This Thursday evening City Affair will take on the topic of gentrification in St. Louis. The event will be held 7:30 PM at Style House, the new retail outlet & headquarters of StL Style, located at 3155 Cherokee. The topic got me thinking about the changes that have occurred over the past decade in Downtowns loft district. The redevelopment of the Washington Avenue is widely acclaimed as one of the big success stories of Downtown St. Louis. The story that is usually not told however is how is how when the grit disappeared, so did many businesses and the affordability of the district.
In the early 90's, long before speculators moved in and jacked up building prices, a developer offered wide open lofts for sale in the Rudman Building at 13th at Washington for $90,000. Each loft was a quarter floor with over 2,500 square feet of space. These were not going to be the "luxury" lofts that you see advertised today, but the real raw thing. Unfortunately they did not move forward.
While the upper floors of the Lesser-Goldman Building were still used for warehousing, the first floor had several long time retailers including Gus's Fashions and the amazing A Amitin Book store, which was jam packed with more used books than one could imagine. Nearby was Cummels Cafe, which started in the Leather Trades Building on Locust, and offered a different delicious home cooked menu each day. Next door Cummels was a small shoe shine and repair shop that extended the life of many pairs of shoes for a very reasonable cost.
Both photos of the Lesser-Goldman by Rob Powers at Built St. Louis
After the building had been through the hands of Dave Jump, it was sold to Jacob Development, who attempted to develop the building into the Bogen loft condominiums. In the change of hands, all of the ground floor tenants were thrown out.
Today the entire ground floor is composed of a now defunct sales center (the many unsold units are being leased as apartments), a few fake storefronts with a few items sitting in the windows and mostly wide open vacant retail space. The prime corner at Tucker and Washington has never been occupied since Gus's was given the boot.
Then there was 1227 (and its successors), one of the many night clubs that brought more life to Washington Avenue at night than there has ever been since their calculated disappearance from the district.
Before its redevelopment, the Fashion Square building offered very affordable loft space that was mostly occupied by creative companies and a few artists. Our first office of Pyramid Architects was located here on the 6th floor from 1999 through 2002 (when we took free space in the recently acquired Paul Brown). We had a spacious 2,500 square foot loft for $600 per month! On the ground floor was the tasty Studio Cafe and Velvet. Down the block were several longtime businesses including Marti's Shoes and some remnants of the garment days including a few wholesale fabric shops.
When Fashion Square was redeveloped by the McGowan's in 2004, all the creative companies were replaced by standard loft apartments. Another architect on the 7th floor moved to the A. D. Brown Building at Tucker and Washington where he was then kicked out again not too long after the move when that building was redeveloped. The ground floor of the building has unlike the Bogen, been pretty well leased to newer more upscale retailers.
Another Vitrolite storefront that one housed a great antique & used furniture store. The location is now occupied by Macro Sun. Photo by Rob Powers at Built St. Louis
Today the entire ground floor is composed of a now defunct sales center (the many unsold units are being leased as apartments), a few fake storefronts with a few items sitting in the windows and mostly wide open vacant retail space. The prime corner at Tucker and Washington has never been occupied since Gus's was given the boot.Then there was 1227 (and its successors), one of the many night clubs that brought more life to Washington Avenue at night than there has ever been since their calculated disappearance from the district.Photo by Rob Powers at Built St. Louis
Before its redevelopment, the Fashion Square building offered very affordable loft space that was mostly occupied by creative companies and a few artists. Our first office of Pyramid Architects was located here on the 6th floor from 1999 through 2002 (when we took free space in the recently acquired Paul Brown). We had a spacious 2,500 square foot loft for $600 per month! On the ground floor was the tasty Studio Cafe and Velvet. Down the block were several longtime businesses including Marti's Shoes and some remnants of the garment days including a few wholesale fabric shops.
When Fashion Square was redeveloped by the McGowan's in 2004, all the creative companies were replaced by standard loft apartments. Another architect on the 7th floor moved to the A. D. Brown Building at Tucker and Washington where he was then kicked out again not too long after the move when that building was redeveloped. The ground floor of the building has unlike the Bogen, been pretty well leased to newer more upscale retailers. Another Vitrolite storefront that one housed a great antique & used furniture store. The location is now occupied by Macro Sun. Photo by Rob Powers at Built St. LouisIn full disclosure, I worked for Pyramid Companies for nine years during the height of the transformation of Washington Avenue. During that time I witnessed and took part in these transformations with very mixed emotions. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the buildings and tried where possible to retain some of the character that the buildings had acquired over time (see the Dorsa Building, whose green facade some wanted to destroy). It was great to see new residents move into the area but at the same time very disheartening to see the existing residents and businesses leave, which was almost universally the case.
The experience leaves me asking the question: Is it possible to redevelop or improve a district like Washington Avenue without what some have called the Disneyfication effect taking over? Is it possible to retain existing businesses, residents along with some of the character and gritiness of pre-development days and still attract an economically diverse new group of residents and businesses? Hopefully we will find out on Cherokee Street.
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