Doug Rasmussen of Steadfast City presented on behalf of Good Developments Group its vision for the $1.2B Gateway South development on Chouteau’s Landing downtown and parts of the Kosciusko neighborhood today at a meeting of the St. Louis Port Authority. Their vision-
A new Design & Construction Innovation District anchors the development. Coupled with a Recreational & Residential District and an Entertainment District, Gateway South will create a sustainable growth engine for St. Louis and transform the area into a vibrant, multifaceted community of the future.
Don’t we have enough innovation districts? Well this one would be focused on the construction industry. They plan to leverage St. Louis advantage as a logistics hub and its strengths in construction and manufacturing to turn St. Louis into “the advanced construction manufacturing capital of America.” In other words turn that Rust Belt patina into gold.
The area between the highways and MacArthur Bridge contains the residential component to take advantage of Arch views. There are three towers of about 15, 20, and 30 stories shown along with many other new buildings. Also the Crunden-Martin complex would be rehabilitated in part into residential including a large green roof and a bridge connecting the two roofs.
A public space along the river is an extension of the Arch grounds. It appears the flood wall is replaced by a hill. There’s a circular pavilion near the MacArthur Bridge. There’s a walkway out over the river with something going on there. They mentioned they are looking at including a world-class skate park during the presentation.
The rendering above shows the remnants of the automobile deck of the MacArthur Bridge approach as a linear park.
South of the residential is the design and construction innovation district. It is the core and majority of the 50+ acres to be developed. Here modular construction components produced offsite are to be assembled here and shipped by train, truck, and boat to construction sites. I think that means precast concrete assemblies, steel frame, wood walls and trusses, and more assembled here and shipped elsewhere. They figure they can deliver affordable and workforce housing thanks to reduced production costs thanks to the innovations developed therein.
It would take considerable infrastructure improvements to support all this. The river and flooding are a clear threat. What the Port Authority approved today would in part evaluate that as well as the financial feasibility of the plan as a whole.
The timeline presented showed a 8-year build-out with the design and construction innovation district leading the residential and entertainment portions. they hinted at interested tenants and financing.
Pie in the sky? This is only at the concept stage right now. We’ve seen the Bottle District, Iron Hill, Northside Regeneration, Ballpark Village, Lumiere Place Phase II, Centene, Boulevard etc either not happen or take longer than first pitched. On the other hand we’ve seen CORTEX (Dennis Lower who used to run CORTEX is consulting on this) and the Danforth Plant Sciences Center/39 North, make great strides.
