Clayton’s Central Presbyterian Church Offers Expansion, Reuse Alongside Demo for Parking

{looking southwest from Hanley Road - image by CORE10 Architecture}

I last wrote about the "race to de-densify" a year ago. Central Presbyterian Church on Hanley Road in Clayton was proposing to demolish an apartment building and two residences wihtin the David Place neighborhood. Kirkwood was buying and demolishing storefronts for parking and Shrewsbury was announcing a car dealership next to its MetroLink station. Instead of demolishing occupied residential buildings in good repair, we suggested investing in making Hanley a more walkable, shall we say, stroad. Lighted crosswalks, better signage and more could make nearby parking more usable.

Recently, increasing demands for parking by aging congregations has become news elsewhere. Aaron Renn wrote about the issue in Chicago on his Urbanophile blog and Paul Hohmann detailed demolition in the dense St. Louis neighborhood of Skinker-DeBaliviere on his Vanishing STL site. The pressure put on our built environment by an aging population that demands, and sometimes needs, ever more accessible parking, is a massive looming challenge.