Your Comments - How to best improve downtown, landing, riverfront

[storey13]

Originally Posted by 1greatcity

Actually, my dream is for new development to spill out from downtown into surrounding areas as well. For example: Wouldn't it be great if that struggling section of Olive between downtown and Midtown was turned around, with new shops, restaurants, apartments, etc? There'd be a seamless bustling corridor of activity all the way from Broadway to the CWE!

That would be awesome!

[moorlander]

with "midtown alley" and "auto row" and the continual push toward jefferson in the downtown west nieghborhood, you can really begin to see the groundwork to connect downtown to midtown.

[1greatcity]

I sure hope that the Bottle District project isn't dead. I thought the plan had a lot of plusses. Does anyone know the status?

[andyc0803]

It's dead. Or at least that's what most people believe.

The most recent mention it had in the Post called it "stalled"

http://www.stltoday.com/business/art...5fb173347.html

[imperialmog]

Originally Posted by moorlander

with "midtown alley" and "auto row" and the continual push toward jefferson in the downtown west nieghborhood, you can really begin to see the groundwork to connect downtown to midtown.

My guess is that is what a lot of the focus will be on this decade will be a potential of a unified central corridor. It seems to be at the end of the phase of rehabbing abandoned buildings partly due to not having many left to do and now focusing on new buildings or on rehabbing outside of downtown. Another thing is see what happens to all of the proposals that got canned when the economy dived? Will they unfreeze and go at some point in the near future or be completly scrapped and something else happen?

I did see that everything is finally about to happen for the Kiel Opera House. Is there much renovating abandoned buldings to be done in that area or will it have to be redevopment and new buildings for any future growth in that section?

[1greatcity]

There has been recent talk about possible development of Chouteau's Landing, (the area south of the PSB and east of I-55 near the Mississippi River.) I completely support this idea, as this area has sat mostly vacant and deteriorating for much too long.
But my vision for Chouteau's Landing is one that is quite different from Laclede's Landing. After all, we wouldn't want similar areas compteting for business on each end of downtown, would we?
Since Laclede's Landing focuses on fun and entertainment-- with it's touristy restaurants, bars, casino, etc.-- I'd like to see Chouteau's Landing used for something totally different: residential. Fill the old warehouses with lofts and condos. Those old buildings still have a personality! Have shops and service businesses at street level. Right along the river, build a few new high-rise residential buildings. A modern style is totally appropriate here, since this is the "front door" to our city. (Honestly, the south end of the downtown skyline could really use some more height.)
The area would have many selling points, including its prominent place on the historic riverfront, proximity to downtown jobs, and easy access to the interstate system. And it could be tied-in to a future Chouteau Lake development just west of there. Can anyone else see this plan in their mind?

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by 1greatcity

There has been recent talk about possible development of Chouteau's Landing, (the area south of the PSB and east of I-55 near the Mississippi River.) I completely support this idea, as this area has sat mostly vacant and deteriorating for much too long.
But my vision for Chouteau's Landing is one that is quite different from Laclede's Landing. After all, we wouldn't want similar areas compteting for business on each end of downtown, would we?
Since Laclede's Landing focuses on fun and entertainment-- with it's touristy restaurants, bars, casino, etc.-- I'd like to see Chouteau's Landing used for something totally different: residential. Fill the old warehouses with lofts and condos. Those old buildings still have a personality! Have shops and service businesses at street level. Right along the river, build a few new high-rise residential buildings. A modern style is totally appropriate here, since this is the "front door" to our city. (Honestly, the south end of the downtown skyline could really use some more height.)
The area would have many selling points, including its prominent place on the historic riverfront, proximity to downtown jobs, and easy access to the interstate system. And it could be tied-in to a future Chouteau Lake development just west of there. Can anyone else see this plan in their mind?

You painted a great word picture, I certainly can see it in my minds eye. It would be wonderful if something like that could come to pass.