The SLU-burbanization of Downtown St. Louis: School Envisions Closing Chestnut Street

{SLU's downtown law school today (left) and reimagined with closed Chestnut Street}

In January of this year, Saint Louis University announced its law school would be moving downtown from Midtown's Frost Campus. Renderings of the school's new home were revealed in May. While the move was generally applauded and seen as an investment in the city by the university, the school was relocating within the city and taking a downtown office building off the tax rolls. If nothing else, many believed the move foreshadowed a shift to embrace urbanism, a more urban-friendly development plan by SLU. It now appears that the school is more intent on suburbanizing the central business district.

What appears to be a new rendering of the Joe and Loretta Scott Law Center, shows Chestnut Street closed for a circular driveway at Tucker Boulevard. While it's possible that the idea hasn't gone any further than the drawing board, now is the time to state unambiguously that this should not be allowed to happen. The CityArchRiver plan to reimagine the Arch grounds assualts the existing downtown street grid, more than 100 nearly uninterrupted blocks of the central business district. At least that wrong-headed plan is at the edge of downtown.

{more than 100 nearly uninterrupted city blocks constitute the city's central business district}