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U.S. Bank Plaza To Remain A Dead Space?

March 29, 2011 Downtown, Parking, Plazas 4 Comments
ABOVE: U.S. Bank Plaza as seen from the former St. Louis Centre November 2010

Back in 2008 it was announced that the plaza at 7th & Locust would be replaced with a parking garage (Tough Decisions: Useless Plaza Vs. Another F-ing Parking Garage).  The plaza unfortunately replaced the Ambassador Theater.

Since the 2008 announcement St. Louis Centre is being converted into a parking garage with ground-level retail. So the plaza remains a lifeless hole downtown. Don’t even think about sitting on the grass at lunch, the guard will run you off. The grass, and the entire plaza space, are for show only — not use.

The Ambassador filled the space beautifully but it has been gone more than 15 years now.  Mercantile Bank, later bought by U.S. Bank, wanted to create a welcoming entrance to the tower.  A massive dead space isn’t welcoming! The solution?

In the short term invite vendors to sell food from carts & trucks at lunchtime.  A vendor truck can just pull into the circle drive.  Also, invest in a few tables, chairs and umbrellas.  Encourage people to sit on the grass and play in the fountain. Basically the opposite of what they’ve done for 15+ years.

Longer term the grassy area should be replaced with a highly  modern glass & steel building of at least 2 stories in height. I’m thinking a restaurant space, perhaps with more seating on the roof.  The auto access for the circle drive could be removed and the plaza repaved to eliminate the curbs, part being used for seating of the restaurant.

We just can’t afford dead corners like this to remain lifeless, no matter how green the grass is even in November.

– Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "4 comments" on this Article:

  1. Anonymous says:

    In your perfect world, a 2+ story building makes a lot of urban-design sense. For the bank, this well-ordered green space probably looks better out of their office windows than either the back or roof of an old theater or, more likely, another f-ing surface parking lot. The same can be said of both Roberts Plaza and the Gateway Mall, as well as the view out of your loft and many other downtown buildings.

    Ultimately, something will eventually be built on the site – the economy will dictate when that happens. At present, however, there is no lack of either available ground-level retail space downtown, nor upper-level office space, so this site will likely remain vacant for the forseeable future. Personally, I have no desire to encourage a zombie downtown, one where we continue to build buildings when there are no apparent tenants to occupy them (including just moving tenants from old spaces to new ones).

    Which leaves the logistics of energizing the existing space. This gets into the realm of public versus private and several legal and economic issues. This is private property, not a public park. Tables, chairs and vendors will require more maintenance than grass and an unused driveway. The risk of nuisance lawsuits goes up if you allow the public to have casual access. The bank probably has little desire to operate what essentially would be a food court.

    The best solution would be an entrepreneur willing to act as a concession operator, someone who would lease the plaza from the bank, assume primary responsibility for maintenance and finding the right mix of tenants. The bank avoids being in a business they don’t want to be in, yet they maximize the short-term return on an existing asset. But the real question remains, can someone figure out how to “make the numbers work”, whether there’s enough mobile vendors willing to pay enough space rent to cover the cost of shared outside dining?

     
  2. JZ71 says:

    In your perfect world, a 2+ story building makes a lot of urban-design sense. For the bank, this well-ordered green space probably looks better out of their office windows than either the back or roof of an old theater or, more likely, another f-ing surface parking lot. The same can be said of both Roberts Plaza and the Gateway Mall, as well as the view out of your loft and many other downtown buildings.

    Ultimately, something will eventually be built on the site – the economy will dictate when that happens. At present, however, there is no lack of either available ground-level retail space downtown, nor upper-level office space, so this site will likely remain vacant for the forseeable future. Personally, I have no desire to encourage a zombie downtown, one where we continue to build buildings when there are no apparent tenants to occupy them (including just moving tenants from old spaces to new ones).

    Which leaves the logistics of energizing the existing space. This gets into the realm of public versus private and several legal and economic issues. This is private property, not a public park. Tables, chairs and vendors will require more maintenance than grass and an unused driveway. The risk of nuisance lawsuits goes up if you allow the public to have casual access. The bank probably has little desire to operate what essentially would be a food court.

    The best solution would be an entrepreneur willing to act as a concession operator, someone who would lease the plaza from the bank, assume primary responsibility for maintenance and finding the right mix of tenants. The bank avoids being in a business they don’t want to be in, yet they maximize the short-term return on an existing asset. But the real question remains, can someone figure out how to “make the numbers work”, whether there’s enough mobile vendors willing to pay enough space rent to cover the cost of shared outside dining?

     
  3. thoughts from south grand says:

    I almost spit coffee all over my laptop when I read “Tough decisions: useless plaza vs another f-ing parking garage”

     
  4. thoughts from south grand says:

    I almost spit coffee all over my laptop when I read “Tough decisions: useless plaza vs another f-ing parking garage”

     

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