NextSTL

Earlier this year,  I happened upon the drone video work of Jimmy Wolfe aka Empty Midwest on Youtube.  In his now 22 part series on abandoned STL structures, Jimmy has documented many of STL’s most endangered architectural treasures from above, revealing the damage and decay invisible from the curb. Prominent among the dozens of structures […]

The post An Inventory of 70 Former Public School Buildings in STL appeared first on NextSTL.

At the corner of Olive and Jefferson in Downtown West St. Louis stands a building from 1968—a relatively recent addition to the city’s landscape. While this modern structure has its own unique story, the site is steeped in an even deeper history. This unassuming corner has been home to key moments in civil rights and […]

The post 2334 Olive: A Century of Progressive Politics appeared first on NextSTL.

How (Bad) Urban Design Affects the Way We Feel Hanging outside of a bar with a group of friends in Turin, Italy, I’m amazed at how the city feels so alive. The night is black, the piazza lights cast a dim yellow, and the streets are filled with countless people out and about. They’re enjoying […]

The post St. Louis’ Sad Suburban Design appeared first on NextSTL.

People Walking, Biking, Busing Count––We Should Count Them (Literally) In May 2024, Chicago’s Department of Transportation claimed that biking had doubled in that city over the past five years. If biking doubled in my hometown, St. Louis, we may never know it. Measuring modal share—the proportion of people walking/rolling, biking, taking public transit, and driving—will […]

The post Why Crash Statistics are Inadequate for Planning Safer Streets appeared first on NextSTL.

Late last summer, I proposed that the city implement a city-wide bike network using recently awarded Rams Settlement Funds. Eventually, this idea was included among 20 other finalists, rising up as one of the more popular possibilities for use of the windfall, among hundreds of citizen proposals initially submitted. In anticipation of the informal public […]

The post St. Louis Residents Call for Better Bike Infrastructure appeared first on NextSTL.

Construction continues in full swing at many job sites big and small. Below is a sampling. 1014 Spruce – The 11TH & Spruce Apartments. 148 apartments Grand and Papin – Steelcote Edwin – 196 market-rate apartments, 249 affordable structured parking spaces, 65,000 square feet of retail for Target, and 141 surface parking spaces. It looks […]

The post Construction photo roundup July 2024 appeared first on NextSTL.

The last public hearing of the St. Louis Charter Commission is Monday 7 pm at Julia Davis Public Library at 4415 Natural Bridge Ave. The meeting will be live streamed by STL TV athttps://www.youtube.com/@CityofStLouisMissouri/streams After this commission members will vote to send their recommendations to the Board of Aldermen who may put them on the […]

The post St. Louis Charter Commission to make recommendations appeared first on NextSTL.

Last week a $0 zoning-only building permit was submitted to convert the Optimist International at Lindell and Taylor in the Central West End neighborhood into a hotel. Winzerling of Versa Development and partner Rothchild Development are planning to preserve the pavilion building and replace the 1979 annex with a new 7 story building. The hotel […]

The post Versa Development plans to convert the Optimist International building into a hotel appeared first on NextSTL.

For over fifty years Greg Rhomberg, the former CEO of Nu Way Concrete Forms who passed away last year, collected and restored neon signs and other St. Louis memorabilia. Half a century later the collection has become an extensive private museum in a nondescript building called Antique Warehouse in Lemay, just south of St. Louis […]

The post Large Collection of St. Louis Neon Signs and Memorabilia to be Sold at Auction appeared first on NextSTL.

The long vacant Millennium Hotel in downtown St. Louis could finally see some movement. On March 26 the LCRA Board will consider a blighting study and authorization of the use of eminent domain to acquire the property. LCRA staff recommends up to a 90% property tax abatement for up to 20 years on incremental improvements. […]

The post Millennium Hotel could be blighted, acquired with eminent domain appeared first on NextSTL.

Another sore thumb property in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood is showing signs coming unstuck. 4101 Manchester at Sarah near the eastern end of the Grove commercial strip owned by Spencer Development LLC is listed for $2.2M by CBRE. The land was a surface parking lot owned by the city’s land bank, the LRA, until […]

The post Infamous vacant lot in the Grove for sale appeared first on NextSTL.

As the last golden hour ends for these storied properties on Kingshighway, let’s go down memory lane of Drury’s and Lux Living’s demolition by neglect. The buildings’ condition belied the massive investment in the neighborhood behind. Over $340M in building permits have been issued since 2007 when Drury started buying up properties. A proposal by […]

The post Infamous Kingshighway buildings in FPSE come down appeared first on NextSTL.

In September SSM Health officials announced plans for a new Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital at the corner of Grand and Chouteau in the Tiffany neighborhood. It would replace the current facility further south on Grand. They submitted a $300M building permit application last week. They plan to have it complete in 2027. Unfortunately the rendering […]

The post New Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital needs site plan adjustment appeared first on NextSTL.

The first buildings of AHM’s Downtown West proposal are proceeding through the approval process. It’s been a year and a half since AHM presented their plan for new builds and rehabs on the block surrounded by 21st, Locust, 22nd, and Washington and a mass-timber tower on the block to the east. NextSTL – AHM Presents […]

The post AHM Downtown West proposal moving along appeared first on NextSTL.

NorthPoint Development of Kansas City and neighborhood residents Derek and Toni Zimmerman purchased the storied properties along Kingshighway in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood from Lux Living, previously owned and neglected by Drury, last year. Their proposal brings new hope that something will finally happen to the prominent eyesore along Kingshighway that belies the massive […]

The post NorthPoint presents proposal for Kingshighway in FPSE, starts engagement process appeared first on NextSTL.

A recent NPR news story focused on how the city of Austin, TX has become the most recent large city to eliminate its minimum parking requirements, joining an increasing number of cities and states in doing so. This has once again touched off discussion of what to do about St. Louis’ parking requirements on various […]

The post Eliminating Parking Minimums Works. Ask Minneapolis and Buffalo appeared first on NextSTL.

The Oak Hill Corridor In 1886 a railroad branch was built running south from the Missouri Pacific “MoPac” and St. Louis & San Francisco “Frisco” line near what is now the Hill on land that was just beginning to develop as residences.  Dubbed the “St. Louis, Oak Hill, and Carondelet Branch” often shortened to just the […]

The post Rail + Trail:  Imagining a Greenway Through the Heart of STL appeared first on NextSTL.

Road reconfigurations and pedestrian and bicyclist safety are top of mind in St. Louis between last year’s Board Bill 120, the City’s upcoming Mobility Plan, and debate on how to spend the Rams settlement money. With increasing financial resources and support from residents we should closely look at every reconstruction and repaving project as an […]

The post Intersection Intervention: Union and Lindell appeared first on NextSTL.

Plans and renderings of the project to replace the almost century-old Union-Lindell bridge were presented to members of the Forest Park Advisory Board at their December meeting. Plans show a new entry/exit connector to Forest Park Parkway, as well as new aesthetic elements to form a new gateway into the city’s premier park. HDR is […]

The post First Look at the Union-Lindell Bridge Replacement appeared first on NextSTL.

Spitzberg-Lassen plans to build the “Townhomes at Tower Grove,” a 28-unit apartment building at the corner of Tower Grove and Vista across the street from Adams Elementary School in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. They submitted a $4M zoning-only building permit application earlier this month. The architect is Design Alliance, They are also the architect for Spitzberg-Lassen’s development […]

The post Spitzberg-Lassen Proposes Rowhouses at Tower Grove and Vista in FPSE appeared first on NextSTL.