Ballpark Village was a village in 1908

A week ago I suggested the vacant Ballpark Village site be divided (platted) and sold as building lots to begin to develop the total site.  One person questioned me when I said the area once contained hundreds of buildings.  He said it was probably more like dozens and dozens.  I admit I didn’t count before I made my claim.  I’ve gone back to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for the site as of December 1908 to see.  While not hundreds it is more than a few dozen.  Either way the point is the same — smaller structures made for more diversity and interest.  The area was built by many over a long period of time rather than sitting idle for a single project.

The area is bounded by Broadway on the East, Clark on the South, 8th on the West and Walnut on the North.  In 1908 Elm ran parallel to and between Walnut & Clark until 7th Street.  This divided the land into five blocks – Elm was removed during 1960s urban renewal.

The following are the 1908 maps for the BPV site along with the East & West parking garages that bookend the site.

4th West to Broadway (5th) – currently stadium East garage:

Broadway West to 6th:

6th West to 7th:

7th West to 8th:

8th West to 9th – currently stadium West garage:

Too many buildings to count.  They vary in size and no doubt in age.  Most are brick (pink) but some are wood frame (yellow) and a few are stone (blue).  Not all the land was filled in 1908 (8th & Walnut).

For more than a half century development has followed the Urban Renewal model — clear large swaths of land and assemble manageable size parcels of land into huge blocks. Financing for these increasingly out of scale projects has grown unmanageable.

Here is the video I took when the project details were announced in October 2006:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-MS5l-S8yc

As originally outlined, the project was to have nearly 800,000 total square feet and a total cost of $387 million.  The site between the garages was once again going to have Elm, thus being divided into six blocks.  That works out to $64.5 million per block – a substantial sum to raise.  The Cardinals and developer Cordish should abandon the mega project methodology by 1) creating the through street grid to form the six blocks 2) subdivide each of the six blocks into 3-10 parcels of land to be developed by them and/or sold to qualified buyers for them to build on the land.  Deed restrictions would not allow surface parking and would require minimum building heights (3-15 floors depending upon parcel).  Each block should have a minimum of two buildings.  Blank walls should be forbidden while numerous doors and windows required/encouraged.

As part of the site’s infrastructure, internal parking structures may be required to meet the total future need.  Streets, sidewalks and parking are built first and future buildings would surround the parking structures eventually.  With six blocks it would probably have 3-6 garages, ideally partially underground.  These garages could be built out in phases as lots are sold.

Other developers and investors could build within the site.  Say one group can finance $30 million for a single building, that is one more toward the goal.  Piece by piece the area would fill in.

– Steve Patterson

Consolidating school districts the answer?

Schools in the City of St. Louis, and in much of the region, need help to improve performance and perceptions.  On December 17th the state took action to help one such district:

The Missouri Board of Education today voted to merge the Wellston School District in St. Louis County with the larger nearby Normandy School District.

The Wellston District lost state accreditation in 2003. And despite recent improvements in graduation rates, state officials say the district has continued to struggle academically and financially.

The Wellston School District will officially cease operations after the current school year ends. (source: KWMU)

Some would argue more districts, like municipalities, need consolidation.  One reason:

In the 2006 issue of “Where We Stand” published by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the St. Louis area ranked as number one for the highest number of independent school districts per 100,000 population when compared to 33 other metropolitan areas of similar size and characteristics. (source: Renewing the Region)

Others have argued districts should not be larger than a single high school.  I’d imagine there is a point where a district can be too small or too big.  The poll this week asks your opinion – should Missouri consolidate more school districts in the region? Vote in the upper right sidebar and share your views in the comments below.

– Steve Patterson

All about the edges

Edges are as important than the center.  This is true with a batch of brownies and with urban areas. Surface parking or structured garages often surround downtown areas, creating a disconnect to adjacent neighborhoods.

From too numerous surface parking lots (especially along Tucker) to the massive size and blank walls of the convention center & dome, the neighborhoods immediately North of downtown St. Louis.

Throughout our region interstate highways also serve as edges that separate.  A goal needs to be increasing connections — filling in gaps by building on surface parking lots, removing highways and eliminating long blank walls.  Work on the edges while at the same time as the center.

– Steve Patterson

Projects getting done despite the economy

We all know the economy crashed.  There are signs of recovery but with the unemployment rate at 10% on average (it is up to three times higher for some population segments), a recovery is a long way off.  I know many architects that are either unemployed or with very little work.  If they are not working now that means the construction industry won’t be working in 6 months.

Despite the stark realities of 2009, St. Louis did see some projects move forward.  Presumably most of these had financing in place prior to the financial meltdown.

I present four of many:

Hopefully we will see many more small-scale re-use projects such as these begin in 2010.  Financing for projects the size of these is a major challenge but nothing like a project the size of say Ballpark Village or the long-stalled Bottle District.  One building at a time is how you rejuvenate a city.  That can be through renovation or new construction.  I’d much rather numerous small projects spread out across the city than a few big projects concentrated downtown.

– Steve Patterson

The new street food venders

The host of this site, Steve Paterson, has long been a proponent for more street vendors, and specifically hot dog carts, in downtown St. Louis.  I’ve always been a bit lukewarm to the concept, assuming that supply and demand is probably near equilibrium already, since several permit holders choose to operate now only on an irregular basis.  Still, there are types of street food that I see having some real potential, and that’s with mobile catering trucks, a.k.a. “roach coaches”, that have “evolved” into more interesting forms in other cities.

One format, that could work great at any of our local universities, has become established at Rutgers University, where their “Grease Trucks” have been both embraced by the university, both its students and the administration, and appears to be cranking out some good, affordable food.

On the other coast, gourmet dining has joined with Twitter to create a mobile gastronomic experience:

Portland’s bustling street-food scene may soon be rivaling the hawker centers of Singapore in terms of quality, scope, popular appeal, and value for money. In other words, the Pacific Northwest is doing for street food today what it did for coffee in the 1990s. Picking just eight venues out of the veritable sea of stands, stalls, carts, trucks, trailers, and even bicycles was a tough job-but hey, we’re not complaining.  (full article: Gourmet Magazine)

The infamous $16 pho. The $10 kaya toast that everyone loved but that I’m used to getting for less than $1 back home. These were all reasons I haven’t checked out Susan Feniger’s STREET until now. The concept is awesome. Street food from all over the world, all in one spot. In Hollywood. But one kitchen and how many countries? Can they pull it off? (full article: Gourmet Pigs)

Numerous restaurants in Seattle feature gourmet dishes prepared with local and seasonal ingredients. But only one serves its meals through the window of a 1962 Airstream trailer.

Skillet, a roving kitchen that stakes out different street corners during lunch hour, is known for a Kobe-style burger served on brioche with bacon jam, blue cheese and arugula. The locally and seasonally inspired menu continually changes, prompting customers to line up every day and debate between crispy ginger pork wontons accompanied by a sweet chili dipping sauce or Thai cured confit of duck with a coconut rice salad.  (full article: Forbes)

Even Denver has Biker Jim and his gourmet dogs.

The advantage that enclosed vehicles offer over open carts is primarily the ability to do more real cooking.  The typical hot dog cart keeps dogs warm and drinks cold.  Some assembly is required, but little culinary skill.  St. Louis also apparently allows our vendors to work off of portable grilles, which partially blurs the lines.  But to do real cooking requires running water, refrigeration and more control than just one gas or charcoal grille.  Plus, more than a few of us are suspicious of the sanitation any open location can maintain, day in and day out.

The two big challenges that these vehicles face are the impact on the urban environment (do we want one or more parked on Washington every weekend night?) and the reality that they “steal” business from existing brick-and-mortar restaurants with higher overhead.  Plus, like what happened at Rutgers, there’s a tendency for them to become non-mobile when they find a successful location.  Denver requires that they actually move on a daily basis, as apparently does LA, but with the ability to reach out via Twitter, it’s become a lot easier to find one’s favorite.

Personally, I think they’d be a great addition to St. Louis’ street and dining scenes – I’d like to hear what others think . . .

– Jim Zavist