Saint Louis University will move its Law School from its Midtown Frost Campus to downtown St. Louis. The news broke via the Twitter account of Patrick Eckelkamp, a current SLU Law student, and was first reported here. In a letter to students, Dean Annette E. Clark announced that Joe and Loretta Scott have supplied a generous gift that will transform the currently vacant 100 N. Tucker Boulevard into a new home for the school. The school has more than 1,000 full-time and part-time students and more than 70 full-time faculty.
Built in 1965, the building is 260,000 square feet and rises 11-stories and includes a three-level parking garage. Built and owned by Southwestern Bell until 1998, Joe and Loretta Scott have owned the building for the past 14 years. "The historic move puts us in the very heart of where law is practiced in our great city," the Dean stated in her letter. The letter also stated an ambitious target completion date of August 2012. A shuttle service will run to and from the SLU Midtown campus, and a fitness center and dining options will be part of the renovation.
In 2009 St. Louis University announced an expansion of the existing Law School and a $3M gift from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation. The project would have added 50,000 square feet to the existing 150,000 square foot school. Estimated cost was $35M. Project cost for the new downtown building and plans for the existing law school have not been disclosed. As part of the old expansion plan, 3740 Lindell was demolished. The site is now a surface parking lot.
{the old, new SLU Law expansion plan on the Frost Campus in Midtown}
{3740 Lindell was demolished for SLU Law School expansion – photo by Paul Hohman at VanishingSTL}
The new location places SLU Law in a high-visibility location as well. The new Mississippi River bridge to the north makes Tucker the main north-south thoroughfare in downtown. As Dean Clark notes in her letter, "the model of off-campus law schools is found at many of the nation’s finest universities, including Boston College, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount, Loyola University Chicago and the University of Detroit-Mercy." SLU has not presented what changes it may make to the building, but any signage, awnings or lighting will be welcome as a way to break up what is currently an unattractive two-block monolith.
{the new location of SLU Law at right – photo by Ben Evans}
{100 N. Tucker, the new home of SLU Law – photo by Mark Groth}
{100 N. Tucker is bottom center – photo by Mark Groth}
{100 N. Tucker at night – photo by Alex Ihnen}
Editor's note: SLU released renderings of the new Law School in May 2012. They can be viewed here: SLU Law Reveals Renderings for Downtown Move, Renovation
Announcement letter from SLU Law Dean Annette Clark:
January 24, 2012
Dear Students:
Today, I am extremely excited to tell you that our dream of creating a state-of-the-art Law School building is coming true.
Thanks to a very generous gift from St. Louisans Joe and Loretta Scott, we will move into an 11-story, 260,000-square-foot building located at 100 N. Tucker Blvd. in downtown St. Louis.
This historic move puts us in the very heart of where law is practiced in our great city. We will be located right next door to the Civil Courts Building and within walking distance of the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse and many of the region’s most prestigious law firms. I know that our new home will provide our students with countless new educational and professional opportunities.
The model of off-campus law schools is found at many of the nation’s finest universities, including Boston College, Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola Marymount, Loyola University Chicago and the University of Detroit-Mercy.
For some time, we have been talking about and planning for how we can modernize our current space so that it matches the superior quality of our teaching and scholarship.
What is so exciting about our new building is that the interior is essentially a blank canvas. This will allow us to develop the flexible, multipurpose, technology-centric spaces we need right now to support how legal education is delivered today.
This move also will allow us to physically unify our Legal Clinics with the Law School, bringing together all of the important aspects that make SLU LAW unique.
In addition to creating modern spaces for teaching and learning, the University will add shuttle service to and from the SLU Midtown campus, as well as a fitness center and dining options, which will optimize the convenience of this new location.
As you know, the needs of our students are always our first priority at SLU LAW, and I firmly believe we will make an immediate impact on your legal education by moving forward with this very important next step in our future.
The target date to complete this project is early August 2012, in time to welcome our students for the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year. For a brief video tour of our new Law School building, click here. (http://vimeo.com/35570584)
Work on our new home will begin very shortly, and I will continue to keep you updated as this project moves forward. In the meantime, I have scheduled an open session for questions.
Please plan to join me for an in-person meeting Wednesday, Jan. 25 in Room 02 at 5 p.m. to address questions you may have.
I would like to thank Father Biondi and the University’s leadership for their continued support and to express our gratitude to Joe and Loretta Scott for their generosity.
Best Regards,
Annette E. Clark, M.D., J.D.
Dean and Professor of Law
