Laclede’s Landing: a non-place for locals

Despite many civic efforts to revive the Laclede’s Landing area just to the North of Eads Bridge and the Arch Grounds it is by most accounts another failed urban experiment. Laclede’s Landing is a scattered collection of spectacular old warehouse buildings – much like those that existed on the forty city blocks that were raised in the 1940s for what became the grounds for the Arch.

While I love the Arch as a piece of sculpture – the decision to destroy those forty blocks was tragic and regrettable. While cities like New Orleans saved their old riverfront areas, St. Louis’ leaders, following the 1904 World’s Fair, wanted nothing to do with the past. But, I’m getting off track – back to Laclede’s Landing.

Ead’s Bridge formed a sufficient barrier to the wholesale destruction for the Arch grounds. Nevertheless, the Laclede’s Landing area managed to suffer many losses followed by the addition of some dreadful buildings such as the Embassy Suites hotel and construction of the King Bridge. It is too small of an area to be a complete viable neighborhood – in the true sense. A neighborhood, of course, combines a variety of uses all mixed together – what we are seeing develop with the addition of lofts, stores and grocers to the downtown.

In the 14 years I’ve lived in St. Louis I can count on one hand the times I’ve been to Laclede’s Landing. Why should I or anyone else go there? I personally avoid tourist traps in favor of authentic neighborhoods – whether in St. Louis or when traveling. The area is basically a tourist zone with a few offices added for good measure.

The moving of the President Casino on the Admiral to just North of Laclede’s Landing a few years back has only made the area worse. The garish casino drop-off area and entrance turns the riverfront into a tacky roadside attraction. It sickens me to see it. I hope the casino does go bankrupt (again?) so we can tear all that shit off the bank of the river.

But, city leaders are busy trying to boast gaming in Laclede’s Landing by designating the area a gambling district. How ludicrous is that?

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a proposal nearly a month ago:

Hmmmm, add “residential, retail and more parking.” Given the bulk of the land now considered Laclede’s Landing is parking I’m not sure how or why they’d want to add more parking. This continues our city’s long-standing parking fetish. No wait, a fetish can be OK – make that Parking Addiction (“I’m St. Louis and I love parking.” “Hi, St. Louis!”). Residential and retail are certainly a needed addition to offset the destructive forces of tourism & gaming but just building condos and designating something as retail doesn’t mean it will work. Sure, the condos would have some spectacular views but in my opinion they’d offer little else in the way of neighborhood amenities. The last place I’d purchase a condo would be in the middle of a tacky amusement park.

Also in November the St. Louis Business Journal announced that Las Vegas gamer Pinnacle Entertainment was to buy the Embassy Suites hotel on Laclede’s Landing. But, Columbia Sussex said they might not do the President deal if they can’t build a parking garage. At dispute is land owned or condemned by the city and promised to rival Pinnacle.

Here is the gist of what is going on as I see it. The city is involved in getting the President out of bankruptcy and helped secure bidders – Columbia Sussex submitting the winning bid at $57mil. C-S pays the Cherrick family $5 million for a parking lot so they can build a parking garage. Seems like a logical business decision. But, the city through St. Louis Development Corp Executive Director Rodney Crim says the area is condemned for redevelopment – the land is promised to Pinnacle. Why? Because the President is the least producing casino in the region so the city wants to build a riverfront casino which is barely within the 1,000ft of the river as required. Money – not good urban design – is the driving force here. But, why should the Landing be any different than elsewhere in the city & region?

So projects of hundreds of millions of dollars are being tossed around with the usual “look we are going to improve this area by spending money” foolish thinking so prevalent at city hall and 1015 Locust (St. Louis Development Corp). Hello you dumb asses – it doesn’t work that way! Of course, these are 20 year cycles so it doesn’t really matter if it works or not as they will all be collecting their pensions when the next generation attempts to fix the area.

When I was at the Preservation Board meeting on Monday afternoon I saw a beautiful color drawing on the wall of the Pinnacle proposal. I say beautiful but that refers only to the computer drawing – not to the proposal.

Sorry for the reflection of the lighting – I wasn’t able to find a better picture online. The Pinnacle website does offer this description:

Our site at Laclede’s Landing, near the famed Gateway Arch, will feature a $208 million casino and a 200-guestroom luxury hotel. The project will help revitalize the downtown St. Louis area by serving as a catalyst for additional neighborhood redevelopment. Pinnacle Entertainment has also committed – likely with one or more development partners – $50 million of investment into a new residential, retail, or mixed-used development, to be completed within five years of the casino and hotel’s opening.

You see the promised land? The very tired and unproven claim of revitalizing downtown and acting as a catalyst. Bullshit! Fucking bullshit! Overblown, complicated redevelopment projects have been making these claims for 50 years. If we are stupid enough to believe this BS then we deserve to have this crap dumped on our riverfront. I personally am not that gullible.

Just look at the scale of that building – it is as big as the ungainly dome. The Embassy Suites, which doesn’t really fit in on the Landing due to it’s scale being out of wack, looks tiny in comparison. The few remaining buildings on the Landing – those elements which should define the scale of the area – are just specks. This proposal is anti-urban at its very core and no amount of red brick to glue-on “traditional” details will change that. it is fucking wrong and should not be built. This is not progress!

This is nothing more than another attempt at trying to bring in as many people as possible to the area for a single purpose – gambling. I am certainly not a prude – if some chain smoking person wants to waste their money in a slot machine then be my guest (provided they are not on welfare…). I just don’t think such development is in the greater public good. Given the scale of the proposed design I can say, without any hesitation, is against the greater public good. Do we really need a gaming district? Can the city not survive without the revenues offered by gaming? Can we survive the damage that will be done by such an out of scale project when it fails to revitalize & act as a catalyst?

If it were up to me I’d say “fuck off” to the President Casino, Columbia Sussex and Pinnacle Entertainment. I’d also say “fuck off” to any city official – elected or otherwise – that thinks any of this is a good idea. Yes, the old stainless steel Admiral tour boat is a head turner. However, with all the President Casino crap along the riverfront you can’t see it. So, we need to come up with a use for the Admiral that doesn’t need such a tacky entrance. Gaming on a small scale mixed with other functions on the boat might be the right idea. I’d be OK with spending money just to keep it mored on the riverfront as a floating piece of 20th century sculpture.

Moving to dry land (usually) I’d cut several streets running West from the river. Right now the area North of the King Bridge is lacking needed cross streets. All the streets North of the King bridge should have two vehicle lanes and on-street parking on both sides. All should be two-way, have sidewalks and street trees. The big thing is I-70 needs to be recessed at this point – allowing the Landing to literally reconnect with the city. As long as the highway is elevated it will remain a fringe area. Again, no amount of gambling tourists will overcome the obstacle that is the elevated highway.

With the highway buried and the streets of the Landing reconnected with the streets of downtown we can begin mending an area that has been literally fucked up for decades. Reconnecting to the city via public streets – not a massive casino – will save this area. The Landing potentially could become a great place to live, work and play in St. Louis. Existing access to MetroLink and the North Riverfront Trail are big bonuses for urbanites like myself. These amenities, not casinos, are what we to build upon.

It is decision time folks – more fucked up massive anti-urban projects or true neighborhood building based on sound principals of making places for people? Tragically, the decision is not ours to make except on election day.

– Steve