nextSTL | Page 9

When the Art World Came to St. Louis: The Noonan-Kocian Art Company at Tenth & Locust
St. Louis Zoo Rethinks Almost Everything, Offers Transformative Vision of Expansion
Biondi Before and After
CVS Finally Gets Its Lindell Boulevard Store, Elliptical AAA Building Remains
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company to Open 100K bbls Capacity Brewery, Retail Location in The Grove

The Missing Conversation About Visitor Attendance at the Gateway Arch

Published on Wednesday, 20 March 2013 07:21

Written by Alex Ihnen

As noted many times by leaders of the coming Arch grounds renovation, the economic argument for the planned $578M outlay is "heads on beds". The strategy is to make the Arch grounds a compelling place to visit, attract more tourists who will stay in downtown hotels and eat in downtown restaurants, creating jobs and tax revenue in the process. It's also hoped that locals will rediscover the Arch grounds. So what do we know about attendance at the Arch and how can this inform a strategy of revitalization?

It's a somewhat volatile history. The year with the highest attendance remains 1966, the first full year after Saarinen's Arch was completed. The numbers them plummet from 4.6M to 1.4M just four years later. And this in a city with twice as many residents as we have today. From then, it's up and down. Up to 3.5M in 1977. Down to 1.7M in 1984. Then a 12-year rise gets the grounds back to 3.6M visitors in 1996. Attendance stays high until 2002, dropping by a million visitors from 2005 to 2008. From there, visitation has grown by 28%. In 2012, the National Park Service recorded 2.5M visitors to the Arch.

Category: Downtown

Delmar Road Diet is Key to Vibrant East Loop

Published on Monday, 18 March 2013 10:59

Written by Richard Bose

{Delmar in the East Loop envisioned with two traffic lanes and median streetcar}

The idea is being floated to give Delmar Blvd from Des Peres to DeBaliviere a diet. In order to maintain four lanes of traffic along with the trolley several stretches of street parking would be sacrificed. Reducing Delmar to two lanes like it is to the west would keep the street parking. As it is this part of Delmar most of the time has little traffic and motorists often drive too fast. Neither promotes the pedestrian experience that the community would like to extend from the west.

During rush hour westbound traffic backs up due to the reduction of lanes at Des Peres. With the already planned reduction of DeBaliviere fears are mounting. With population declines and good mass transit coverage how can this be? One only need look at a map to see why congestion increases quickly. So many streets have been closed or one-wayed that cars that otherwise wouldn’t be on the major streets must spend more time on them. This funneling overwhelms our bigger streets, and they cannot cope. Take a look at historicaerials.com to see how the street grid was complete back in 1958.

Category: Transportation

St. Louisan Jack Dorsey on 60 Minutes

Published on Sunday, 17 March 2013 20:35

Written by Alex Ihnen

Category: Urban Living

The St. Louis Streetcar and MetroLink: Compatibility Issues to Address Before Expansion

Published on Friday, 15 March 2013 11:01

Written by Herbie Markwort

Streetcars are on the minds of many in St. Louis. The Loop Trolley finally got through the University City city council and will soon begin construction. Meanwhile, the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis unveiled their own streetcar proposal. Matt Fernandez has provided a nice write-up on nextSTL. In summary, the Partnership has proposed a system composed of 2 lines spanning 7 miles: one going from the Gateway Mall at 7th St to the Central West End via Olive, Lindell, and Taylor and a second line going from Civic Center to Old North St. Louis via 14th St and North Florissant.

The proposed north-south streetcar line would duplicate portions of the Northside MetroLink line that was studied back in 2008. Given the general shorter range of streetcars, there has been some concern that the route duplication could impede the future expansion of MetroLink into north city and beyond. These concerns are not unfounded.

Category: Transportation

Old Cathedral Begins $15M Renovation Coinciding with CityArchRiver Efforts

Published on Thursday, 14 March 2013 11:12

Written by Geoff Whittington

Archdiocese of St. Louis representative Katie Pesha has confirmed there are plans for an extensive renovation project at the Old Cathedral (officially the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France) which is ringed by the Arch grounds. The project is expected to cost between $12 and $15 million and is being funded completely by private donations. Currently only phase one has been funded according to Pesha and donations will dictate the future pace and extent of the renovation.

Phase one is a stone restoration and window replacement that is expected to cost approximately $3 million and be completed by the end of the year. The optimal plan for the renovation would be highly focused on restoring the historic elements of the interior as best as possible according to Pesha. This includes restoration of the wooden floors, pews and paintings, updated lighting, repair of the tile mosaic floor around the altar, plus a potential museum expansion.

Category: Downtown