the hotel and apartments in this little corner of Downtown St. Louis in The Laurel. The retail space will include brand new, street-facing, and possibly high end retail. Plus, there are plans for the National Blues Museum.

Hopefully, General Growth Properties, which had signed on before its bankruptcy to snag retailers, will still lure retailers for this development.

[Arch City]

• Video Link

A quick tour of the ongoing renovation of Peabody Opera House.

The $80-million renovation of Peabody Opera House (formerly Kiel Opera House) is moving along. It is believed that if the Peabody Opera House were built from the ground up today with its interior marbled hallways, lush interiors, including marble pillars, gilded ceilings, Art Deco details and limestone exterior, it would cost a half-billion dollars.

Link: Midwest Construction Magazine: Iconic Opera House Stages a Comeback

[newstl2020]

An update on the project to completely repurpose the former St. Louis Center indoor shopping mall in downtown StL curtousy of Goat314 over at nextstl.com.

Entrance:



From Washington Ave. :



Another side:





This project has completely changed the makeup of the blocks immediately surrounding the convention center. Funding was just obtained to facilitate the construction of a 10 million dollar boutique movie theater in this development, adding another amenity to the downtown core.

[Arch City]

The long-awaited Mercantile Exchange in Downtown St. Louis along lower Washington Avenue is taking shape. Although key structures are still under renovation, a few tenant announcements for this $250-million development have been announced. More are to come.




photo credit, flickr.com/urbanreviewstl

So far the following tenants have been announced.

-The Laurel Apartments: (http://laurelstl.com/), the upper floors of the old Stix, Baer and Fuller/Dillards building will become 205 rental apartments. Entrances will be on Seventh Street. Parking in the building for 320 vehicles will serve the hotel and apartments. Unit reservations are currently underway.

-Embassy Suites Hotel: A 212-room hotel on floors two through five in the old 9-story Stix, Baer and Fuller/Dillards department store building.

-Pi Pizzeria: (www.restaurantpi.com/) Announced today that it is adding a 4,000sf location in Downtown St. Louis. Pi is famous for being a favorite pizza place of President Barack Obama so much so that Pi is building a location in Washington D.C., and is set to open in June 2011.

-St. Louis Cinemas (21+ adult only): (http://www.stlouiscinemas.com/) Known for its upscale sophisticated settings it is opening three new screens downtown. On a side note, St. Louis believes in its home-grown cinema companies. While AMC and Regal have locations in St. Louis, St. Louis-based Wehrenberg Theatres and St. Louis Cinemas offer over 150 screens throughout the metro area.

[Arch City]

St. Louis' Midtown and Midtown Alley area continues to blossom with new businesses in proximity to Midtown institutions such as St. Louis University, Harris-Stowe State University and Grand Center, where the arts thrive in St. Louis.

The latest Midtown amenity to open is a boutique hotel called, Hotel Ignacio , adding to St. Louis growing portfolio of funky hip boutique hotels.

FYI... The front of the new hotel faces Olive and St. Louis University's large Midtown campus. The rear of the hotel faces Locust Street, which is the burgeoning restaurant, business and entertainment strip. Around immediate areas Midtown Alley are seeing new businesses such as micro-breweries, shops, bars, auto showrooms and nightclubs. There have also been residential additions such as lofts and apartments. Hamburger Mary's, the nations only LGBT restaurant chain, is building a location on Olive. And Pita Pit, a college town/campus type of restaurant.

Harris-Stowe State University, St. Louis' only HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) is also in thick of things with new buildings being added on campus - including a new second residential hall.

The goal is to make the Midtown Alley area as vibrant as the Delmar Loop.

All of the photos below are made possible by pasa47 @ flickr.com

[Arch City]

Adding more density to the Central West End skyline, the $80-million dollar, 315,000 square foot, 12-story Barnes-Jewish Ambulatory Care Center on Washington University's Medical Campus is nearing completion.

Links:
Christner, Inc.:BJC Ambulatory Care Center
17th Ward: Ambulatory Care Center coming to CWE


photo credit, pasa47@flickr.com