Old Post Office To Have A “Major Branch” of the St. Louis Library
A new brochure from Webster University marketing classes at the St. Louis Old Post Office is making some bold claims about future tenants:
“Along with Webster, the Old Post Office will house the 8th District Court of Appeals, the St. Louis Business Journal, a major branch of the St. Louis Public Library, a restaurant, and other offices and services.”
A major branch of the library? Did I miss something from the earlier descriptions as a “satellite” branch? As best I can find the library will be leasing 7,000sf of space in the Old Post Office — a mere five blocks East of the magnificent main library. To put this new “major” branch into perspective the fairly new Schlafly branch at Euclid and Lindell is 25,000sf as is the renovated Carpenter Branch on South Grand. One of the smaller branches is the Kingshighway branch. At 12,000sf the Kingshighway branch is more than 70% larger than the proposed Old Post Office branch.
Of course we don’t need a larger branch at the Old Post Office. Calling it a “major branch” is simply stretching the truth. Certainly not the first time we’ve seen such stretches around this project.
Some, myself included, question why we need a satellite branch of the library at all. Is the thought that young loft dwellers won’t walk to the existing library? Who is the intended user of this new branch? Will the new branch sabotage support for the main library? Does the library system have the funds to staff yet another branch? The people I’ve talked to say the library’s budgets are already stretched thin. The general consensus is the the developers needed more space leased to make the financing work and somehow the library we roped into going along with the scheme.
We should be encouraging residents, workers and visitors to walk around downtown and check out all the assets (of which we have plenty). The Old Post Office project is supposed to be the anchor of the area yet they seem to be catering to people not willing to park a block away, much less support businesses in the area.
Can someone tell me why this was worth sacrificing the Century Building and giving away millions in tax credits to wealthy developers?
Does anyone remember when the Public Library purchased the Farm Credit Building (from TWA) at 1415 Olive immediately west of the Central Library? I recall this was in 1998. This building was supposed to handle overflow from the Central Library, including a brand new computer center and expanded home to the Business/Science/Technology division. None of these grand plans ever came to fruition, although some offices and the Film Library (which vacated the still-empty Compton Branch at 1624 Locust) moved into the Farm Credit building. The Farm Credit building contains thousands of empty square feet, including large empty areas on the first floor right off of the lobby.
Did TWA ever own that building? I thought they leased space; they got some kind of deal worked out by the Bosley admin with the Farm Credit Bank Corp., I believe. SLDC/CDA also used to be located in there, until about 1997 or ’98.
Since Glen Holt retired, I wonder how much of this stuff is up in the air. SLPL does indeed use part of the Farm Credit building, most notably for the “Bill Gates Computer Training Center” and the relocated Film Library. Makes me wonder what they’re going to do with the old Film Library building, at 1624 Locust, known as the the Charles Compton branch.
As for the OPO branch, it is quite silly and probably un-necessary. Perhaps another Glen Holt deal-making thing, just like the fact that certain City offices have their websites on SLPL.org instead of on the CIN website… and two (Collector of Revenue and Department of Personnel) have content split up between both sites!
If SLPL really wants to invest in a new branch somewhere, it should be in Dogtown, since they’ll certainly have to close that tiny little St. Louis Marketplace minibranch eventually, if the Marketplace gets redevelop as wholesale/distribution space.
The scuttlebutt I heard from a library source who will remain unnamed is that the library was asked by the mayor´s office (specifically Jeff Rainford) to do this ¨favor.¨
Just like Kim Tucci was asked a “favor” to locate a Pasta House there. And of course, the Biz Journals had to put their feet where their pens/mouths were on the subject. And Webster was asked to locate its satellite campus there instead of its existing Washington locale as a Downtown Plan idea. The Courts of course could go anywhere as well. So, what truly private development did this overly subsidized and demolition-connected project really attract? ZERO.
Joe, you’re right. TWA never owned the building; they did lease it.
Brian’s statment is the best summation of the OPO project I’ve seen:
“So, what truly private development did this overly subsidized and demolition-connected project really attract? ZERO.”
Be sure to watch CBS Sunday Morning at 8 a.m. — the OPO/Century will be part of a story on landmark/preservation nationwide, including Chicago and New York (2 Columbus Circle).