My Wish List For The Next Saint Louis University President

Most likely you’ve already heard the news: Lawrence Biondi has announced he will retire as president of Saint Louis University.

The Rev. Lawrence Biondi surprised supporters and critics alike Saturday evening when he announced plans to retire from the presidency of St. Louis University.

The move follows months of campus strife that included no-confidence votes by faculty and students. (stltoday)

I’ve lived in St. Louis for nearly 23 years, most of Biondi’s 25-year tenure. I’ve witnessed the physical changes to the midtown campus along with everyone else. The public remains sharply divided on these changes. Some of us see the changes during his tenure as highly destructive and anti-urban, others view them as visionary, saving a once-dying campus.

Who’s right? Actually, both views are correct.

Biondi had a vision for the campus and was relentless in making it happen. Unfortunately, his vision was shaped by a perspective shared with many in his generation:

1. Pedestrians stroll through park-like settings but use cars to actually get from point a to point b, pedestrians should be seperated from roads.
2. Old urban cities are bad places with bad people, to be safe we must create physical barriers to keep them out of our space and to tell us where we shouldn’t go.
3. Only poor people use public transit, everyone else has a car. In other words: transit brings troublesome poor folks while parking garages attracts desirable folks.
4. Open space, with lush green lawns, solves problems.
5. Residential, office, retail, industrial should all be separate from each other.

These views were formed in their youth, influenced by the General Motors Futurama exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair.

My hope is the next president of Saint Louis University will reject the beliefs listed above. That he/she will instead think:

1. The university should embrace the city, not wall it off.
2. Supporting public transit will greatly reduce the need to take on debt to build more parking garages
3. Thriving areas beyond campus will enrich the student experience
4. SLU is an urban campus, the public rights-of-way (roads/sidewalks) within our boundaries should be highly active

What is the likelihood the Board of Trustees will select someone with a viewpoint radically different from Biondi with respect to urban planning? Right, not very high…

— Steve Patterson

Potential Development Sites Along Proposed Streetcar Line, Part 1: Olive 15th-16th

The proposed streetcar from St. Louis’ central business district (CBD) to the Central West End (CWE) along Olive/Lindell is moving forward. Regular readers know I’m a streetcar advocate because of how it can increase development activity in a way no bus route ever can. I thought I’d take a close look at potential sites along the proposed route, starting with the area nearest my loft.

The block on the north side of Olive between 15th and 16th is nothing but two surface parking lots.

The larger lot with entrance on 15th serves the building the occupies the block to the east. This building contains the administrative offices for the St. Louis Public Library and the Confluence High School. That building contains parking underneath as well as some surface parking within that block. The library owns the building and this surface parking lot.

The surface lot, shown above, doesn’t get much use. Once the streetcar line starts running there won’t be as much need for automobile parking, hopefully the library can sell the large surface overflow parking lot to a developer for new construction. This is currently subdivided into 4 parcels with addresses 1501 Olive, 1507 Olive, 1509-1529 Olive, and 1527 Olive with a total area of 26,964sf or 0.62 acres. See map.

The west end of the block is a smaller privately-owned public surface parking lot, legally divided into two parcels with addresses 1531-1533 Olive and 1535-1537 Olive. The total area of these two parcels is 11,676sf or 0.27 acres. Combine all six parcels owned by two entities and you have 38,640sf or 0.89 acres.

The only structures on this city block are The Campbell House Museum and the 10-story YMCA. The 100 upper floor apartments have been vacant for at least 5 years now, hopefully a streetcar line will get someone interested in taking on the project. Other buildings in the area range from 1-10 floors, but most are greater than 5.

A stop is highly unlikely at 15th because the streetcar line will have a major connection at 14th, but I’d like another stop at 16th or 17th.  Even if the next stop isn’t until 18th or 19th I can see this block filled in with apartments and/or condos along with new ground-floor restaurant/retail space.

— Steve Patterson

Poll: Thoughts on Demolition of Cupples 7

Last week the city announced the Building Commissioner will order the demolition of the  historic Cupples 7 warehouse if a savior doesn’t come foreword.

The city’s building commissioner is expected to file a demolition permit next week.

The seven story building will be demolished at the end of the month if a developer doesn’t purchase it first.(KSDK)

That’s not much time to find someone with deep pockets to save the structure. Interesting information also came out last week about finances.

Unless a new buyer emerges, the city will be out $850,000. That’s because former Treasurer Larry Williams took an option on the property from Montgomery Bank, lender to the development firm that was unable to follow through on its plan to put condos in Cupples 7. (stltoday)

It looks like Cupples 7 will be coming down because just stabilizing the structure is estimated by some to cost millions.

The poll this week seeks to find out if you support the city’s decision, vote in the right sidebar. See Saving Cupples 7: The Importance of Urban Context for more photos.

— Steve Patterson

Vacant Service Station on Shaw Has Great Potential

About 25-30 years about ago the now-defunct magazine Metropolitan Home had an article on an old service station being converted into a private residence, if I recall it was a contest winner located in Dallas. Since then I’ve been hooked on the reuse of these structures.

In February I posted about a formerly dumpy service station on Tower Grove that is now a trendy restaurant. Recently I passed by another vacant service station just perfect for a similar transformation. I’d passed by this same location many times before without noticing anything other than its sad condition. This time I envisioned another restaurant with a patio out front.

Some of you might say no market exists for food establishments in the area but no doubt that was said before Olio, Shasha’s on Shaw, and Mama Josephine’s opened.

I’d love to see this building get a new life as a restaurant, coffeehouse, or perhaps a plant nursery/cafe.  I don’t know the owner’s intentions, or the potential environmental issues, but I know from a purely design perspective the potential is high.

— Steve Patterson

National Microbusiness Conference in St. Louis May 5-8

Microbusinesses, those with 5 or fewer employees, are an important part of the St. Louis economy. These businesses, though individually small, collectively employee much of our region.

St. Louis beat out a couple of other cities to host a national conference on microbusinesses, it starts Sunday:

Welcome to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity’s 2013 National Conference, the nation’s largest premier microbusiness event.

This year’s conference promises to be the best and most comprehensive ever. Join us as we engage senior executives, investors, bankers, practitioners, policy makers and Administration Officials in dialogue about positioning microbusinesses to create jobs and help grow America’s economy.

AEO’s power-packed program will combine large plenary style talks with small, interactive workshops to help attendees learn how to seek out new sources of capital, understand new products and services delivery models and adopt best practices that will enable long-term sustainability.

The conference will be held May 5-8 at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri as we ignite the power of microbusiness to change our communities! (Enterprise Opportunity 2013 Conference) 

I talked with Enterprise Opportunity’s President & CEO, Connie Evans, at the conference kickoff earlier this week, see her respond to me here.

The public is invited to attend the free marketplace of local microbusiness event Monday May 6, 2013 from 4:30pm-7pm. Chase Park Plaza (easily reached via the #10 & #95 MetroBus routes).

— Steve Patterson