Dicing 
Up
Downtown

We've waited years for the City Alderman to come up with a plan to limit the number of wards in St. Louis.   One of the big factors that's driven me nuts for years is how the reasonably small downtown loft district neighborhoods were separated into 4 different wards.   So basically, the downtown neighborhood was politically marginalized.   All of downtown could vote against a candidate, and they'd hardly count for anything because the bulk of the ward was located elsewhere.

With this downtown marginalization happening for years, our hope was that as the ward boundaries were re-drawn, that Downtown would finally get the representation it needed and deserved.  

Even if downtown was split up, but the loft district area (roughly 11 blocks north of Interstate 64/40 from the riverfront to Jefferson Blvd) was located in one ward, I'd be satisfied.

What's being proposed is that the main residential areas in Downtown and Downtown West, yet again, are split into 3 parts, continuing the tradition of marginalizing Downtown voters and, marginalizing the issues that affect downtown the most.   

Weigh In......

Downtown residents PLEASE speak up and voice concern in one of the ways below:  

http://www.stlouis-mo.gov/aldermen/redistricting

Comments and questions can also be directed to 314-622-4114, by email to redistricting@stlouis-mo.gov or by mail to Board of Aldermen, 1200 Market St., Room 232, St. Louis 63103 Attn: Redistricting.

New Vision for Downtown West

The evening view from ground level looks like an art museum.  

Very few people are as excited about the impact on St. Louis that the current plans for the MLS Stadium presented last week.   For anyone plugged into Downtown St. Louis, its self evident.   While downtown overall has seen an amazing re-birth over the past 15 years, there are still a few spots overlooked.  

From Olive Street on the North, there are mostly smaller, under developed buildings and street level parking lots.  The biggest exception is the Police Headquarters to the north east of the stadium site.   The surface lot from the above pic 🙄shows the metropolitan police parking lot, which is going away.   My first question was, where are the police going to park.   My second question is, where's everyone else going to park?

The satellite view shows the current footprint.   HOK developer website doesn't mention parking.  Downtown has an abundance of parking spaces, but as a rule, they are several blocks east,  mostly near Busch Stadium and the Enterprixe Center. o.   This section of town has never really had people density requiring much parking.  The largest draw, historically, was Union Station, which has a fairly small enclosed lot for patrons.  With all the great improvements there, my guess is it will be filled.    

Despite any questions, this is still an awesome move for downtown, and for major league soccer.   St. Louis has always been a soccer hotbed at the youth level, but sort of fizzles after that.   Having it as a recognized sport once again at the major league level is huge.   

The impact on Downtown West has me hopeful.    My clients that closed on their great new space at the Lofts at 2020 we’re thrilled.  When we sold our first unit in that building in 2005, Downtown west was a wasteland in that area.   After all, they filmed the post apocalyptic drama “Escape from New York” around there.   Other than Schlafly’s and some office renovations, it was scary.   The buildings across the street looked like they had been bombed, and most of the prospective buyer’s we toured through the area were creeped out by the condition and tenants of the Tudor Building:   all of which have undergone total renovations.  

Homeless Town Hall Meeting Tomorrow Night -- Be There Loft Dwellers!

In 2004, we started working downtown by listing a really cool loft at the Knickerbocker Lofts. 

At that point, the downtown neighborhood was a doormat.  There seemingly was an editorial slant that people living downtown were arrogant and whiny; called "loft dwellers" they were presented negatively.  Problems in other areas had neighborhood feedback and referred to residents, concerned citizens, or home owners.  

Other than the media bias, the Downtown and Downtown West neighborhoods seemed were the dumping grounds for the area.  Visitors to the neighborhood would urinate on buildings and drop trash and think it was ok.  Even worse, Downtown St Louis seemed to be the solution to all other areas vagrancy problems.  It wasn't uncommon to see police cars from outside the city dropping off "new downtown residents" to shelters around the neighborhood.

Our listing at the Knickerbocker gave us a front row seat for some of the problems downtown;  especially that of homelessness.  

In those days, Lucas Park was the scene of most problems with the homeless.   Being homeless itself isn't what bothered the residents downtown, but public urination, public intoxication, public bathing in park fountains, pan-handling, drug dealing, sleeping on park benches, loitering and illegal feeding stations were problems that wear on people.  Downtown residents were looking for a change.  That's where the media bias came in.  Any effort to address the problems associated with the homeless created a classic battle between the "haves" and the "have nots", both in the press, with City Government and with the Police.  City government was even more complicated in that the Downtown Neighborhood has three different Alderman and the neighborhood was seemingly on the 'outskirts' of all three wards.  Lastly, population was a problem.   Downtown wasn't very populous (about 3500 folks), so it was easy for various entities to view any problem as minor since it didn't involve many people.  Thankfully, things have changed since 2004.

Homelessness and its side effects are still downtown.  The voice of the downtown residents and business owners have been heard by the city and downtown continues to improve.  

Now the Downtown Population is around 14,000, and the voice of the downtown residents continues to be important.  

Tomorrow night there is a meeting where the voice of downtown residents will be particularly useful.  

Downtown Hall Meeting
9/17/2013
Christ Church Cathedral 1210 Locust Street
7-8:30pm


According to the flyer, there will be a brief presentation followed by a town hall discussion.  
Without downtown residents at meetings like this, the meetings can be largely dominated by folks with their heart in the right place, but with little realistic perspective on what the homeless problems are and worse off, no concern for the well being of Downtown St. Louis neighborhood.  

So for those of you who care about the continued improvement of the downtown area and the increase in downtown real estate values, plan on being there.  Especially if you are willing to participate in the discussion.  What we don't need is a one sided discussion without the voice of the downtown residents.

Supercharge your Re-Sale!

We listed a property back in January that had some fantastic features. One of which was the mural shown here. While not everyone liked the specific work, I think that just having a custom mural by a local artist really generated interest in this loft. The artist who did the mural, and can do all sorts of different styles was Micah Lisenfield.