Why does Union Station suck so bad? (Kansas City, St. Louis: hotel, live)

[STLperson]

That's the question...thoughts?

[aragx6]

^Because in the '80s everyone thought that what downtown St. Louis really needed was a mall. They were wrong. The Mariott makes money, but the rest most certainly does not. It was bought last year by Kroenke (is there anything he doesn't own?) and plans for redevelopment are on the way. I haven't heard any details yet, but my anticipation level is high that this will be the next big St. Louis redevelopment success story. It's a stunning building.

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/p...n-station.html

[STLperson]

Oh, I didn't know Kroenke bought it. That is actually pretty exciting. Everytime I'm there, (which is only for sporting events) I get frustrated at all the wasted potential.

[mike0421]

Concur, the one time we visited Union Station, it was absolutely pathetic, nothing at all worth seeing, essentially a glorified, and practically vacant shopping mall.

[aragx6]

I agree STLperson -- I'm really excited at the prospects. Sure would be nice if they actually had the Amtrak station in there again too. I wonder the likelihood of that?

[Chicago76]

Originally Posted by STLperson

That's the question...thoughts?

1) It's not being used for what it was designed for: trains.
2) It's surrounded by things that don't promote pedistrian traffic that might stop in. To the south: the freeway and railyard. To the west: a parking lot and large freeway ramps. To the east: a massive central post office and an institutional-looking DAV headquarters. To the north: an underutilized ribbon of green space.

There is literally nothing around there that would promote foot traffic, which means people have to make a point of driving to Union Station to use it. And there is nothing in Union Station really worth driving to...outside of maybe a dinner at the Grille or Landry's.

If Union Station was closer to downtown, or a block or two off Midtown Alley, the CWE, the main drag of Wash Ave, etc, it would be a viable, "hoppng" place. If you were standing at 16th and Olive, would you walk to Union Station for something fun to do, or would you walk to Wash Ave. in the other direction? When you can't even manage to draw people from 3 blocks away, you've got a problem.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by Chicago76

1) It's not being used for what it was designed for: trains.
2) It's surrounded by things that don't promote pedistrian traffic that might stop in. To the south: the freeway and railyard. To the west: a parking lot and large freeway ramps. To the east: a massive central post office and an institutional-looking DAV headquarters. To the north: an underutilized ribbon of green space.

There is literally nothing around there that would promote foot traffic, which means people have to make a point of driving to Union Station to use it. And there is nothing in Union Station really worth driving to...outside of maybe a dinner at the Grille or Landry's.

If Union Station was closer to downtown, or a block or two off Midtown Alley, the CWE, the main drag of Wash Ave, etc, it would be a viable, "hoppng" place. If you were standing at 16th and Olive, would you walk to Union Station for something fun to do, or would you walk to Wash Ave. in the other direction? When you can't even manage to draw people from 3 blocks away, you've got a problem.

This is a valid point. Maybe the better question for this thread is how would one go about making Union Station not suck. What could one do conceivably to make this gorgeous building really shine?

[DarkWolf]

They should build a HSL between St. Louis and Chicago and use Union Station as a hub....they recently restored Worcester Union Station and are working on a few other Union Stations in New England...all across the US train stations are being restored to there former Glory...

[aragx6]

^They're certanily working on HSR between the two cities. In fact, I just read yesterday there should be some testing of 110-MPH trains later this year on some parts of the line. The ability create HSR through IL is highly dependent on federal funds, and the current congress and Obama's priorities don't exactly line up in that respect.

[flynavyj]

After the recent improvements with the new Amtrak/Greyhound station I doubt we'll see a plan to restore Union Station to passenger train service...however I think that would be a potential good use. If we could get TRUE Highspeed Rail service between STL and Chicago and base that out of KC I think that would an excellent option, it would be even more ambition to set STL as the Highspeed Rail hub of the Midwest.

Moving past that, a viable station would probably include some retail space (similar to the current mall), some decent quick and sitdown dining (similar to the current setup) a hotel (similar to the current setup). Maybe all we need is a way to attract people to the location, and the rail line would help that.

I had a co-worker make the suggestion to put the Museum of Transportation there, would give a great location for many of the old train cars in their original setting. Restoration space for future projects, and get many of the trains and other vehicles out of the elements which the West County location doesn't allow.

Because of the location with limited exposure, the train station option might be the best bet...Let's find some rich people who want high speed trains between St. Louis and Chicago...Let's build new rail tracks that can accept the high speed trains, and then let's push towards other major markets...Kansas City with a stop in Columbia, West towards Denver, South to Oklahoma City, Further to Dallas....And all roads meet in St. Louis...I'm sure there's some mega rich individual out there who'd like to become even richer!