3801 Hampton Avenue - In Danger of Suburbanization

Man, I recently got a slap in the face when I went to get some Christmas shopping done at a place I have a long history with: FYE at 3801 Hampton Avenue just north of Chippewa in the Lindenwood Park Neighborhood.

As I was entering, there was a posting on the front door urging people who don't want a fast food joint to buy out this store, demo the building and put up a typical suburban drive thru to contact the city leaders and FYE's corporate HQ:

I failed to publish this before the Jan 5th deadline...sorry.

Now I've got nothing against chains, really. They can fit quite nicely into a city's urban fabric. Check Chicago as an example. I was taken aback by how much chain stuff exists in that city. It gets harder and harder to find a decent, locally owned place to eat in downtown Chicago. The chains are taking over, yet they are forced to fit into those beautiful Chicago buildings because they are mixed-use buildings, the floors above ground level in Chicago are usually residential or office. Here it is easy to mow down a single story single-use building and build new...in this case drive thru garbage.

No doubt, Hampton Avenue is a car-centric thoroughfare. But, the mid-century buildings that still had somewhat of an urban feel are going the way of the dodo and being replaced with the modern suburban model. Bradburn School supply was recently mowed down for another QT just up Hampton near Elizabeth Avenue.

So what is this fast food joint that wants the property on Hampton? In this case Chic-fil-A is on the prowl.

Why do I care, Hampton is a lost soul you might say. It is the Big Bend of the city.  Well, the problem is, this is not a higher use proposal. It'll be a setback for Hampton as a city street. It turns it more toward the suburban auto-centric boring generic, American crap.

I have no beef with Chic-fil-A in particular. I've never even been there. This would be the first Chic-fil-A in St. Louis. The current locations are all in the suburbs in this regional market. A Chic-fil-A would likely generate more tax dollars than FYE. It may even generate more jobs.

But, it will not make a place. A place that can bring people together. A place-making place. Believe it or not, but FYE is a place where people who love comic books, weird movies, off the beaten path music, anime and other things can converge. It is a place to get a job if you want to talk about non-mainstream things. It is kind of like a Hot Topix for the city.

And, there's a personal connection. When I first graduated college in the mid-1990's and moved to St. Louis after landing a job in my scientific field, I needed supplemental income. I was living in Dutchtown and searched the yellow pages for music stores to work part time. I went into (then) Blockbuster Music and got a job shortly thereafter.

This was a great job because I could judge other people's music choices, a sport/art I was obsessed with back then. It was easy because Blockbuster's business model at the time was a "listening station" where you could bring up any CD in the store and the employee would pop it in and you'd put headphones on and rock out. It was my job to open the disc they brought up without breaking the CD seal or packaging and insert the disc in the player, let them listen, and return the disc to it's container and resort it if they didn't buy it or package it back up for the customer if they wanted it.

If the customer brought an Ace of Base CD up, I could work my disapproving eye rolls (without getting caught).

If they brought up a Pavement CD, we were (you can goddamn count on it) going to have a long conversation.

Sounds cheezy and 90's for sure, but it was fun because I felt like a bartender for music fans. Soccer moms, hard core music fans, burn outs, kids...it was great and hilarious. I liked the job.

Then, the employees took turns on shifts where you were given the keys to the in-store sound system. I looked forward to my nights. I could finally show these guys how cool I thought I was.

One night formed a memory/experience that I'll take to the grave. Now remember, this was pre-Internet, so you didn't have every song in the world available in a click. You didn't have an algorithm making constant recommendations based on what you listen to. You had to tune in and turn on the hard way, by listening and reading and hanging out in the right places. Or you could have one of the most personal human gifts: the heartfelt recommendation from a friend. This is gold to a real music fan. If someone takes the time and effort to make a personal recommendation, it is a very intimate thing. I miss that about the pre-Internet music days.

It was my night to spin the hits. I went to pick out a Superchunk CD to let these drum machine mf'ers hear a real band. I picked a release I didn't own, No Pocky For Kitty. The album cover is burned into my memory banks.

Superchunk, if you don't already know, is a straight ahead, hard driving rock band. The singer/guitarist and bassist later founded Merge Records. They are an important American band to people who loved guitar rock/punk/indie.

They are consistent, meaning almost all records sound similar. They forged their own distinctive loud guitar sound, and they stick with it.  You know what to expect.

When I popped in the disc, it was weird. Like nothing I'd ever heard. It was challenging, weird, 1960's psychedelic, 1990's lo-fi, British-sounding? Maybe they had another band lineup in their early days that I was not aware of.

I was perplexed. So was the store manager who came down from the catbird box. It was literally an office up high that could look over the entire store floor.

He came down from the box, asked what the hell I put in. I said Superchunk. He walked back silent, slightly disapproving. A couple tracks later he came back and asked me to take it out.

I obeyed with no thought about it. Put the CD back in the jewel box and re-filed it.

I told my girlfriend/now wife about it, and how that sound stuck out. Man, the band must have taken a turn early in their career. I couldn't shake the sound, so I went onto CD Now and bought Superchunk's No Pocky For Kitty online.

When I got it in the mail. I invited my wife over, appropriately set the scene for listening to music, popped it in the stereo and said "listen to this".

Track one comes on...and it's typical Superchunk. Crunchy guitars, driving drums and bass and Mac's sweet voice. I was shocked. Sure it sounded great, but it was textbook Superchunk, I fast forwarded again and again. What happened, this wasn't the weird thing I'd experienced at Blockbuster Music.

I forgot about it and months passed, I quit the job at Blockbuster. But, the memory of that night and the sound of that record was still lingering. I decided to go back to Blockbuster and find No Pocky For Kitty. I grabbed it and went to the listening station and asked the guy to play it. There it was again. That weird ass sound.

An employee at the listening station mistakenly placed the wrong CD in the Superchunk box. I asked for the CD, looked at it: Scat Records, Guided By Voices "Bee Thousand".

I went to the G section and no Guided By Voices. So, I guess I was going to buy the Superchunk case with the Guided By Voices CD in it.

This GBV album was like nothing I'd ever heard. None of my friends new this band. It was completely new and fresh. I listened to it over and over. I recommended it to whoever would listen. I had a new favorite band...they were from Dayton, OH where another favorite of mine at the time were from (the Breeders). I love Midwestern rock bands.

This was how I discovered GBV and I've since bought hundreds of their songs, gone to several shows, etc etc etc. They are a lifelong favorite ever since I crossed paths with that weird mistake. To a music nerd, these stories are like gold.

The memory comes to mind every time I pass 3801 Hampton.

The probability of someone having a meaningful life experience working at Chic-fil-A are close to nil.

The soul will be gone.

According to my boss at Blockbuster, the building used to be a Peaches and a grocery store before that.

The building has history, per city records it was built in 1954. It has an urban form. It abuts the sidewalk along Hampton.

Here's a nice photo from beltstl.com as well as confirmation that it was a grocery and Peaches:

photo credit: Toby Weiss "The Built Environment in Layman's Terms"

Peaches must have been a 1970's dream, I've seen the crates all over town in antique shops and at yard sales. 

Here's the only photo I could find of the Hampton location; that is Mama's Pride doing a promotional event:

(photo source)

The Pinterest poster claims the event was in a St. Louis Peaches, but I have doubts unless the interiors of all Peaches were identical.  There are some great videos of the Ballwin, Missouri Sound Warehouse/Peaches location the day it closed on June 29th, 1986. The interior looks exactly like the Ballwin store. I will keep searching for the truth.

Note on the first video, Rocks Off by the Rolling Stones is playing in the store (followed by Rip This Joint). That's what I'm talkin' about. I cherish every second of these videos, thanks for sharing YouTube user styxreo:

 Per a recent Riverfront Times article:

The building, which sits at 3801 Hampton Avenue, has a long and storied history — for the most part, as a purveyor of music. The space was constructed in 1954 as a National grocery store. In 1976 the record store Peaches opened in the spot, selling mostly vinyl throughout the '80s. Then it was known as Sound Warehouse and, later, Blockbuster Music in the '90s. In 1998 it became Warehouse Music, which was purchased by Trans World in October of 2003. Trans World kept the existing name for three years before rebranding to F.Y.E. in 2006. (source)

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the proposed buy out of FYE in November, 2016:

Chick-fil-A has under contract the F.Y.E. store at 3801 Hampton Avenue in St. Louis and plans to replace it next year with one of its fast-food outlets. 

A manager at the F.Y.E. store said Wednesday he was unaware of the Chick-fil-A project. 

HR Green is handling the project's engineering and "running point" on getting a conditional use permit for the Chick-fil-A at the site, Vavrina said. The Atlanta-based fastfood chain plans to have one of its customary general contractors build the Hampton Avenue outpost, he said. (source)

Read: a suburban American crap shack eyesore.

This is not a higher use.

If you are like me and want to rage against the suburban machine, contact the following and make yourself heard:

Ward 23 Alderman Joseph Vaccaro:

Email Joseph Vaccaro 

Phone: (314) 622-3287 

Fax: (314) 622-4273

Or FYE's corporate offices at:

Transworld Entertainment

38 Corporate Circle

Albany, NY 12203

1-800-540-1242

Now it's time to Motor Away!

Cole Chemical Building - 3721 Laclede Avenue in the Midtown Neighborhood

The following is an example of how a building can pique one's curiosity and desire to learn about your surroundings and place in history. Conservation and preservation of places and buildings is such a valuable asset toward historical understanding and providing context within a city.

I was having lunch across the street from a building that caught my eye. There was a blue placard affixed to the building with a cool font that said "Cole's"; I had to cross the street to get some photos and take a closer look.

The building is on St. Louis University's main campus at 3721 Laclede Avenue in the Midtown Neighborhood. It is currently in use as an administrative building called Beracha Hall.

The building is sleek, you can tell it was designed to be special with modern touches from the Art Deco era (c1908-1935) with curving brick and concrete. And since the building was beautifully restored and major investments have been made to the interior, we all get to appreciate it for years to come as it has found a place on the SLU campus. The two story blonde brick building sits just west of the beautiful and brand new Spring Hall student housing tower.

You can see the building is wrapped in blue neon lighting. I have yet to visit after dark to see if it is illuminated.

Further inspection of the building's exterior proudly state the year it was founded and who designed it.

 perfect art deco font

founded in 1918

This is a testament to St. Louis' largest and oldest university doing the right thing and making the right investments to make them a community asset.

Hopefully SLU keeps this in mind as they are given carte blanche to develop massive swaths of land on nearly 400 acres on the south medical campus. Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The Board of Aldermen on Friday passed a bill granting St. Louis University broad authority to control what is built on nearly 400 acres in midtown and surrounding neighborhoods. 

The university envisions building new academic and medical buildings to go along with private investment near its medical center and north campus. 

Friday’s 17-4 vote, with one member voting “present,” formally declares the area as blighted and allows SLU to form what is known as a Chapter 353 redevelopment corporation.

It gives the university control over the zoning and tax incentives that will determine what is built in the area. (source)

This kind of smart investment seen right here on Laclede Avenue builds goodwill, respects our history and makes SLU more part of the neighborhoods they are in versus a fenced off entity apart from our neighborhoods.

I've had a sinking feeling that SLU would seek to close more city streets that run through their campus. This would effectively hide these buildings from the public. People like me that love to explore every nook and cranny of the city will be blocked. We need to fight street closures in nearly all cases. I'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

But the investment and reuse in this building is amazing. The interior of Beracha Hall is brightly lit, modern and totally functional.

Per the Beracha Hall Facebook page:

If Laclede Avenue was closed, I likely wouldn't have been eating a sandwich on that street, I wouldn't have spotted the Cole's logo on the building. And, I would have remained ignorant of Hugo Graf's impact on St. Louis.

When I saw the Hugo K. Graf signature on the front exterior, the name sounded familiar. I searched this site and found out why, I'd crossed paths with Hugo Graf's other works while researching the St. Louis Public Libraries and schools. W.T. Trueblood and Hugo K. Graf Architectural Firm designed the Carpenter Branch on South Grand in the Tower Grove South Neighborhood.

Click around a little on the web and you find that Graf was also responsible for the Carter Carburetor office building (now the Grand Center Arts Academy) in the Covenant Blu/Grand Center Neighborhood. In fact he did all kinds of work around Missouri.

This guy is another fantastic architect who left behind some amazing work.  Born in St. Louis, he moved to the burbs in a house he designed in Webster Groves, MO. Per the State Historical Society of Missouri:

Hugo K. Graf was born in St. Louis on 17 January 1888 and died in 1953. He designed several significant buildings in St. Louis and the surrounding metropolitan area, including the Carpenter Branch Library and parts of the Barnes Hospital complex. In the 1920s he partnered with William T. Trueblood in the architectural firm Trueblood and Graf. He went into independent practice in 1934 following the dissolution of the partnership.

I will be planning a trip to the University of Missouri - St. Louis campus to see first hand the collection on Graf:

This collection contains papers, photographs, and images from the Architect Hugo K. Graf and the architectural firm “Kramer and Harms.” The Hugo Graf photos are generally of completed businesses and residences. The images are generally drawings of buildings, residences, and one drawing of a streamlined automobile from Lawncraft Incorporated. Also included are a copy of the “Missouri Ordnance News” that includes information wartime activities in Louisiana Missouri and several issues of the “Architectural Concrete” journal. The earliest document in this collection is a Graf paper that dates from 1924. The collection contains papers and photographs from Kramer and Harms. Gerhardt Kramer, who had worked for Graf, started this firm with Joe Harms following Graf's death. (source) 

Per the Missouri History Museum:

The Hugo K. Graf Albums are photographic portfolios of the work of St. Louis architect Hugo K. Graf. The first album contains 18 captioned interior and exterior views of the buildings and campus of Central Methodist College in Fayetteville, MO. The second album contains 27 photographs of Graf's work in St. Louis, including the Rand-Johnson (surgical) wing of Barnes Hospital; Cole Chemical Company, the Carter Carburetor building or Pythian Building, a factory of Jackies-Evans Manufacturing, the headquarters building for the 7-Up company and interiors, the Forest Oldsmobile-Cadillac dealership, the Peck and Peck clothing store and miscellaneous interiors; and photographs of renderings of a factory for Majestic Manufacturing, IBM, and a grocery warehouse. The collection also includes an original pencil design rendering for the 1940 addition to Missouri Portland Cement Company. (source)

That will be fun, can't wait to check it out. I'll do a proper post on Graf for this blog because I can't find a good photo of him on the web and I have much to learn. Stay tuned.

Then there was also the mystery of Cole's. What'd they make? Well, living in the information age is a real treat. A few clicks and I was piecing it all together.

Cole's was the trademark of Cole Chemical Company of St. Louis per a trademark renewal application with the U.S. federal trademark department. The product line in the application listed their line of pharmaceuticals including analgesics, anesthetics, antispasmodic preparations, cardiovascular agents, diagnostic aids, diuretics, hormones, laxatives, narcotics, vitamins, alteratives, antacids, antirheumatics, antiarthritics, coating agents, digestants, disinfectants, metabolics (source)

You know, just a little bit of this and that. They had great ads:

Again, the point of this post is to consolidate some information on Cole Chemical Building but to also hammer home the point that without preservation of this building, I'd be ignorant of the past significance of this part of my favorite Midwestern city.

Now that SLU has invested in the building's future, they have a cooler looking campus...a historic looking campus...and I now know more about Cole Chemical Company and will be making trips to UMSL to visit the Hugo Graf portfolio archives and Poplar Bluff, MO to visit this theater that Graf designed. 

Photo Source: Cinema Treasures

The more SLU and other massive land owners in the city respect our built environment, the better we'll all be.

The Cole Chemical Building/Beracha Hall look great. 

Laclede Avenue between Grand and Vandeventer are the kinds of development and investment we need on the medical campus.

Happy New Year And Thanks For Reading

I just wanted to check in and give thanks to folks who've followed this blog or who've stumbled upon it over the years. I have been at this website for over eight years and I had a blog called South St. Louis City Talk before that, so I've held this as a hobby for almost 25% of my life.

I never expected anyone to read this, but once I figured out that people do, I had to change my writing style to be responsible and not just shooting my mouth off like I can do in person with friends/acquaintances.

I surpassed 1M page loads in 2016 and I told my wife I would hang it up after that. I've made (multiple Busch-induced) claims like that before, but something personal tells me to keep going. I just enjoy it too much to quit. And it still doesn't feel like work...it remains a hobby I visit when I want to and no regrets or anxiety when I don't.

I firmly believe in setting free the things you love before they become stale. But that's not been the case here.  I've received largely personal goodwill from this endeavor. I've connected with people researching their pasts or looking for a place to build their future. I've met librarians, firemen, academics, bloggers, city employees, teachers, politicians, researchers and most of all, my fellow St. Louis citizens through this endeavor.

This website keeps me feeling positive. It is something I feel like I can control; or, a narrative I can create for myself to keep my chin up and to share with others free of charge.

The more cynical I become or the more I learn that disgusts me or disappoints me about St. Louis tend to feel like distractions when I fight it with positivity and stay focused on the potential of the future.

My professional training is biology and laboratory research and my job has morphed into scientific writing in the recent past. While I love agriculture, science, ecology, data and statistics and explaining it to experts around the world, it is rather clinical and, well, data based. There's little room for creativity and opinions in scientific writing, and this blog frees my mind to write in a more subjective manor with a slant toward bias: my love of St. Louis.

As it turns out, I need this outlet to stay intellectually stimulated when thinking about where I live and justifying my life decisions.

Further, I have learned so much from other local bloggers both before me and current including (but not limited to) Steve Patterson on Urban Review STL, Michael Allen in the days of Ecology of Absence, the Park Picnic Project folks, Chris Naffzinger at St. Louis Patina (and STL Magazine contributor), Paul Hohmann's Vanishing STL and Alex Ihnen's excellent coverage and commentary at NextSTL.

Hell, I bought a 49cc scooter because of Steve Patterson, before I even met him. He inspired me to watch traffic patterns and be aware of design of streets and city infrastructure. I bought a nice camera because I wanted to take pictures like Built St. Louis. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You wanna tell me Badfinger doesn't rock?

These were the people writing about the stuff that I wanted to read. They filled the niche that the mainstream media didn't cover on TV, radio or in print. I've learned so much from them. They've inspired me in their writing, lectures, tours and overall integrity-laden support of St. Louis.

If you are a music fan, you've heard the story of how not many people bought Velvet Underground records, but those that did started bands. I wanted to see if I could do it too.

And it has been nothing but fun. I've kept it a hobby. I try not to be too political or negative. I try to keep a cup half full (not empty) next to the laptop and camera when I write and share photos.

And, one of the things that makes me so proud is there is a growing community of people much younger than I that GET IT. They get urbanism. They get the real definition of St. Louis as a city and not a region. They understand the politics and are trying to come up to speed with the history and local context. They are critical and skeptical. They have tools I've not yet developed. They are connected.

And they are thoroughly inspiring to me...my hope.

Some of these young people are starting to get serious and run for offices and work within the system for change. The old guard and racist/protectionist ways from both black and white people in St. Louis will get challenged.

I feel this next generation sees St. Louis is a different light. They see race, ethnicity, urban living and class in a different light than my suburban 1980's ways. They are the light that I want to follow into the future where we finally see a gain in population in this city.

I felt like when I moved here I fell in love with this old city. I felt like I was in the minority though as a transplant from Illinois. It was like being a Squirrelbait fan...like minded people were not easy to find pre-Internet. When my first generation STL friends started to leave the city it burned a little; I've been honest with them on this fact so I don't mind saying it here.

I needed a goal to make me intellectually explore whether I should stay or go, to raise a family here or move back home or to another city.

St. Louis City Talk is largely the result of me trying to fully understand St. Louis north to south, River to Skinker. To give a fair shake at a true understanding. To break down myths and colloquial thoughts that I'd inherited from the media and St. Louisans and suburbanites. I had to find out for myself.

And eight years have passed on this blog, twenty two living in the city.

And when I think about whether to keep or drop this hobby after all these years, I still feel like I can fill a gap where others can't...and that is pure freedom to responsibly say what ever I want with nothing but my reputation at stake.

I have nothing monetary to gain, and am beholden to only myself.

I have never made one dime from this website. If I've been paid, I've donated the money back to the organization, or given it to my neighborhood association. I don't advertise, so am free to criticize developers that are bilking us for tax dollars that should go to better uses than private profiteering.

I don't copy protect my photos. They are for all to use and reference. They are now used in text books and magazines and websites all over. All I ask is for proper citation. It's all free, one of the reasons I like the information age. My hobby has been fun, it is free, it is yours to read or not. I'm not trying to gain popularity or anything. I don't advertise, I don't promote other than twitter and facebook.  I do this for me and I share it with you. That simple.

I'm not an architect, builder, lender or anything that would hold me back from criticizing projects. I'm not overly political. I'm not a die-hard Democrat, Republican, Green or Libertarian. I'm independent and free to support the best person for any office. I usually stay out of political stuff, but I've gotten involved in the past for more personal reasons than larger political views or power shifts.

I'm for anyone who gets city living, can relate to the pluses and minuses of our schools, cops and neighborhoods and can bring people together to move us forward.

I feel like I can be critical or praise anyone I want. I feel like I can give an honest perspective on St. Louis because well, I live here, not the suburbs. My kids go to SLPS magnet schools (so far anyway), so I can talk about that from a firsthand point of view.

I've lived in several neighborhoods, some racially and economically mixed, some not. I've dealt with the cops and fireman in good and bad ways. I (as have friends and family) have been the victim of crime here.

I've rented and owned property. I pay taxes here and I vote in every election.

I don't try to be a fake and speak up on the County issues. I don't live there, I can't vote there, I will respectfully leave those issues to the folks in those cities. I'd feel like a charlatan if I started to weigh in on how people in Pine Lawn should or shouldn't police their small town (I just shut up and pay the traffic tickets) or how University City people should or shouldn't feel about pastie bars.

Although, I can't resist the occasion pot shot at the haterz in the burbs. Trust me, I'm been awash in St. Louis potshots from suburbanites for the 22 years I've lived here. They need a little in return...but, boy is that skin thin. So I've learned and been coached to tread light(er).

But, I don't mean any harm and I don't like internet contentiousness. As a pre-Internet Gen-Xer, I firmly believe lively debates should happen in person. I think I've been lucky enough to avoid weirdos and haters for the most part. The comments and feedback I get are largely positive, I've received constructive criticism from people I respect. That is the best of all.

We need independent voices and I feel like I can do that with honesty and nothing to gain other than an occasional new friend, acquaintance or connection.

I've tried to remain accurate and factual in all my writing. Sure I get it wrong sometimes, but I'm not a journalist and don't claim to be. I don't double check sources every time.

Spellcheck is on, but my unofficial editor sits by my side unpaid and a bit sick of my spiel. She humors me and provides me the time to do this hobby and for her I'm most grateful in 2016 and every year we've been together.

But, you can bank on my heart being in this and trying to do the best for the city I love.

Thanks to all those who've followed along over the years, who've given kind words, constructive criticism or just listened to me go on and on and on about STL.

Happy 2017!

One Hundred Kingshighway - 2016 St. Louis City Talk Favorite

Last but certainly not least on my list of twenty favorites from 2016, the skyscraper proposal at One Hundred Kingshighway Boulevard between West Pine and Lindell in the Central West End Neighborhood.

This one was announced in December, so I had already assembled my list of top twenty projects when this one came in. That list had to change when I saw this rendering for a 36-story residential tower on a current surface parking lot, overlooking the jewel of the Midwest-Forest Park I was blown away.

The design is nothing short of mind-blowing. I've never seen anything like this in St. Louis. I thought it was some kind of joke at first.

I love this design...and it is by world-renowned architecture and urbanism firm Studio Gang based in Chicago and New York. 

I recently took the Chicago architecture tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. This is where I became familiar with Studio Gang's work with the beautiful Aqua Tower. My wife and I fell in love with this one.

As the boat is slowly traveling down the river, the textures and colors of the building change, it is an incredible work of art to witness in person.

It's my second favorite building on the tour; second only because I'm from Belleville, Illinois and if you are from there and a proud Gen-X'er, this is your favorite building on the tour:

And no, the architecture docent was not aware Belleville native (now Chicago resident) Jeff Tweedy's band Wilco used this building as the image on the cover of their best record "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" from 2002. It was my duty as a proud Belleville native to point this out privately to the docent after the tour. She hadn't a clue what I was talking about, I clearly embarrassed my wife...but my work was done.

Sorry, I've digressed, One Hundred Kingshighway makes me nervous...I'm worried it won't materialize. Yeah, I'm nerding out hard on this one. But, this is a historic opportunity and I don't want to see it fizzle out.

I would be so proud to drive by this building on tours when I show people around the city. I'd just shut my mouth and say, check this out: that's from world renowned female-founded architectural firm Studio Gang from Chicago:

American architect and MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founding principal of Studio Gang. Jeanne is recognized internationally for a design process that foregrounds the relationships between individuals, communities, and environments. Drawing insight from ecological systems, her analytical and creative approach has produced some of today’s most compelling design work, including the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo and Aqua Tower.

Jeanne is currently designing major projects throughout North America, including cultural projects such as the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History; mixed-use towers in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago; and university work including the Campus North Residential Commons at the University of Chicago. Studio Gang was also recently selected to design the new US Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

Jeanne Gang: photo credit studiogang.com

So the thought of this building in my city is just the most.

Imagine this 36-story, 385 feet tall masterpiece on the Central West End skyline from Forest Park. This novice art lover, city lover, architecture lover, St. Louis citizen is smitten!

So nice, let's look twice:

The City Foundry - 2016 St. Louis City Talk Favorite

Continuing with my top twenty development announcements or under-construction projects of 2016, the City Foundry makes the list.

This ~$340M proposal is billed as a public market that will bring office, retail, creative space and a food hall to a 17 acre former industrial site, the Federal-Mogul foundry. From the City Foundry's promotional video: "we are a new center for food, fashion, creativity and innovative thinkers".

A key element of this mixed-use project is the creative reuse of the former factory in a key part of the Midtown Neighborhood in the 3700 block of Forest Park Avenue. Instead of clearing the site and sending more to the landfill, the historic foundry will be reconfigured with a key reminder of our history as a manufacturing city.

Heading east of Vandeventer Avenue on Forest Park Avenue these days is not a vibrant scene. The shuttering of this auto parts factory around 2007 has left a tough property in an important part of town. It is just east of the main Cortex campus and the new IKEA. It is also near St. Louis University's main and medical campuses. It is highly visible just feet from the well travelled I-64 lanes as well, so the stakes are high on this project. We get judged by visitors and passersby who say St. Louis looks "bombed out". This abandoned industrial site was one example I've heard folks cite. And it is a dead zone along Forest Park Avenue:

So the news of a mixed-use project that could potentially bring a new office tower, a food hall and more retail space is exciting. Per a November, 2016 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story:

City Foundry’s $134.2 million first phase, planned to open in two years, is focused on renovation of the old foundry, unused since 2007. Lawrence Group intends to redo much of the main building as a “food hall” with stalls for nonchain restaurants and 20,000 square feet of seating. The building also would get 78,000 square feet of office space. 

The Byco Building at the northeast corner of the site is intended as a 30,000-square-foot single-tenant retail space, plus 30,000 square feet of offices. A 500-car parking garage also is planned. 

Renovation of foundry buildings would be followed quickly by construction of a 24-story apartment tower on Forest Park Avenue and, later, by construction of office buildings on the nearly 17-acre site. If fully built, City Foundry’s cost could reach $340 million. 

Plans for a future City Foundry phase include a 279-unit residential tower, 265,000 square feet of office space and 16,000 square feet of retail space.

There are estimates that this could create up to 870 jobs and provide connections to the Great Rivers Greenway system, possibly utilizing the elevated former train tracks that flank the site.

How can one argue that this is not good news for Midtown St. Louis?

But, this project is seeking substantial subsidies in the neighborhood of $20M for the first phase. Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The TIF is among local, state and federal incentives that make up 56 percent of the project’s first-phase cost. The developer has $51 million in project financing. TIF help would cover 14.5 percent of the project’s initial costs, which is in line with the city’s policy of covering less than 15 percent of project costs with TIF.

And, I've read concerns from a respected Alderman that this project is encouraging businesses to relocate from other parts of St. Louis to this location. If we are getting them from the suburbs and bringing them to St. Louis that is one thing. If they are just moving from other parts of the city and closing down shop in other neighborhoods, that would be devastating. Expansion within the city or region is good. City musical chairs is bad with one winner and one loser. We will have to wait and see how this plays out.

Also, indoor "destination" type malls haven't worked in St. Louis' recent past. Look not further than the 1980's Union Station and St. Louis Centre offerings in the height of the mall era. But cynicism should be in check because times change and this site is more connected to where people live. I'm willing to maintain optimism as this type of thing works very well in other cities I've visited including Milwaukee and Seattle.

The main thing I like about this project is the location in it's current state is a tough property to work with and it will build bridges between SLU, Cortex, the Armory, Metro Link Grand Station and future Boyle Station. Also, Cortex has become a proven entity, I like the work they've done to date and the plans for the future are even more exciting.

Then, in August, 2016 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that they have key backing from the Bull Moose Tube company's chief executive will be taking a "significant ownership interest" in the project:

Bull Moose, a maker of metal tubes mainly for the construction industry, is part of London-based Caparo Group. Chesterfield-based Bull Moose shares ownership of the Missouri Theatre building with the Lawrence Group, which is redoing the structure, at 634 North Grand Boulevard, as a hotel and Bull Moose’s new headquarters.

Smith praised Swarj Paul, chairman of Bull Moose and founder of Caparo, for Bull Moose’s investment in City Foundry. Paul is an Indian-born entrepreneur who holds the aristocratic title Lord Paul of Marylebone. 

Michael Blatz, chief executive of Bull Moose, said in a statement, “This new investment by Lord Paul represents our continued confidence in St. Louis as well as our belief in the exciting vision laid out by Steve Smith for the City Foundry development.”

There is investment and big minds behind this one...external investment from outside the region makes me very hopeful. This is what we need to take us to a new level.

For the best summary of images and renderings of the project, check out the September, 2016 story by NextSTL.

Environmental remediation work has already begun. Estimated completion is Fall, 2018.