Bohemian Hill Walgreens Will Sit on Sidewalk Line

Residents of the Georgian Condominiums at City Hospital report that Koman Properties unveiled plans for the new Walgreens on Lafayette Avenuye last Thursday night at the residents' meeting. The store will come up to sidewalk on Lafayette, with a corner entrance at the northeast leading both to the street and a parking lot to the east. The front of the building will be designed to appear as a two-story Georgian Revival commercial building. Walgreens won't release plans for "unique" stores like this one, so we don't have any images of the store.

The store's parking lot will connect to an access road leading eastward to 14th Street. There are no immediate plans to build out the rest of the proposed retail development on Bohemian Hill. While the Walgreens will be fairly urban, Gilded Age says that they can find no grocery store willing to locate in a store built up to the sidewalk line on Lafayette. The developers should keep looking and wait for the credit crisis to diminish -- there are plenty of chains, including Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, that have built urban stores without parking in front. If Walgreens can do it, so can others.

The Bohemian Hill retail development remains a great case for a form-based zoning code. There would be no doubt that the site plan would be appropriate for the location if the zoning mandated urban placement. Retailers wouldn't be able to drive a hard bargain for parking in front if they were constrained by zoning laws.

Rehabbing Resumed on Bohemian Hill

In recent weeks, the four-family at 1714 S. 13th Street on Bohemian Hill has received a lot of rehab work. Krystal Group LLC purchased the building in November 2008. While I am no fan of the single-pane windows the investors installed in place of one-over-one windows that had been there, I am glad to see rehab work on Bohemian Hill.

The remaining houses on Bohemian Hill have been under threat of eminent domain for the past three years, and the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority had started buying houses on this block in 2007. Gilded Age Development is building a retail project named "Georgian Square" to the west on cleared land, and had originally discussed acquisition of the two blocks east of 13th Street. Those plans now are scuttled.

Meanwhile, Georgian Square is now under construction. At least, the Walgreens store is under construction on Lafayette Avenue across the street from City Hospital.

State Funding Brownfield Cleanup for New Housing in Bohemian Hill

From Mark Bohnert, President of the Red Brick Community Land Trust:

Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority Awards $15,000 to Red Brick Community Land Trust for Environmental Cleanup of Soulard Brownfields Site

The State Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority (EIERA) has selected the Red Brick Community Land Trust to receive $15,000 to address petroleum related contamination of a Soulard brownfields site.

The EIERA will make the award to the RBCLT in a public ceremony at the property location, 1805 S. Tucker Street, St. Louis on Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. (Rain Site: 2020 S. 12th St.)

The Red Brick Community Land Trust will use the money to remove petroleum-related contamination enabling a residential development to proceed on the property in the Bohemian Hill neighborhood, part of the Soulard area. Red Brick Community Land Trust was established in 2001 as a non-profit organization that secures permanently affordable housing for low-income St. Louis metropolitan residents.

"Affordability in Soulard remains problematic, thus the Bohemian Hill property is an attractive location for this proposed project," said Jerome Govero, a member of the EIERA Board.

A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

The EIERA received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to capitalize the Missouri Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund that will provide loans and subgrants for cleanup of sites contaminated with petroleum and hazardous substances. The EIERA works with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Brownfields Voluntary Cleanup Program to support brownfields cleanup activities so
that redevelopment and reuse of properties can proceed.

For more information, contact the Environmental Improvement and Energy Resources Authority at (573) 751-4919 or Red Brick Community Land Trust at (314) 621-1411 ext. 102.

Landmarks Association Reports on Bohemian Hill

The January/February issue of Landmarks Letter features a cover story on the controversy surrounding Bohemian Hill. Read it online here (in PDF format).

Bohemian Hill Residents Converge

Someone who attended the first meeting of the Bohemian Hill Neighborhood Association on Thursday night had this to report: There were about 50 people in attendance, including Democratic Central Committee chair Brian Wahby. The discussion was intense and at one point centered on how Ald. Phyllis Young has yet to meet with residents of the small neighborhood, and at another centered on how people don't want to live next to a strip mall.

Bohemian Hill and City Hospital

Here is a view east toward City Hospital from just south of Picker Street in Bohemian Hill, taken by me in 2002. Here we see visual density and variety giving way to the relatively monotonous architectural mass of the City Hospital. The distinct individual buildings mitigate the impact of the hospital complex, which otherwise might be overbearing. The relationship also makes full use of that human-scaled unit with which we build towers and flounder houses alike: the brick.

While each building is the sum of its parts -- here those parts are largely brick -- each urban vista also is the sum of a multitude of elements. Limiting the complexity by reducing the number of and small disparities between each element diminishes the view as well as the pedestrian experience.

Five years later, this view does not exist -- but we have the chance to remake it. However, we should keep in mind that the view seen here was over 100 years in the making, and just as the brick or the building becomes an element that composes a larger view, so is each year during which the view emerges. While it is easy for a person to manipulate space and material, it is impossible to manipulate time.

A Word from the Cave

The developers' shills are now accusing critics of being "anti everything." Once again, when given an opportunity to learn from people with ideas we see the apparatchiks dust off the old "obstructionist" and "zealot" hatchets. Yawn!

Obviously, they are counting on a city whose culture is stunted and whose citizens are eager to be commanded how to think. Unfortunately, the old St. Louis they wish to lord over forever has passed them by.

Nowadays, citizens are better-informed about development projects than ever. If that is inconvenient to developers, so be it. These are the lives affected by the developers' projects -- the flip side of the debate.

Complacency, submission and acceptance of whitewash campaigns are outdated. Try openness, dialogue and civic debate about issues. More innovative minds have already realized that the most effective development projects are those in which the most vocal critics eventually become stakeholders. Check the dreaded blogs and one will find praise for developers like Restoration St. Louis, Loftworks and others despite minor disagreements. These developers are those who don't try to suppress discussion and dissent, but assume that is part of a healthy civic culture.

Honestly, finding someone who opposes redevelopment of Bohemian Hill or the near northside is downright impossible. To call smart suggestions for better development "obstruction" is to ignore the fact that there are more discussions of the built environment in St. Louis than in any other city. That actually helps development because it creates an intellectual culture interested in change and growth. (How many Milwaukee or Philadelphia built environment blogs are there? They would love to have some of ours!) After all, the odds in this state and this country are so tilted against a city like St. Louis, it's a wonder there are so many motivated people working on all sides of development. With a scarcity of quality old media outlets, and an abundance of vacant land and buildings, there seems plenty of room for consensus in St. Louis.

Bohemian Hill Plans Starting a Great Debate

I have little to add to the debate on the Bohemian Hill project, which has gotten off to a fiery start. I am especially encouraged at the number of young people taking a serious interest in shaping the outcome of the project. If only we can become a city worth their sustained commitment, energy and passion...

Built St. Louis' Bohemian Hill page is probably the best starting point for the issue. The second stop would be the embedded information in a recent post by Toby Weiss on Built Environment in Layman's Terms. Then immerse yourself in the discussion thread at Urban St. Louis.

Until a real site plan surfaces, and the eminent domain threat is addressed, the debate will be in somewhat of a holding pattern for hard facts. That's not stopping the critics, though -- a good thing. I expect a lengthy and passionate process that will make this one of the year's biggest development issues. (In other words, the issue "Blairmont" could be if the masses truly cared about the northside.)