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Sunday, August 24, 2008

A truly urban plan for Lafayette Square

What happens when an industrial site implodes in a city's poshest neighborhood, sending fiery flotsam into the helpless 'hood?

They kick it out of their neighborhood entirely! Sorry, Praxair (well, and a couple city jobs, but that's all right...).

Then, Lafayette Square laid out a plan to determine the type of development they wanted for their neighborhood--one which accounted for the land freed up by Praxair's departure.

You may view it HERE.

And I would recommend it.

It includes:

1. Extending (re-extending?) LaSalle Street through the former Praxair site and turning it into a secondary business district for the neighborhood.

2. Bring two to four story mixed use buildings to face Chouteau.

3. A specific reference that big box development and suburban style apartments are not allowed.

4. That the pedestrian should come first!

There's a lot more to it...but just those four are amazing!

Please check it out to see a real, urban neighborhood plan.

4 comments:

Brian said...

Thanks for posting this - looks like a great plan.

I wish they would have stuck to the original plan for the area at 18th and Chouteau near the Gast House - Can't say I'm a big fan of the huge parking lot that's there now.

Matt M. said...

Very true.

Plans should be adhered to when they're good ones. We need to underscore that.

Michael R. Allen said...

That parking lot at the Gast House is terrible. The Lafayette Square Restoration Committee hounds homeowners wanting to install aluminum windows and privacy fences, but it let that lot -- which obliterates the historic character of that end of Lafayette Square -- slip by?

Matt M. said...

Exactly.

I used to live on the corner of Dolman and that 18th St. Loop they created.

What a way to make the Eden Lofts less attractive and less connected to the Square. For that matter, what a way to attempt to absorb Chouteau itself more into the square proper!

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