Downtown

Metro vice president of economic development John Langa told WhoLou Monday that the transit agency has hired commercial real estate heavyweight CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) to represent them in an evaluation of headquarters options which includes a potential move from their longtime Laclede’s Landing location. Metro owns and occupies seven-stories in the Christian Peper Building complex at 707 N. First Street.

The agency has been headquartered in the Peper Building complex for more than three decades and 270 Metro employees traverse the 106,000 square-foot space daily. Langa commented that Metro’s concerns regarding the Peper Building have to do with age and the costs associated with keeping the building from becoming functionally obsolete. Langa further commented, “Metro is focused on remaining in the city.”

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Does St. Louis care about becoming a walkable, vibrant city? It has the requisite 260-page encyclopedia of sustainability, sometimes referred to by its misnomer, "plan". The first goal under the section "Infrastructure, Facilities & Transportation": "Facilitate Affordable, Efficient, Convenient, Accessible, Safe, and Healthy Transport of People and Goods". A fair reading of that for most St. Louisans would be lots of cheap parking at the front door of every business and building.

And although we lack any kind of comprehensive parking survey downtown, a cursory look reveals the negative impact parking structures and lots have on the experience of walking the city. And more parking continues to be added. St. Louis Centre, now the MX, was largely converted to a parking garage. The city built a new parking garage near City Hall. The owner of Cupples 7 predicts it will become surface parking and demolition for parking was sought for the five-story historic building at 1105 Olive Street. That building is now in the hands of Craig Heller and is slated for redevelopment.

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{rendering of proposed North Gateway - currently Washington Avenue and a parking garage}

Following who is in charge of what among the plans for the Arch grounds revitalization has been tougher than keeping your eyes on the baseball under the caps on the big screen at Busch Stadium after a couple 30oz Budweisers. In short, the National Park Service (NPS) has said thanks, but no thanks on comments regarding I-70 and other elements (all beyond the park boundary). MoDOT has said they're serving their client, the City of St. Louis and that alternatives do not meet the goals of CityArchRiver. The City says that the CityArchRiver2015 Foundation is at the design controls. CityArchRiver doesn't say much. (There's a nice (snarky) Venn diagram at the end to illustrate how this works.)

This byzantine morass prevents any holistic discussion of the project by the public. And so here we focus on the NPS Environmental Assessment for Implementing CityArchRiver Initiative Elements. As a federal agency, the NPS is required to publish for public comment changes being considered to the Arch grounds. One alternative is required to be "no action". Taken in this context, the maximum change option outlined below should be sought by the NPS in nearly all aspects of the project.

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With $577 million dollars worth of improvements being proposed to the Arch grounds, here is a small, simple possibility.

Most of the time, the industrial castle of a Cargill grain elevator and the candied fluorescence of the Casino Queen hotel dominate the eastward view from the Arch across the river. But behind these obstructions is the mechanism for one of the tallest fountains in the world —the Gateway Geyser. It has been there, in East St. Louis, for the last seven years.

Few visitors to the Arch even know the geyser exists — nothing on the grounds directs them to look. Even an employee stationed behind the Arch’s information desk said she only heard about it from her father, who noticed it while he was driving. With the fountain’s sporadic schedule, erupting only on certain parts of the day during certain parts of the year, having a sign that electronically counts down to each blast could make the geyser an asset to the Arch Grounds. On a small scale, a countdown could cultivate a sense of intrigue.

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