Chouteau Crossing Will Have Minimum Required Pedestrian Access Route

Chouteau Crossing is a green renovation of an old industrial structure at 2301 Chouteau Ave:

“Chouteau Crossing features wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling, and a graywater system that handles the irrigation. The parking lots are illuminated by power stored from the rooftop PV array. It will be completed at the end of 2009, and 33,000 square feet have been taken already for lab space. The project is being developed by Green Street Properties.” (Jetson Green)

As I saw the work progress at the site I was concerned if provisions had been made for pedestrian access from Chouteau as all too often they are not (example).  My concern is twofold, 1) accessibility for disabled pedestrians and 2) increasing the walkability of the city for all.

St. Louis zoning and building codes don’t require any connection to the adjacent public sidewalk which is a horrible oversight on the part of the Board of Aldermen.  Walkable communities are appealing to most everyone, including those who always drive.  The city is naturally the most walkable part of the region based on the 19th century street grid, transit service and population density.  Shouldn’t we require new & renovated buildings to connect to the public sidewalk?

So I looked up Chouteau Crossing’s website to try to determine if a pedestrian route was planned.  I thought I saw a possibility but the site plan was so tiny I couldn’t be sure. I made an email inquiry to developer Green Street Properties.  I got a quick response from VP Brian Pratt saying they weren’t sure but they would check with their architect, Trenor Architects. A few days later I had my answer  – yes — and a detailed drawing of the route.

I’m glad one pedestrian access route has been planned, but this development is on a large site bounded by three public streets, has four auto entrances (three on Chouteau) and multiple tenant entrances. I’d like to see the zoning or building code require a pedestrian route from each public street and equal to the number of auto drives provided.

– Steve Patterson

Parking Needed for Restoration and Occupancy of the Municipal Courts Building?

On April Fool’s Day Paul Hohmann had an excellent post suggesting the city was going to raze the vacant Municipal Courts Building and replace it with a parking garage.

The city isn’t going to raze the building but what are we going to do with the structure? There have been numerous ideas over the last decade but it seems the lack of a large source of dedicated parking is problematic.  Downtown has an excess of parking but the oversupply isn’t where it is needed.  I’ve got an idea.

I still miss the old city jail that occupied the NE corner of Clark Ave & 14th Street, why not build a mostly underground parking structure with street-level storefronts facing both 14th & Clark Ave? The parking could serve the need of tenant(s) in the Municipal Courts, City Hall, Scottrade Center, Busch Stadium and the Peabody Opera House (formerly Kiel).  Retail & restaurants could serve all the above as well as the Sheraton Hotel located one block south and the many daily transit riders at the Civic Center bus & light rail station, also a block south.

Activating the sidewalks along both 14th and Clark Ave would do wonders for improving the walkability of the area.  I’m thinking 3-4 floors of occupied floors about grade. If parking was above grade it should be fully enclosed.  Ideally the bulk of the parking would be below sidewalk level, not above.

The big picture would be to evaluate all 10 blocks of Clark Ave from Busch (8th) to Union Station (18th), finding opportunities to improve the many people who currently walk all or part of this stretch.  Way back in July 2006 I posted about building over the existing MetroLink lines between 15th-18th, also facing Clark Ave.

The Municipal Courts Building would be a premier location for one or more law firms.  Treasurer Larry Williams has the ability to fund the structure, leasing some space to future firns in the Municipal Courts.

– Steve Patterson

Bollards Reconfigured At America’s Center To Create Protected Pedestrian Zone

Link to above pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanreviewstl/5587359644/

I’ve done numerous posts about the sidewalk along Washington Ave in front of America’s Center (St. Louis’ convention center), in January 2007 the pedestrian experience was bleak (Taxi Cabs Block Sidewalk at Convention Center, Exit Via Crosswalk).   By May 2007 bollards were installed to prevent cabs from exiting at the crosswalks, but they were still on the sidewalk space (Taxis Still Blocking Pedestrian Sidewalk at St. Louis’ Convention Center)  It took me until December 2010 to get the cabs relocated onto 8th Street so the sidewalk was free for pedestrians (Sidewalk In Front Of Convention Center Now Just For Pedestrians).

Last week the bollards were relocated to clearly separate the circle drive from the pedestrian space.

Link to above image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanreviewstl/5586769385/

The lesson for me is to get to the person in charge.  I was only after I left my card for Kitty Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention & Visitor’s Commission, that change happened. Once I was able to explain the situation directly to her she began having meetings to get the cabs relocated.  After that was done she hired a form to redesign the bollard locations so the pedestrians would be protected from vehicles in the circle drive. I picked up a copy of the bollard plan the week prior to the work being done just in case I saw something that might need correcting. But the plan was great.

– Steve Patterson

Family Dollar Misses The Walkability Mark

The Family Dollar store at 6000 Natural Bridge was built in 2006.

I’ve stopped by twice in the last two weeks and both times I spotted customers who were pedestrians.  During the week there were more pedestrian customers than driving customers, the opposite was true yesterday.  Family Dollar caters to a lower income crowd, those who are often transit dependent. Yet, they don’t make it easy for their own customers who arrive on foot.

Family Dollar replaced the public sidewalk along Natural Bridge — 300 feet along the property line. That is a good start, but just 20 more feet of sidewalk would have enabled pedestrians to get from the public sidewalk to the private walk in front of the door without having to walk through grass or mud.

Pedestrians have so little value in St. Louis that a business with many pedestrian customers can just ignore how they come and go. St. Louis needs to mandate that new buildings be built with connections from public sidewalk to main entrance. Also, new occupancy of existing buildings should also require a pedestrian connection. If a public sidewalk exists, businesses should be required to connect to it. Period!

Pedestrian connections should be a given in the city, especially when tax incentives are given for the development!

Ordinance 67014. sponsored by 22nd Ward Ald, Jeffrey Boyd, covers lots of strings for the redevelopment of the property but the basic need of walking from the public sidewalk to the front door of the business establishment just wasn’t important enough I guess.  The above tax info can be found at Geo St. Louis.

I have contacted Family Dollar to see about them connecting to the public sidewalk, hopefully they will be receptive.

– Steve Patterson

South Grand Will Be Much Improved

Work on the new streetscape for South Grand has started.  The new design will address shortcomings of the current streetscape.  Very little of the new work is complete but what I’ve seen so far looks great.  Can’t wait to visit in my wheelchair, once finished, to do a full review.

– Steve Patterson