Ballpark Village

After all the talk that it would never happen, it is finally official. Ballpark Village will be built. It was made official in a story on Fox 2 News tonight. I have had the renderings since November 10, but it is nice to see that Ballpark Village is now officially designed and will be under construction by the end of the baseball season. Cordish of baltimore is the lead developer.

Ballpark Village will be a $450 million project covering six city blocks adjacent to the new Busch Stadium. The new development will have 1,200 condos in four towers, 450,000 square feet of retail, and 400,000 square feet of office space.

In my mind, the best feature of Ballpark Village is that it restores the street grid. The old Busch and the parking lot where the new Busch is was a giant superblock. While the new park is a superblack, it is in a spot where I think the stadium works well for it's size, right up against the highway where no through streets are anyway. Ballpark Village will be able to tie together the south end of downtown with the north end of downtown much better than the old Busch did. The village will be urban.

I find the design of the buildings to be good for the most part. Good mix of styles. Brick for the mid-rise buildings on the west end of the site, and all glass for the east end of the site. These buildings will make a dramatic difference in the skyline, and they offer a different style than much of downtown. The new towers should add a nice modern contrast to the surrounding historic buildings in Cupple's Station and the Tum's factory, along with the retro designed ballpark. I did a rough count of floor heights and it looks like there is one at 15, two buildings in the 15-20 range, one at 25, One at 26-27, and one at about 34 floors. And these towers will be in camera views shipped all over the country.

1,200 residents in a six block area also brings badly needed residential density to the south end of downtown, an area lacking much besides offices and useless parks. There needs to be many year round residents, not just fans and office workers, for an area to really thrive. Look at the area around Washington Ave. for an example of what good density can do.

But I am glad to here that office space will be in the project. There are several firms looking for large Class A spaces downtown, so hopefully some will consider Ballpark Village.

Being next to the new ballpark and having so many residents and shops should make for some nice pedestrian traffic on the streets. Another great urban aspect of this development. The open section of Busch should make for large crowds on Clark catching some of the games for free.

Overall, Cordish does good urban developments.

Now if we could just get something done about the ugly and anti-urban stadium parking garages.

Snow Angels In The Outfield

The snow falling today in St. Louis made for some neat scenes around town. Check out ballparkconstruction.com for more of my snow pics of the new Cardinal's Ballpark.

Note to Readers

As you may have noticed, this blog has come back to life. While I will be doing St. Louis and Urban based posts, I will also be doing a post once a week for my Tech Apps class. You can read them if you want, but they will probably have absolutely nothing to do with cities. Just think of it as my user fee.

Reflection on "The Net Gen Goes to College"

College professors are being told to use technology in the classroom. Video, powerpoint, and computer software are in demand by the new generation of students, often called the Millenials. But is the use of technology in the classroom really necessary? Some say yes, and some say absolutely not.

I agree with both sides in this case. Technology is great as a tool for learning, but so are traditional teaching methods. There is no doubt that todays students are different than past generations. We grew up with technology. We have been checking websites while doing a reading asignment and Instant Messaging at the same time for years. Students are bored when they go to class and get the same old lecture over and over again. Different technologies allow a professor to vary the class instruction. But technology should not be the only device used in teaching. The lecture is just as good of a tool now as it was fifty years ago. Traditional research papers are just as useful as a powerpoint presentation. I think it is more important to use all of the different teaching tools effectively instead of just one tool on either side of the spectrum.

This quote sums it up for me quite well. " We find that they like Multi-media -- they want text, video, and sound," according to Mike Turner of Case Western Reserve University. I agree, I don't want just one tool, I want them all.

Amazing!

I can't stop thinking about the new renderings of the Bottle District just north of the Edward Jones Dome. The planned district is designed by the well known starchitect Daniel Lebiskind, and are thoroughly modern on a scale St. Louis has never seen before. One of the three planned residential towers is even planned for 630', the same height as the Arch. Two images even say 650'. I have been waiting a long time for a building taller than the Arch, and didn't expect it in the Bottle District. This project, along with the new casinos on the Landing, Ballpark Village, and Chouteau's Lake are going to completely transform downtown in the next 5-10 years. I can't wait for all the suburbanites to come into downtown for the first time in 15 years and have there pants completely blown off. What an exciting time in St. Louis. For more pics go here.

Get a Clue People

Why are so many people around here so self-centered and, well, stupid? Two things today really bothered me enough to get me back posting on here again. (Sorry if you were checking for posts here, school started again, and I haven't had time.) First is the people collecting signatures for a vote to stop Metro from issueing more bonds to finance the Metrolink cost overruns. These are the same people that caused it to be so expensive in the first place by forcing the trains to run in a tunnel for a large portion of the cross county extension. They are plain and simply obstructionists that are against Metrolink and more importantly, regional cooperation. For a good summary of the whole situation, go here and read the post that the link takes you to.

The other thing that came up today is nimbyism over the height of Opus's planned 28 story condo tower for the corner of Lindell and Euclid. Read this article for some context. Here is my problem with the article-

The idea of having 28 stories could be revisited, but Opus is committed to a 25- to 30-story building, Krewson said.

“I am concerned by the height,” said John Berglund, a member of the Central West End Association’s Planning and Development Committee. It would be no problem closer to Kingshighway, but in this location it might crowd out the smaller-scale buildings of Euclid Avenue, he said.

The committee has not formally looked at any plans for the building yet, Berglund said. The group meets each month and the project was not on the agenda at its Sept. 10 meeting.

The committee has an advisory role only, and it attempts to influence the city’s Cultural Resources Board and the aldermen if it is unhappy with elements of a project, Berglund said.

“It makes our job much easier,” if a project has the backing of the neighborhood, he said. But “everyone has their own tastes and desires” and Opus would not submit to “design by committee,” he said.

This guy has no idea what he is talking about I don't get the issue with the height. First, 28 floors isn't really that tall. second, the Central West End is full of residential highrises, and they are often intermixed with smaller buildings. There is nothing wrong with varying height next to each other, and especially when there are so many tall structures in a definite row existing. And how can we put anymore highrises along Kingshighway, build them in the park? Not Rocket Science folks. Opus is a good company with high quality projects, let's not run them out of town over something so trivial. Is there anyone with a brain in this town? Here is a pic showing where the planned Lindell Condominiums will be. Not exactly in the middle of a field of one and two story structures. Thanks Arch City.

Go to this page at the Urban St. Louis Forums for some more context pics.