Have St. Louis County's western reaches warmed to transit? 11:52 AM

See the St. Louis Beacon's article: "West County talks to Metro about contracting for bus service".

The title says it all.

Might this spur a re-vote sometime in the near future to actually fund transit in the St. Louis region?

The Map Room: Benton Park 9:14 PM

I had such a wonderful time in St. Louis last weekend. Post San Luis Love-In, I was already pumped about the future of St. Louis as a place where people care and feel connected to the wider city.

Then I visited the Map Room in the Benton Park neighborhood. It's located at 1901 Withnell (at Lemp)--just a block or so south of the famous Gus' Pretzels and the Benton Park Cafe.

From Map Room

This is the front of the building. Note the 1960s remuddling to the storefront, which probably once featured amply open windows rather than these small, boxy ones. Actually, though, I think it gives the storefront more character and distinction. I'm happy the owner decided to keep them.

Hands down, this is my favorite coffee shop in the city, and perhaps my favorite local/independent business period.

The furniture is delightfully mismatched, yet cozy and cohesive. Yes, maps adorn the room in varying fashions (a St. Louis City map rests on the counter when you order). There's an outdoor patio that is bound to be popular in better weather. There's even a bubble machine outside.

I met the owner, Michele Floyd, who told me that the bubble machine represents a sort of reverse-broken windows theory.

She says, "Who would want to sell drugs when you've got bubbles blowing all around you?"

She plans to program the space seasonally to raise awareness about other cultures. The Map Room will rotate music and art depending on the culture being spotlighted. Poetry readings and live music may be in the future as well.

There's a large menu of both coffee and liquor (and some combinations of the two). If you're looking for food, you may have to try elsewhere in Benton Park--unless, of course, you're planning a picnic in Benton or Cherokee Park (across the street), since the Map Room prepares Picnic Baskets with various meats and cheeses.

The space is beautiful, inviting, and totally unique to St. Louis. This type of business is what will attract creative people looking for urban living amenities to St. Louis.

Please stop by the Map Room as soon and as often as possible for what is bound to be a Benton Park classic for years to come.

From Map Room

An interior shot. Sorry for the blurriness.


Trust me: this place does not stink!

From Map Room

San Luis Love-In was a big success! Also, my conversation with the Archdiocese. 11:11 AM

By now, you've heard the numbers (over 75 attendees!), seen the pictures, and read a bit of reflections on this past weekend's (specifically, this Valentine's Day's) Love-In for the threatened San Luis Apartments on Lindell.

What a wonderful event. It was excellent to finally meet some of the finest of the St. Louis blogosphere as well as non-blogging urbanists and preservationists.

For those that missed it:

I arrived around 11:30 a.m. at the northeast corner of Taylor and Lindell. It was chilly then, but I figured the sun would eventually rear its head and cast light on the wacky, stark white, compound-fracture pillars of the San Luis. It never did.

Still, the event could be described as nothing if not sunny, warm, and upbeat. Smiles abounded as "positive" signs declared this was no protest, but, indeed, a Love-In.

"I Love this Building!" (Replete with an arrow pointing towards it).

"I Love this Building More Than a Lot!" (Get it?)

"San Luis - You're sooo dreamy!"

There was even a homemade sign for Friends of the San Luis that looked alarmingly professional. The event was capped off by a reading of two statements of support by some groups that (I have a growing suspicion) do not even exist: the Great Rivers Blacktop Alliance and the North American Human Building Love Alliance. See the video here. Jeff Vines' love poem to the San Luis was a coupleted-classic, bound to be included in any future volume of preservationist poetry. The Post-Dispatch even quoted Vines' melodic recitation in one of its two (!) articles:

"If you're too lazy to walk, then move out to Wentzville, and keep your hands off of our Hotel Deville.

This building is cool — we won't let it fall. She's our Cinderella, and she'll be at the ball!"

The cops showed up--five officers, by my count--to usher us off the diminutive San Luis lawn--but not before the group present was able to hug the building to express our love! (Again, see the photos).

As far as counter protest, there was bound to be some. Overall, though, by my observation, most curious motorists and pedestrian passers-by found it ridiculous that the building would be wrecked for a surface parking lot--in the Central West End. Still, Lindell Terrace--itself a modern work of architecture not univerally loved--allowed for a balconied bullying of the lovers down below. "Tear it Down. San Luis = Eyesore", they, a group of four or so, wrote (and yelled).

But it was no matter on the street level. Despite the fact that the peaceful group was supervised by several police offers for a good duration of the time; despite a chill that seemed only to worsen into the later afternoon; despite the aforementioned sunlessness that cast an icy gloominess over an otherwise heatedly romantic event; and despite the high rise low blows from the counter-protest; the spirit of love could not be conquered. This was an event that changed St. Louis.

That sounds a bit hyperbolic--but a lot of residents came out to support a building that much of the general public is either indifferent towards or is openly spiteful of. Most Love-In attendees were not residents of the Central West End; those that were lived blocks away. This Love-In was a statement of a wider vision for the City of St. Louis, one where institutions and developers see that any action of the built environment should include its citizens, who are also its stewards and admirers. We are stakeholders, no matter where in the city we live, and we deserve a voice in proclaiming the direction of our city's future. That was clear.

In fact, I was able to speak to a communications director of the Archdiocese of St. Louis on this very topic(I am working on getting a name), to whom I foolishly tried handing a flier advertising the intended fate of the San Luis Apartments. She then flashed me her badge as a sign of disapproval.

But, as I was about to walk away, I yelled back "So, you want a parking lot on that site?"

She approached me and we began speaking. We probably spoke for over 20 minutes in all.

Some of her points: she's a preservationist at heart, too, but doesn't think the building is reworkable. She described the "bones of the building" as rotting. She says the Archdiocese has contacted numerous architects and developers about purchasing and renovating the building. She says all of them have presented much too costly a redevelopment scenario. The Archdiocese would rather have the "unworkable", "dreary" building torn down for a surface parking lot that will be "green". She remarked that the noparkinglotonlindell.com site's rendering was unfair, because the surface lot would not look so desolate. There will be two rows of trees. She claimed that this would help to create a campus.

She says the parking is sorely needed and the lack of it has forced Rosati-Kain to consider moving more than once. Their girls, she said, are forced to park five or more blocks away and walk to school.

Don't worry: I had responses to all of these points.

Regarding the cost of redevelopment, I told her that the building is National Register eligible and is already in a local historic district. This would allow it a 45 percent investment tax credit. Already down the street, the Bel-Air is being converted into the Hotel Indigo using such credits--and it's a mid-century modern, too.

Regarding the green-ness of the proposed surface lot, I told her this: I liked the idea of anything new being constructed or deconstructed to be done in a green manner. However, this surface lot was inherently un-green; the massive San Luis would be reduced to rubble bound for a landfill. Re-use is green, I told her. Plus, planting trees should be the minimum requirement, not the maximum amenity, of any new development.

Regarding the aesthetics of the parking lot, I told her that trees fronting Lindell simply weren't enough. Urbanists and preservationists would like to see this building, which has the perfect massing, scale, and architectural bravado for its context of Lindell Boulevard, be appreciated by future generations and would like the "walking urbanism" that a renovated San Luis would encourage. The new lot would once again, as it way too often the case in St. Louis history, reward motorists with convenient parking opportunities and would erode the life that should be taking place on the sidewalk, having spilled out from impressive buildings like the San Luis.

She asked me what my solution would be, then, if the Archdiocese were forced to keep the building up (which I reminded her, presently has more parking spaces built in to it than the proposed surface lot will have!) and the parking problems persisted. I told her that my concern as a planner with regard to parking convenience is for the elderly and disabled, primarily. These groups do demand and should get convenient and safe access to the Cathedral. However, the Euclid-Lindell garage is rarely at capacity (only on weekends is it full), and a parking-sharing program with a shuttle for the elderly/disabled would be the perfect solution. Surprisingly, she did not counter this--not even to say that it was presumptuous for me to assume the Archdiocese should provide its own shuttle.

She then seemed worried that the "protestors" at the Love-In were being antagonistic toward the Archdiocese. One attendee donned religious garb that she interpreted as ill-placed mockery and mean-spiritedness. She recognized that there were three camps of people in this debate: the first wanted to save the building at all costs; the second wanted to merely ensure urbanism for the corner of Lindell and Taylor (in other words, the anti-surface lot contingent); and the third was a group that just opposed the Catholic Church for the hell of it. I informed her that the group present was solidly in the first two camps. St. Louisans were used to being excluded from planning processes that only ended up harming the quality of life and vitality of their city, I said. Any sort of negativity could only be attributed to a citizenry that is fed up with ignorance, secrecy, bait-and-switch moves, patronization, deceit, and generally poor end product in planning and politics.

I also told her how important it is that we not damage the historic streetscape of Lindell and reduce its context as a boulevard of St. Louis's greatest architectural showcase. We flipped around and looked at all of the building eras represented: the ruddy Romanesque mansion across the street, probably from the 1890s; the swanky 1910s and 1920s Neoclassical mid-rise apartment buildings; the Cathedral itself; the Art Deco Chase Park Plaza complex; the San Luis and Lindell Terrace Buildings; 1980s Condos; 4545 Lindell's contemporary design, etc. A surface lot can simply not honor this tradition, and San Luis is arguably the best representative of the boldness of late 1950s/early 1960s modernism on the whole stretch. We should look to the irony of buildings like the San Luis, constructed during a mindset of a rigid belief in linear forward progress, and see that progress is still our goal but our path is different. Demolition should be totally off the table.

We had a very calm and cordial interaction despite our vastly differing views regarding the fate of the San Luis. I have a feeling that the Archdiocese may sit down with the group and have a more open discussion regarding urbanistic and preservation concerns if we continue to keep this bridge open. I will try to contact her again. I thank her for hearing my points and hope that she will consider some of my comments and suggestions.

After our conservation, I regrouped with the brave 20 or so who fought an unrelenting chill. Most of us walked down to Companions Bakery (because there is simply NO parking in the CWE ;) ), hoping for some warm soup and the ability to again feel our toes as we walk. Wait--having been one of two people there that left New Orleans when it was 70 degrees--perhaps these complaints are unique to me.

Regardless, the Love-In was a momentous event for St. Louis preservation, urbanism, development, and politics. I know everyone that participated enjoyed and will return to further this cause, since it is far from over. Please stay in touch with the group at the No Parking Lot on Lindell! website.

I will be posting my own photographs soon. And I haven't even gotten to the rest of what turned out to be a wonderful weekend in St. Louis. My review of new local/independent businesses is next!

Preservation/Urbanism Updates 11:59 AM

First and foremost is Saturday's Valentine's Day Love-In for the threatened San Luis Apartments/DeVille Motor Hotel. The event is very important for the future of St. Louis historic preservation, sound planning, general citizen activism, and for modern architecture. A prolonged clash between an institution that has had unchecked power to alter the built environment (see, St. Aloysius in the Hill) and doesn't contribute to the property tax rolls, one the one hand, and the empowered citizens of St. Louis, on the other, will work in favor of the latter group.

For more information, see the No Parking Lot on Lindell! blog, put together by the Friends of the San Luis.

Secondly, an Urban STL forumer has posted the link to yet another attempt to cap the country's most generous historic preservation tax credit--a development incentive that has simply smashed all expectations, spurred thousands development and restorations across the state, and that has created jobs and more money than was invested in the process.

Please, heed the advice at the bottom of the thread and contact every relevant public official, from your alderman and Missouri House rep on up to the Governor!

In the meantime, I am working on getting out of New Orleans for the weekend to come up to St. Louis for the Love-In! Hopefully, I will see you all there.

New Orleans' ongoing Master Planning process may recommend decommissioning its main interstate, I-10. 12:18 PM

This Times-Picayune article sums up some of the Master Plan's visions and goals. Here is a snippet on transportation:

Encouraging rapid-transit bus routes to eastern New Orleans, the West Bank and other underserved areas, adding hundreds of miles of bike routes and supporting efforts to replace the limited-access expressway that cuts through the heart of the city with a normal street or boulevard. Interstate 10 traffic traveling through the city would use I-610. Dixon said eliminating the expressway would provide a disincentive to living in the suburbs and emphasize that preserving the city's neighborhoods is more important than shorter commute times.

View Larger Map

Essentially, the entire Interstate 10 Loop would be demolished, reconnecting long cut-off neighborhoods.


Can you imagine St. Louis outlining such a goal in a Master Plan? Or even participating in a Master Plan process to begin with? Or voting to give that Master Plan the force of law (which voters did in November of 2008 in Orleans Parish)?


Interstate 55 in St. Louis could be rebuilt as an at-grade boulevard, with three driving lanes on each side, and a central median for the North-South Metro expansion. The leftover former right-of-way could be given over to Transit Oriented Development and to reconnect the portions of South St. Louis bisected by the insensitive, meandering course of I-55.


St. Louisans should start imagining more often.

Mayor Slay Comments on Blairmont! New mixed-use community? 5:45 PM

On developer Paul McKee’s Blairmont project, which is buying up hundreds of properties in north St. Louis with plans to build a new mixed-use community: Slay said he supports the effort, but that McKee would have to go through the same city approval process as anyone else. He welcomed McKee’s private investment and big plans. “What Paul McKee is doing is he’s putting his own money in, completely at risk. … He’s buying up properties that, in the vast majority of cases, no one else wanted. This is a real opportunity for an area that has been starving for private investment for a long, long time.”

Source.

Notes:

A new mixed-use community? Does the Post-Dispatch know something the public doesn't? Sure there's been speculation of a "Winghaven East," but with the downturn in the economy, I thought everyone was now expecting a huge industrial park a la Northpark.

And Mayor Slay: how hypocritical! You talk of your progress in getting problem property owners prosecuted (see Toby Weiss's commentary on those dubious claims), yet you're supportive of a (still secretive) development that has skirted almost all nuisance ordinances on the books! Yikes. Residents of St. Louis deserve some dialog in these "big" projects.

At least we know exactly where Mayor Slay stands now. Should help me (and others) in the voting process come March 3, 2009.

Kudos to the Post-Dispatch for making Slay speak on Blairmont!

EDIT: Might I add that the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit renders the statement that McKee's finances are "completely at risk" a little ridiculous.

Southampton (SoHa) chugs along despite the economy. 12:13 PM

I love pouring through neighborhood newsletters. They're the perfect way to find out the news that's too small-scale to make it to the Post-Dispatch, or even to many local blogs, yet also the news that's important to that specific neighborhood.

The January 2009 Southampton Neighborhood News contains this piece on a couple new businesses opening (opened?) in the growing Macklind Business District:

We’re pleased to announce that two new businesses are opening along Macklind Avenue. This time in the building across from Tom Bess Automotive. Be sure to stop in to welcome them to the neighborhood when you walk by.

After working in commercial photography for the May Company, Joe Nuelle is opening his own studio, Nuelle Photography at 4917 Macklind. Asked why he chose Macklind Avenue, Joe says, “I live in the neighborhood and can see how that strip is growing. It’s great to see all of the neighborhood support of the independent businesses and I hope to be a part of that. I love to see successful businesses that are not chain franchises.” Keep Joe in mind when you need family photos, a nice picture of your home or publicity photos.

Legal advice and assistance is now only a walk away. Southampton resident Peter Van Leunen and his law partner James Eason are opening Eason & Van Leunen, LLC, a general practice law firm at 4915 Macklind. Peter explains that they will handle civil and criminal matters. Both look forward to providing the community with excellent legal services. Please contact them at 481-4646 if you are in need of their services.

Also opening on Macklind Avenue with offices, classroom and performance space in the
Southampton Presbyterian Church is the Academy and Performing Arts Center slated to open the last week of January. Please see the accompanying article on page three. Registration for classes is now open.

Two observations: I am always happy to hear someone speak directly to the issue of supporting local and independent businesses; and it's also great to see a neighborhood promote walking so much! [see the bolded sections]