51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� A stroll along Seventh Street downtown is like walking through two cities at once.

At Washington Avenue, Seventh is lively. Office workers file in and out of the US Bank building. The tables outside the burger joint are busy.

Just a block away, the giant, vacant Railway Exchange building is fire-scarred, tagged with graffiti and covered in steel plates to keep out looters.

鈥淭here鈥檚 some really rough spots,鈥� said Bill DeWitt III, president of the 51黑料 Cardinals. 鈥淭he streetscape is pretty iffy.鈥�

For seven years, downtown officials and business leaders have been plotting a transformation of the six blocks of Seventh that connect the convention center on Washington with Ballpark Village and Busch Stadium to the south. Their vision is extensive: They want to repave the street and install new sidewalks, crosswalks and trees to shade pedestrians. They plan to add new bike racks and a bike lane with raised buffers between it and the driving lanes. There will be new cameras for security and signal upgrades to improve traffic flow.

The result, officials say, will be a brighter, safer and more walkable street 鈥� the kind of place residents and visitors will want to go and the kind of place where developers, restaurateurs and shop owners will want to invest their money.

The $3.5 million plan has the backing of heavyweights like the Cardinals, financial firm Stifel and natural gas company Spire, all with headquarters downtown.

And downtown could use the lift right now: It鈥檚 an economic powerhouse, the only place capable of drawing 45,000 concertgoers or 100,000 sports fans in a single day. But the office market has yet to recover from the pandemic. Residential vacancies remain elevated. And an uptick in shooting incidents this year has refueled narratives about lawlessness.

A revitalized street, packed with retailers between two of the area鈥檚 cornerstones, would be a welcome boost.

鈥淭he enhancements to Seventh Street will provide a better street-level experience that will attract the shops, restaurants, and other activated spaces that make downtowns special,鈥� said Kurt Weigle, who leads downtown initiatives for Greater 51黑料 Inc., the region鈥檚 main business lobby. 鈥淲e look forward to seeing the work get started.鈥�

Weigle said a beautiful new Seventh Street would also build on other momentum downtown.

Greater 51黑料 and other boosters have been putting on events such as Thursday concerts in Kiener Plaza and the Blues at the Arch Festival last weekend. A recent study of cellphone data suggested up between March 2023 and February 2024. And a new program offering retailers grants to locate downtown has had a 鈥渢remendous response.鈥�

鈥淎dd that to a new Seventh Street, and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 confident that we are really starting to turn the corner downtown,鈥� Weigle said.

The project is a long time coming.

Amos Harris, who helped develop the Mercantile Exchange complex off Seventh Street on Washington Avenue, recalled an application for federal money being filed as early as 2017.

Harris, who was then leading the area鈥檚 special taxing district, said the impetus was a familiar one: bringing more young professionals downtown, with their money and nightlife-sustaining energy.

With the loft apartment boom from 2000 to 2010, the number of city residents ages 20-29 rose 11%, according to census figures. But between 2010 and 2020, it dropped 17%.

And in the first quarter of this year, vacancy rates for apartments and condos in the central business district were still 50% higher than they were in 2019, according to data from Cushman & Wakefield.

Reversing that starts with a denser, more vibrant downtown, Harris said, and that starts with dense, vibrant streets.

He thought Seventh Street fit the bill: It had plenty of ground-level retail space. It was near high-end office space 鈥� a bigger plus before the pandemic. And it was narrower than, say, Washington Avenue, making it easy to envision people crossing back and forth between shops and restaurants.

Seventh Street also ran past opportunities, such as the US Bank plaza, perfect for street events, and the Railway building, whose revival has since been deemed essential to the area鈥檚 future 鈥� not to mention its decrepit parking garage across the street.

The federal government agreed to fund the plan the next year, Harris said. Design work .

But around that same time, the project took a series of detours that continue to this day.

There were hiccups with getting the city鈥檚 portion of the funding in place. The pandemic hit. It took some time to sell state tax credits to 51黑料 businesspeople to raise more money. Costs rose in the interim.

When the city put the project out for bid in 2022, all three proposals , forcing city officials to find more money.

They did, and earlier this year, the Board of Public Service gave initial approval to a $3.5 million contract with Rainieri Construction.

In May, .

Then this month, city spokesperson Conner Kerrigan said trouble acquiring traffic signal equipment had pushed the start date back to September or October.

Meanwhile, there are still ongoing discussions about the project鈥檚 design. Some business owners worry that the bike lane could cause problems for trucks dropping off deliveries at office buildings and hotel guests valeting their cars.

鈥淚t cuts our ballroom entrance off from the street,鈥� said Amy Gill, whose firm owns Hotel 51黑料. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 make any sense.鈥�

Even Harris, one of the project鈥檚 original champions, said that鈥檚 a problem, along with losing parking spots to improvements along the route.

鈥淗opefully there鈥檚 enough political oomph that we can get a change order done,鈥� he said.

But leaders at Greater 51黑料 Inc. and City Hall brushed off the concerns and projected confidence that, despite delays, the project will get done and deliver the promised benefits.

Weigle, Greater 51黑料鈥� downtown czar, noted that construction plans include a drop-off lane in front of Hotel 51黑料.

Rasmus Jorgensen, a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and , said in a statement, 鈥淭he most exciting downtown areas worldwide are those packed with people, not cars.鈥�

鈥淢aking Seventh Street, from Ballpark Village to the Convention Center, a more walkable, bikeable, and beautiful space,鈥� Jorgenson said, 鈥渨ill greatly enhance the amount of foot traffic in this important stretch of downtown, which we have every reason to believe will be good for businesses along that corridor.鈥�

Dana Thomas, a visiting public health executive doing some work outside Hotel 51黑料 on a recent evening, got a skeptical look on her face when she heard the plans.

She said she was from the Detroit area, and 51黑料 felt like where her city was 15 years ago, just before the city鈥檚 bankruptcy that famously prompted the area鈥檚 business titans to reinvest in downtown, .

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much potential,鈥� she said, looking up at the Railway Exchange building across the street. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 depressed.鈥�

She said she鈥檇 noticed a lot of closed restaurants and coffee shops that close in the early afternoon. It seemed to her like residents were couching their recommendations to her almost apologetically.

鈥淚t feels like they鈥檙e preparing you to be disappointed,鈥� she said.

But she saw hope, too. In Detroit, she said, the first indicator that a neighborhood is coming back is the addition of bike lanes.

鈥淐onnecting is a good idea,鈥� she said, 鈥渋f it鈥檚 done right.鈥�

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of mayoral spokesperson Rasmus Jorgensen.