ST. LOUIS & CLAYTON | Project Rundown - Page 17

#**321** Posted **Jan 25, 2012, 5:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
I thought SLU was all anti urban and trying to create a suburban campus downtown or some crap like that. Im confused then, are they trying to create a suburban campus or enhance the city and make it more urban?

SLU's main campus is in Midtown, while the law school is moving downtown. no, they're not intentionally anti-urban (although they have indeed pitched the pastoralness of their campus in at least one commercial that i've seen). as Arch City mentioned in another thread, SLU is an institution working to ensure its future growth and success, and part of that is trying to lure suburban prospectives. in the process they've saved and renovated a good number of historic buildings, but they also have a penchant for razing buildings and land-banking (especially on prominent corners, which they then dress up with grass and fountains), as well as building some very anti-urban new construction with large setbacks and poor siting that prevents anything else from being built nearby. they are not anti-urban, but they are not necessarily operating with an urban sensibility either.

JClarke · #**322** Posted **Jan 26, 2012, 12:06 PM**

So, whats the outlook for downtown? I read that there's tons of vacant office space. Are developers looking to fill that space 1st before we start seeing some skyscrapers built? Is St.Louis studying other major cities with flourishing downtowns, hoping to follow suit? I once read something about a developer named Mcgowan(?) wanting to build a 1000 ft skyscraper, but was waiting for the economy to improve?

photoLith · #**323** Posted **Jan 26, 2012, 4:30 PM**

^
I wouldnt get your hopes up for any new major skyscrapers anytime soon for STL.

stlien · #**324** Posted **Jan 26, 2012, 5:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arch City

10 recommendations for SLU's new Law School curb appeal:

1. Clean the façade.

By "clean the facade" do you mean "remove the cladding?"

mhays · #**325** Posted **Jan 27, 2012, 9:03 PM**

The law school should think about whether the building's aesthetics and learning/teaching environment should be "ok," or be a real advantage.

I don't have a window fetish, but in this case bigger windows would make the place a lot more livable. That would obviously mean new cladding. But maybe they could do that affordably in zones only, around elevators, central common areas, the library, etc., perhaps in a column or two.

Otherwise, trees. Big ones.

The adjacent parking garage (is this what they're referring to?) might be way too much for a law school. If so, the top level might be converted into a plaza for students, with a lot of planted boxes and a pavilion or two, providing students a variety of open air and covered (or even heated) places to study.

#**326** Posted **Jan 28, 2012, 12:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

^
I wouldnt get your hopes up for any new major skyscrapers anytime soon for STL.

not soon, but there are only a couple of big buildings left to be rehabbed, and so far the residential rehabs have been filling up about as quickly as they come online. office space is another matter, but as the DT population continues to grow i think we'll see new residential construction and a related filling of office space. recently, Teach for America announced plans (financing already secured) to rehab and occupy one of DT's largest buildings, the Jefferson Arms (see earlier in this thread). now SLU law is occupying another big one. it all bodes well for DT.

Arch City · #**327** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 9:37 AM**

Jefferson Arms may become home for teachers
By Tim Bryant • November 27, 2011 12:30 am

If all goes as planned, the long-vacant Jefferson Arms will pulse with activity after a $106 million transformation that will convert it to a home for hundreds of young educators and a regional headquarters of Teach for America.

Work could begin next summer if McGowan Brothers Development meets its timetable for getting federal new markets tax credits and other public incentives as part of the financing to renovate what is among downtown's largest empty buildings. Construction would take about 18 months, said Tim McGowan, who runs the company with brothers Bill, Seamus and Sean.

"The plan for the building is pretty much to bring it back to its original form," McGowan said.
Removal of exterior panels installed in the 1950s on the two lower floors and replication of the terra cotta beneath is part of the plan, he said. McGowan Development also plans to restore the two-level lobby atrium, damaged from a leaky roof, and install a rooftop pool.

Key to the project is the agreement by Teach for America to move its St. Louis operation to the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Scott Baier, the organization's executive director in St. Louis, said Teach for America had agreed to occupy 5,000 square feet of space at the rehabbed Jefferson Arms. The agreement includes plans to later increase the space by an additional 6,000 square feet. Baier said Teach for America was outgrowing its current office at 1204 Washington Avenue.

Read more:

Arch City · #**328** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 10:11 AM**

Progress on the University of Missouri-St. Louis' KWMU media center in the Grand Center Arts and Entertainment district. This $10-million modern three-story, 27,000-square-foot building is scheduled to be completed this year.

The new facility will include work offices, a studio and a small theater for live concert and lecture broadcasts.

In addition to housing the radio station's studios, there will UMSL classroom space and meeting space for community events in the new building.

photo by pasa, flickr.com

Arch City · #**329** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 11:24 AM**

THE METROPOLITAN BUILDING is a 100,000 SF mixed-use historical redevelopment that will feature 72 apartments and work-space oriented towards the Saint Louis artist community. Currently under redevelopment, with an anticipated opening of August 2012.

On the Corner of Grand & Olive, facing Saint Louis University with over 16,000 students, faculty, and staff. This also serves as the entrance to Grand Center Arts and Entertainment District, averaging 1.3 to 1.5 million annual visitors to the many venues like Fox Theater, Powell Symphony Hall, and the Black Repertory Theater.

The Metropolitan Building, 500 N. Grand Blvd., will be similar in that it will be "affordable housing for artists," Huggett said. "This is a complete, gut-rehab," Huggett said. "It's a 100 year-old office building so every single square-inch will get touched."

Plans call for new plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems and masonry restoration on every elevation of the building. The Metropolitan will have underground parking, studio space for various artists, including a dance studio, a painting studio, a number of sound recording studios, a clay studio, an exercise room and a community space.

"There are over 500 windows in this building and we're taking advantage of every single one of them," Huggett said. "We're thrilled about that fact."

Read more: here, here and here.

photo by pasa, flickr.com

Arch City · #**330** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 12:37 PM**

The 27-story Council Tower in Midtown - including its unique exterior sculpture - are undergoing a $40-million renovation with new windows, HVAC, appliances, fixtures, carpeting etc, etc. Window A/C units are no longer and the building has a shinier glimmer with the new windows minus the a/c units. The east-facing brick facade and sculpture have been fully replaced, and the sculpture will be lit with special lighting designed by H.O.K. The building has 225 apartments for seniors.
________________________________________

Craftsmen recreate crumbling sculpture
BY TIM BRYANT •
St. Louis Post-Dispatch| Friday, January 20, 2012 12:00 am

For years, motorists streaming west on Interstate 64 watched the slow disintegration of a huge sculpture carved into the brick facade of the Council Tower in midtown St. Louis.

Bricks began falling off the east side the building in 2007. Decay of the bricks' anchors was so severe that workers later had to remove the entire facade, exposing the concrete beneath.

Now, craftsmen are nearly done with a painstaking recreation of the sculpture on the building at Interstate 64 and Forest Park Avenue west of downtown. The work is part of a $40 million renovation of the low-income senior housing facility.

Where more than 40 years ago workers used hammers and chisels, craftsmen now are employing the latest battery-powered grinders and drills to replicate the 260-foot sculpture.

Read more

goat314 · #**331** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 7:23 PM**

So many awesome projects going on in the Central Corridor of St. Louis City. It looks like we are almost done rehabbing the most prominent, big buildings. How much longer before we see some infill development? The spaces between Downtown and Midtown need to be filled.

Thanks for the cool updates Arch City.

#**332** Posted **Feb 5, 2012, 7:32 PM**

I just got chills!

"Work could begin next summer if McGowan Brothers Development meets its timetable for getting federal new markets tax credits and other public incentives..."

I thought I read somewhere that the financing had been worked out already... oh, well. hopefully everything will stay on schedule.

Arch City · #**333** Posted **Feb 6, 2012, 4:41 PM**

New blue signage markers as well as new sidewalks being installed around Grand Center.

_______________________________

From Grand Center, Inc.
News: We're Black & Blue All Over

"Another big step in the process to unify the look of the district comes this November/December. Each of the existing green street signs will be replaced with signs that incorporate our signature black and blue colors branded with the words "Grand Center." The funding for this project came through the AARA federal funds that were awarded last year which also are providing the new sidewalks along Grand Blvd."

photo by pasa, flickr.com

Arch City · #**334** Posted **Feb 6, 2012, 5:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by goat314

So many awesome projects going on in the Central Corridor of St. Louis City. It looks like we are almost done rehabbing the most prominent, big buildings. How much longer before we see some infill development? The spaces between Downtown and Midtown need to be filled.

Hopefully, new infill will start again as soon as the economy improves. There are tell-tale signs the economy is moving in the right direction. In St. Louis, where once stalled projects like the Jefferson Arms and Chemical buildings had big renovation plans prior to the recession, those buildings are now seeing new redevelopment plans.

Many once stalled projects are starting again and new ones are being planned across the country.

photoLith · #**335** Posted **Feb 6, 2012, 5:23 PM**

Wow, tons of restorations going on for DT STL. I wish the same was happening here in Houston for our downtown. There are a lot of vacant early 20th century buildings in downtown Houston and each one has had plans for restorations, but they always seem to fall through at the last second.

goat314 · #**336** Posted **Feb 6, 2012, 11:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoLith

Wow, tons of restorations going on for DT STL. I wish the same was happening here in Houston for our downtown. There are a lot of vacant early 20th century buildings in downtown Houston and each one has had plans for restorations, but they always seem to fall through at the last second.

I think what helped St. Louis is the state historic tax credits. A lot of these buildings would have been bulldozed or sitting empty if we didn't have it. St. Louis has some incredible Early 20th Century and Late 19th Century warehouses in the urban core that have made great loft and apartment converts. Sometimes I'm glad St. Louis hasn't experienced the population growth a city like Houston has, because a lot of these beautiful brick buildings would have been razed for generic glass towers. Although I must admit that St. Louis could use some glass towers on the empty lots downtown. I think St. Louis could see a mini hi-rise boom this decade when the remaining buildings downtown get rehabbed.

Arch City · #**337** Posted **Feb 7, 2012, 3:58 AM**

St. Louis tries new approach in museum expansion
Bruce Olson
Reuters
10:53 a.m. CST, February 6, 2012

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - The St. Louis Art Museum is rearranging galleries by theme rather than time period, seeking to make them more accessible to visitors as part of a $162 million expansion.

Galleries that once covered the 18th Century, for example, now focus on "The Modern Body" with nudes from different eras, or "The American Scene."

It's an approach already in use at the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum and the Cincinnati Art Museum, as more museums try to connect art to visitors' personal experience, said Robin Cembalest, executive editor of ARTnews.

"Themes like food and eating or similar approaches are a way to get into other cultures or past culture so we see the commonalities with our own daily lives," Cembalest said.

So far, 18 galleries with 275 works have been installed with three more to go at the St. Louis Art Museum, which has one of the most comprehensive collections in the U.S. Midwest.

The redesign started in November and will be completed in March. A similar thematic approach will be followed in a new building, which will be completed next year and feature art produced after 1950.

"We have created some thought-provoking juxtapositions in the museum, bringing a real coherence to the displays that should be make them more accessible," curator Simon Kelly said.

"People are happy with the new way," Kelly said. "This is a work in progress and we will continue this approach throughout the new building."

One gallery in the original building is now devoted entirely to the works of German artist Max Beckmann. With 430 paintings, prints and drawings, the St. Louis Art Museum claims the largest Beckmann collection in the world.

Source: Chicago Tribune

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Below are images of progress the St. Louis Art Museum is making.

This rendering shows the new expansion in the rear of original museum. The new expansion essentially wraps around the original Gilbert Cass structure.

Arch City · #**338** Posted **Feb 13, 2012, 7:45 AM**

Another rehab for Downtown West.

_____________________________

Locust Street building to get a redo
BY TIM BRYANT | Posted: Thursday, May 5, 2011 4:31 pm
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

2200 Locust, West Downtown St. Louis

The five-story building at 2200 Locust Street is about to get a makeover.

Paramount Property Development, the new owner, plans to restore the building's 1916 street view by taking down the panels that block the ground-floor windows. It's part of the project to return the building to a mixture of retail and office tenants.

Realty Exchange Commercial Group handled the purchase for Paramount Property and will market the building, which is just west of the Schlafly Tap Room near the western edge of downtown St. Louis. For now, the building is only 40 percent occupied.

Perfume maker Lacassian Laboratories was the building's first occupant. National Chair and Furniture Co. was in the building for three decades. City records show that DeWoskin Properties Corp. owned the building before Paramount Property.

Building Information

#**339** Posted **Feb 14, 2012, 2:39 AM**

is this rehab finished? in progress? the article is from May of last year... and the "building information" link advertises $0/month. just wondering if you know.

Arch City · #**340** Posted **Feb 18, 2012, 12:06 AM**

Recent articles about the National Blues Museum.

Chicago Tribune: Blues museum planned for St. Louis riverfront

Toronto Sun: St. Louis riverfront getting a bit more blue

The Huffington Post: First National Blues Museum Set To Open In St. Louis

Sound Spike: National Blues Museum takes shape in St. Louis