Grand Bridge Should Follow Columbus Ohio Example

In the last post I casually mentioned the concept of a retail bridge for Grand Boulevard. It took me a while but I finally found the example that I had referred to. In 2004 a developer added retail to both sides of a Columbus Ohio bridge spanning a major interstate that created a pedestrian barrier.

St. Louis is planning to rebuild the existing Grand bridge by adding a landscaped median as well as wider sidewalks and bike lanes. The intent is to make it more pedestrian friendly so that St. Louis University to the north and their medical center campus to the south are better connected. You can dress up a bridge all you like but it is still hundreds of feet of dead space. No amount of median planting will make it pedestrian friendly.

In Columbus a developer was granted the right to basically construct two new bridges over the interstate highway, each on the side of the existing bridge. By doing so pedestrians and drivers alike don’t really reailze they are on a bridge at all — it simply becomes a city street.

The Grand bridge spans railroad tracks, the existing MetroLink line and the eastbound lanes of I-64 (hwy 40 to locals). The actual width of the tracks and highway is quite short. The rest of the bridge just spans industrial land.

Here is my proposal:

Before all the naysayers try to explain why we cannot be urban let me try to address a few points. The area has already been blighted and is going to be redeveloped. Building new buildings up to the existing bridge is feasible, perhaps more so than the plan to add width and medians to the current structure. Also, we can be urban and what better place to create an urban street than at a location with a MetroLink light rail stop and between two major university campuses.

Related Links:
Biz Journal story on Grand bridge project
Cap at Union Station, Columbus OH

– Steve

ULI To Hold Chouteau Lake Competition

The Urban Land Institute along with some local organizations, including St. Lousi University, are sponsoring a competition for part of the proposed Chouteau Lake/Greenway area. With a submission deadline of February 6th it doesn’t give much time. From the Competition Brief:

The development site is an approximately 100-acre parcel encompassing a block on both sides of Grand Boulevard, bounded by Spring Street at the west and Theresa Street at the east; and spanning the proposed Chouteau Greenway, from Forest Park Boulevard at the north to Chouteau Avenue at the south. The northern and southern boundaries abut the north and south campuses of SLU, and your master plan must suggest ways in which your development would connect to the existing campuses and other neighborhood amenities.

In prior posts I’ve commented on the new SLU research buliding currently under construction to the south of this site — basically that it is an anti-urban tower sitting in the center of a green field. I’ve also written that when the Grand Boulevard bridge is rebuilt it should have street-level retail added to each side to “bridge” the gap of the tracks below.

Click here for the ULI Competition website.

[UPDATED 1/30/06 @ 9AM – I found the 2004 project in Columbus Ohio where retail was placed along both sides of a bridge spanning a major urban interstate. It is called the ‘Cap at Union Station.’ Click here to see the developer’s website on the project (includes many photos and a site plan).

From the ULI:

The Cap at Union Station is a $7.8 million retail development that reconnects downtown Columbus, Ohio, with the burgeoning Short North arts and entertainment district. Opened in October 2004, the project effectively heals part of a 40-year scar that was created by the construction of the city’s Interstate 670 (I-670) inner-belt highway. Composed of three separate bridges—one for through-traffic across the highway, and one on either side for the retail structures—the Cap provides 25,496 square feet (2,369 square meters) of leasable space, transforming the void caused by I-670 into a seamless urban streetscape with nine retail shops and restaurants. While other cities like Seattle and Kansas City have erected convention centers over urban highways, the I-670 Cap is one of the first speculative retail projects built over a highway in the United States.

– Steve

St. Louis Not The Only City Where a St. Aloysius Is Threatened

The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently had a story about church closings and possible demoltions in the New York City area, including a St. Aloysius in Harlem:

Architecturally, the three Harlem churches meet the commission’s criteria for landmarking: special character or special historical or aesthetic interest. But that’s only part of the churches’ significance. “They tell the story of immigrants to this country who were poor and who were unable to manifest any kind of individual pride in terms of places they were forced to live in,” says Michael Henry Adams, a Harlem architectural historian of Harlem and author of Harlem: Lost and Found. “But they were able to manifest a group pride by building these great buildings as an indication of their faith in God and also the opportunities of this great country. They’re symbols of the promise of America.”

In these cases parishioners are working with preservationists to save their history, even though the churches will likely be closed and the buildings used for other purposes.

Click here for the full story.

– Steve

Hearing on Relocating South Grand McDonalds

Nearly a year ago I did a post about McDonalds possibly moving across Grand to the former Sears site.

In this time we’ve seen some activity at the new home development Keystone Place but not enough for my satisfaction. I can’t imagine a new McDonalds helping matters.

As I stated a year ago, I think a new McDonalds should be built as an out parcel on the former National. That entire city block is under-utilized and suffering from too many open parking. Building a corner McDonalds would actually be an improvement.

Here is a map of the intersection of Grand & Chippewa. To the North one block at Winnebego is the former Sears site.

A conditional use hearing on the McDonalds will be held on February 16, 2005 in Room 208 of City Hall, 8:30am. The former Sears site is 3708 S. Grand.

– Steve

Hearing on St. Aloysius Wednesday Morning

The Housing, Urban Design and Zoning committee of the St. Louis Board of Alderman is having a public meeting/hearing on Wednesday at 10am. St. Aloysius is among many items on the agenda. The bill before the committee is a bill for the redevelopment, not about tearing down the buildings (the bill already assumes that much).

Here is the info on the meeting:

01/25/2006

Meeting Type: Committee Meeting
Sponsor: Housing, Urban Development and Zoning
Time: 10:00am – 11:00am
Location:Kennedy Room (Room 208)
Message: B.B. #312 – Young, An ordinance to change the zoning of City Block
387.05.

B.B. #326 – Villa, An ordinance establishing a Planned Unit Development
District as the “Mississippi Bluffs Planned Unit Development District”.

B.B. #328 – Roddy, An ordinance establishing a Planned Development District
In City Block 3884 to be known as the “Park East Lofts”.

B.B. #354 – Hanrahan, An ordinance to change the zoning in City Block 4982.

B.B. #358 – Krewson, An ordinance establishing a Planned Unit for City Block
3894 to be known as “Lindell Condominiums”.

B.B. #361 – Vollmer, An ordinance establishing a Planned Unit for City Block
4054.11 to be known as “Magnolia Square Subdivision”.

B.B. #369 – Roddy, An ordinance approving a Redevelopment Plan for the
Cortex West Redevelopment Area.