Two Downtown Restaurants Closing This Weekend

I’ve lived in St. Louis for more than 25 years now, the last 8+ downtown (Downtown West). In this time, many restaurants have come and gone all over the region.  Anniually publications highlight closings & openings — RFT’s 2013 Openings & Closings, for example.

Restaurants close for a variety of reasons.

According to a frequently cited study by Ohio State University on failed restaurants, 60% do not make it past the first year, and 80% go under in five years. (Food Network Chef Robert Irvine Shares The Top 5 Reasons Restaurants Fail)

At the end of this month two longtime downtown restaurants will close: Mike Shannon’s Steaks & Seafood and Harry’s Restaurant & Bar.

On the heels of Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood (closing Jan. 30), Prime 1000, the Dubliner and Joe Buck’s shuttering, comes word that Harry’s Restaurant & Bar will close after a celebration Jan. 29-30.

Harry’s co-owner Tim Pieri confirmed to the Post-Dispatch that the sprawling complex at 2144 Market Street will close after nearly two decades. Harry’s includes a dining area along with a patio and the Horizon at Harry’s nightclub. (Post-Dispatch)

Shannon’s will focus on their two other locations — Edwardsville & the airport. Harry’s only has the one location.

City records online don’t list the date the building was constructed. In 1969 the Spanish Pavilion (briefly) opened on the block, this building appears on a 1971 aerial.  In the early 1990s the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, our Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), was located on the 2nd floor.  I have no recollection what was on the 1st floor prior to Shannon’s relocating here 10-15 years ago. They installed new windows along Market — making a strong connection to the public realm. Pedestrians could see the beautiful dining room & bar — though both were slightly higher. I ate there once 5-8 years, a friend was treating. Great food & service. Convenient location, we arrived as pedestrians.

The location is excellent, very close to Busch Stadium. Unfortunately, the city allowed the Cardinals/Cordish to build Ballpark Village without pedestrian access from 7th Street. So anyway wanting to eat here before or after a baseball game were forced to walk in auto driveways or a circuitous route to stay on marginal sidewalks.  This didn’t cause them to close, but it didn’t help. It also presents physical challenges for the next tenant of the space.

On paper Harry’s location is also good: surrounded by hotels and at a highway on/off ramp. The building was built in 1964, for years a Mercedes-Benz dealership was across 22d  Street — now the FBI.  I remember the auto dealership, but I don’t recall what was in the Harry’s building. The dealership closed in 1995 — about the same time Harry’s opened.

I’ve never eaten at Harry’s — never had any desire. The building isn’t inviting. They took the on-street parking for valet use. Though I live closer to Harry’s than to Shannon’s, pedestrian access is basically impossible. Not the building — getting there. I was able to photograph the conditions in June 2010:

Even a guest at the hotel across Market St from Harry’s would have a challenge walking to dinner. But again, even if it was a walker’s paradise the building isn’t inviting.

I looked at their menus and photos — how did they stay open this long?

[Harry’s owner] Pieri cited a familiar scenario: “It’s the economy, the highway closing, Ballpark Village. Downtown is just a dead area right now, unfortunately. Obviously, the sad part is nobody is talking about it. Iconic places are going out of business, and nobody cares.

“Ballpark Village was the nail in the coffin. It shut down Washington Avenue and took 70 percent of our business. We thought it would be more like 10 or 20 percent. It took the people left who were coming to downtown.”

He said the closing of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) for construction in various stages between 2007 and 2009affected Harry’s because “St. Louisans are creatures of habit. When it was closed for 2½ years, they went elsewhere.”

Pieri thinks there’s a downward swing that will continue until downtown books more conventions and brings crime under control. “People are afraid to come downtown,” he said. (Post-Dispatch)

The closing of Harry’s isn’t a shock to me.

— Steve Patterson

Sunday Poll: Should St. Louis Sheriff’s Deputies Be Able To Perform Traffic Stops?

One candidate running for St. Louis Sheriff wants deputies to be able to do traffic stops, to ease the workload on St. Louis Police:

Right now the main task for the 180 sheriff’s deputies in St. Louis is to transport prisoners to and from jail and provide security at courthouses. Vaccaro says having sheriff’s deputies execute traffic stops will free up time for St. Louis police officers to respond and investigate crimes. (KMOV)

To me this seemed like a perfect topic for a non-scientific reader poll:

The poll is open until 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

1900 Washington Ave Appears Salvageable, But Too Soon To Be Certain

Monday afternoon I was at home writing, looking up from the computer screen it looked foggy outside. A quick check of my email was a Nextdoor.com message from a neighbor asking what was on fire. Ah — smoke — not fog. My first thought was the building at 17th & Locust.

Despite the cold, I decided to have a quick look to see. From 18th & Locust I could see emergency equipment at 19th, the #97 MetroBus, usually on Washington, was rerouted to Locust. So I headed North to see where Washington was blocked.

The good news is the walls appear to be sound. Monday afternoon owner Pete Rothschild replied to my earlier email, indicating they’ll know more once the engineers In a followup on Wednesday he said:

The goal and likely outcome is that we’ll still do the project. There are a million moving parts, and it’s going to be quite a while until I really know if that’s possible.

I look forward to the day 1900 Washington is fully renovated and occupied.

— Steve Patterson

SUV Blocked Pedestrian Path At The Boulevard

Last Saturday morning we drove out to The Boulevard to get a gift at Crate & Barrel.  When we arrived and left a large SUV was parked blocking the crosswalk.

A person was inside, but I didn’t confront him other than giving him a dirty look as I slowly walked around with my cane.

This person was either:

1. Waiting to pick up someone who was shopping, or
2. Security

I emailed the property manager at Pace Properties, asking if this person was security. I’ve not heard back.

— Steve Patterson

Forget A Football Stadium, North Riverfront Neighborhood Needs A Plan For Redevelopment

The Rams are retuning to Los Angeles. I think many forgot how we got them here in the first place. Without an NFL team since 1988 we attempted to get an expansion team, but that effort ended in December 1993 when Jacksonville FL got the 2nd expansion team. With a new dome underway political leaders had to find a way to pay for what was going to be a career-ending white elephant.

In January 1995 the Los Angeles Rams were negotiating a relocation to St. Louis, but NFL owners rejected the relocation in March ’95. Following legal threats against the NFL, the owners approved the relocation the following month:

St. Louis has has been without an NFL team since 1988, when Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill, tired of being a secondary tenant to the baseball Cardinals in outdated Busch Stadium, moved his team to Phoenix.

St. Louis was considered a lock for an NFL expansion team in 1993, but conflicting ownership groups and financial problems doomed that bid, and Charlotte, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., were awarded franchises.

Fans thought New England Patriots owner James Orthwein, a St. Louis native, would move his team to St. Louis in early 1994, but New England businessman Robert Kraft purchased the team at the last minute and kept it in the Boston area.

And St. Louis city and county officials nearly blew their chance at luring the Rams last summer because, until September, they couldn’t wrest control of the new stadium lease from a stubborn beer distributor who had the desire, but not the money, to buy an NFL team.

But the city finally cleaned up its act when, after Shaw broke off talks with St. Louis in August, former U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton stepped in and convinced aspiring owner Jerry Clinton to turn over his 30% share of the stadium lease for $8 million and the use of a luxury suite for 20 years.

The new stadium, under construction downtown, is scheduled to be completed in late October, meaning Ram home games for the first half of their first season in St. Louis might be played in Busch Stadium.

The Rams weren’t here permanently —  they were just on loan. Our desperation to fill the Dome we were building resulted in a too good to pass up deal for the Rams. We borrowed them for 21 seasons and one Super Bowl. Hell, they would’ve left a decade earlier if Georgia Frontiere wouldn’t have waived the right to go year to year after the Dome failed to be in the top tier after the first check in 2005.

Despite his claims otherwise, Kroenke likely planned to move the Rams when he purchased a majority stake. To think otherwise is foolish, he owned sports teams all over the country — it’s no big deal to fly to Los Angeles in your private jet. The writing on the wall was obvious to everyone but football nuts and elected officials worried about getting reelected if they didn’t show an effort to keep the Rams from doing the inevitable.

So $16+ million public dollars were spent so elected officials could say “see, we tried.” In doing so, a large swath of the Near North Riverfront was targeted for demolition. This left property owners uncertain about the future. The William A. Kerr Foundation posted the following on Facebook:

Perhaps enough dust has settled that we can breathe a sigh of relief that our little green building no longer faces immanent demolition. During this past year’s great folly to build an NFL worthy stadium in this area, we received many words of support and admiration for what the WAKF has accomplished here and hopes that it would continue to exist. We are very touched and grateful for this outpouring of support and are pleased that many people and organizations will continue to be able to use and enjoy this space. Now we hope that you and the powers that be will put some focused energy and money into revitalizing this whole north riverfront area. Thank you for all your good wishes and support!!

Agreed — we should keep focusing on the North Riverfront — revitalizing — not razing the area.  Unlike in the early 90s, it doesn’t appear targeted properties were bought out. Nothing was razed.  But owners are likely leery about investing out of fear of being targeted again.

As a region we need to:

1. Accept we will not have another NFL team.
2. Be content with existing sports: MLB, NHL, MASL, USL, NCAA.
3. Consider attracting other sports, but not with a publicly-owned facility.
4. Build on the investment in planning a stadium by planning how to be life, investment, jobs, etc to the North Riverfront.

Schlafly Beer is looking for a location for a third brewery, perhaps the North Riverfront? Let’s put together a plan for the area, find a way to begin updating streets, sidewalks, lighting, etc. Market the hell out of the area to tun vacant properties into occupied buildings.

In the non-scientific Sunday Poll just over 20% said we should continue with the stadium plan — really folks!?!  Thankfully more than 3/4 don’t think we should.

Q: Agree or disagree? We should continue the North Riverfront stadium plan

• Strongly agree 3 [5.08%]
• Agree 5 [8.47%]
• Somewhat agree 4 [6.78%]
• Neither agree or disagree 1 [1.69%]
• Somewhat disagree 1 [1.69%]
• Disagree 6 [10.17%]
• Strongly disagree 38 [64.41%]
• Unsure/No Answer 1 [1.69%]

The first step is to remove the target from the North Riverfront.

— Steve Patterson