The stack of weekly updates from Barb Geisman always has something in it that makes me smile — and blog.
On the list of recently completed SLDC commercial district façade improvement projects, I found plenty of evidence of our City’s remarkable diversity. Stepney’s Soul Food Diner on Natural Bridge shared billing with Cherokee Street’s El Torito Market and the Carondelet neighborhood’s Spanish Society.On a briefing page about ongoing interest in major commercial sites, there was note that the old Carondelet Coke site, soon to be developed by the Summit Group, is being eyed by "just-in-time" suppliers for the expanding Fenton Chrysler plant as an alternative to Fenton locations. That makes sense to me: the Carondelet Coke site has great access to the region’s interstate highways and both rail and barge access.And, Barb reported that the long-awaited rehabilitation of the historic Eads Building near Chouteau and Mississippi (across from the Ameren campus) is about to begin. Barb, who began her own architectural career years ago as a Lafayette Square rehabber, praises developer Julie Padberg-White (of Bike St. Louis fame) for her perseverence. Preservationists in the Lafayette Square area, working with the City’s Cultural Resources Office, had resisted calls to demolish these very dilapidated structures for many years, and that their perseverance is now paying off: Look for these buildings to be restored as commercial and residential space at a cost of approximately $1.8 million.
