New I-70 bridge and future improvements

The Poplar St Bridge is the only bridge that carries three interstates across the Mississippi. The new I-70 bridge currently under construction was proposed to reduce the bottle neck effect of the Poplar St Bridge. Thats great news for travelers but the real winner is the city of St Louis which will finally be reconnected with the Arch and riverfront. Depending on the success of the new bridge, St Louis may want to give I-55 its own river crossing farther south. Here is what the highways in St. Louis look like today:

This system was designed with commuters, not neighborhoods or the city, in mind. Despite this focus on motorists, they face frustration with the single bridge crossing. The interstates act like moats that divide the neighborhood fabric that previously existed. By building a new bridge for I-55 and connecting I-44 to I-64, the city can regain much of the land it lost to the interstates and repair the damage done to its neighborhoods. Here is what I hope the highways in St. Louis will one day look like:

Reconfigure I-64 in downtown St Louis

The strongest proposition of McEagle's NorthSide project is not in north St Louis, but in downtown. McEagle wants to reconfigure the existing access ramps of I-64 to free up nearly 30 acres for development:

The proposed reconfiguration would be the only place in downtown where you can enter and exit I-64 on the same street. It restores Clark Ave and portions of Walnut and Chestnut streets. The current configuration also acts as the unofficial terminus of downtown and barrier between downtown and midtown. The reconfiguration would allow the mall to continue two more blocks and connect downtown with midtown.

The area around 22nd St is not the only place downtown where access ramps cut into streets and city blocks. 22nd street's ramps are by far the worst in the city, but 10th and 6th streets are runners up. They have similar ramps that could be reconfigured to free up even more valuable land near Busch Stadium.

Here is what the ramps currently look like on 10th and Clark Ave:

Why not take advantage of the one-way streets and free up some land a block from the stadium:

 Here are the ramps for 6th street:

These ramps are unnecessarily long. If shortened, Cerre St and 6th St could be restored:

The current configuration of I-64 is like a sea monster with tentacles that strangle the life out of every block they cross over. Taming this monster will free up valuable parcels of land that will generate new revenue for the city.

Bridging the gap between downtown and LaSalle Park/Soulard

When I-64 40 was built it cut off downtown from city neighborhoods to the south. LaSalle Park became an entity of its own when it was separated from the rest of Soulard by I-44. Since then the neighborhood has seemed isolated and been in decline. Its separation could become an opportunity for the neighborhood to redefine itself as a transition between downtown and Soulard. The first step is to transform the I-64 overpass from a bridge that gives you anxiety to cross into a gateway that invites you to the otherside. Here is how the overpass appears looking north into downtown:

The bridge is flanked by a sea of parking for Busch stadium, which is mostly hidden by the bridge. 8th St has four lanes that get little use outside the beginning and end of baseball games. The sidewalks are too narrow for the kind of foot traffic that the stadium creates and the one on the right is cut off by the supports for I-64. Widening the sidewalks would make the street much safer for pedestrians. Converting two lanes into on-street parking could help alleviate game day parking shortages. The final touch would be a new facade for the bridge that would make it into a gateway instead of a moat. These changes would look something like this (only nicer):

With the new look and added parking perhaps the parking lots along 8th street would develop into more restaurants and sportsbars. You cant beat the location (at least not while Ballpark Village remains a parking lot).

Infrastructure improvements for Midtown/SLU

Saint Louis University's campus is divided by three significant barriers: Forest Park Ave, I-64 40, and the railroad tracks. Bridging this gap is Grand Blvd, a six lane road that is hardly pedestrian friendly. A few infrastructure improvements to help pedestrians in this area could lead to development of a college town along Grand Blvd. Here is what it looks like today:

The first barrier is Forest Park Ave. Students walking down Grand need a safe at-grade intersection with Forest Park. This can be achieved by removing the connection between Forest Park and I-64 and thus making Forest Park less of an expressway. Connecting Forest Park with Market St would make a great boulevard into downtown. The removal of the highway ramps would free up several acres along Forest Park for development:

Grand Blvd already has pedestrian traffic between the two SLU campuses and the Metrolink station. The street could become much more pedestrian friendly just by narrowing it. If the street was made like the Delmar Loop with two lanes for traffic, a turning lane, and two lanes for parking it would be much safer to cross. It would also serve as a catalyst for much needed development along Grand.

Evaluation of McEagle's NorthSide Regeneration project

History of NorthSide Project

Paul McKee, chairman of the development firm McEagle Properties, has been in the planning stages for his NorthSide regeneration project in north St. Louis city for five years. His plans have been kept very secret until he unveiled his project to the public last year. The project faces suspicion from some who are appalled by McEagle’s five years of secret land grabs and fear many in the community will be ousted by the project. It also is supported by many in St. Louis as the first real investment in the deteriorating area in decades and a chance to expand the city’s tightening coffers. Over the five year period of the project’s infancy, McKee has invested $46 million of his company’s money in acquiring properties in the area.

Size and scope of project

St. Louis is the site of many famous early urban renewal projects. The most famous and most disastrous is Pruitt-Igoe. Upon completion in 1954 this low income urban housing project was one of the nation’s largest. It had 33 eleven story towers that held 2,780 apartments. The site of the project was on 57 acres of the De Soto-Carr neighborhood which was mainly slums that were cleared to build the project. This site now lies entirely within the NorthSide area. Pruitt-Igoe is seen as one of the worst failures in urban renewal and planning. The site never exceeded 60% occupancy, became a nest of crime and violence, and was demolished 21 years after completion.

The largest urban renewal project ever to take place in St. Louis was Mill Creek Valley. This project encompassed 464 acres of what were African American slums between downtown and Saint Louis University. The city began acquiring and clearing land in 1958 and its desolate appearance in the 1960’s earned it the popular name ‘Hiroshima Flats’. Today the project is viewed by many as a success. It expanded SLU’s campus by 22 acres, allowed for the building of I-64 40, 2500 new housing units, and new jobs and industry. The project is criticized for the displacement of the African American community that was on the site. The project displaced an estimated 1,772 families and 610 individuals. Of those displaced 195 entered public housing, 174 moved to the Greater Ville, 1,498 moved to the neighborhoods in the NorthSide, while only 6 families and individuals moved to the county. This movement of people especially to the NorthSide lowered overall levels of home ownership and income. The neighborhoods already in decline faced more rapid deterioration and the schools were overwhelmed by the influx of new residents.

At 1,492 acres the NorthSide project will be the largest ever undertaken in the city of St. Louis and one of the largest in US history. 44% of the total land area is vacant lots and structures. McKee’s companies currently own 420 acres of vacant lots and 70 acres of vacant homes in the NorthSide area.The project is over 25 times the area of Pruitt-Igoe and over 3 times the area of Mill Creek Valley. Not surprisingly the NorthSide project will be more expensive: an estimate cost of $8.1 billion as opposed to $128 million for Mill Creek and $36 million for Pruitt-Igoe.

Project goals and feasibility

In McKee’s vision statement for his NorthSide project he outlines seven design principles his company will use as benchmarks for the project. These principles are education, transportation, smart energy, economic development, green framework, healthy community, and heritage. For each principle McKee sets lofty goals which, if met, would mean the complete transformation of the NorthSide area from a hyperghetto into a middle class neighborhood. The information McKee has made available on how he plans to fulfill each of his design principle goals is vague at best. The goals themselves do allow for speculation on how they could be achieved and how the community would be altered.

Education

Education in the NorthSide area of St. Louis is of the lowest quality in the nation. The area once was home to many fine public and parochial schools, but due to mass exodus of residents over the past century many of those institutions are now abandoned. Those that remain serve a more custodial as opposed to educational role for the youth of the community. The high school dropout rate for St. Louis City is 18.7%, more than twice the national average of 9.3%. Although due to school district lines there is no reliable data for the dropout rate for the NorthSide area, it is safe to assume that this area plays a significant role in the city’s high dropout rate.

Another key indicator of educational effectiveness within a community is the enrollment rate. Of the school age children (5-14 years old) only 63.9% are enrolled in school. With over a third of NorthSide children out of school before they reach high school it’s easy to conclude the school system has failed the community.

It is also important to examine the education level of the adult population to assess the continuing education needs of the community. Nationally the percent of the population with a high school diploma is 80.4%. In St. Louis City it is 71.3%. In the NorthSide it is a meager 30.4%. The gap becomes even wider looking at populations with a college degree. Nationally it is 15.5%; in St. Louis City it is 11.5%; and it is only 3.4% in the NorthSide.

McKee’s educational goals for the NorthSide would transform the area from one of the nation’s most backward into a leader and model educational community for the country. He wants the dropout rate to fall to 5%, almost a quarter of the city average and nearly half the national average. Enrollment for pre-high schoolers would increase from 63.9% to 90%. The population with a high school diploma would triple to 90%, a figure well above the national average. Most fantastically of all he plans the population with a college degree would reach 75% or roughly five times the national average. McKee states in his plan that he will increase educational attainment by “rehabilitating existing schools and building new schools and job education centers”. The numbers tell a different story. The current population of the NorthSide is so educationally anemic it couldn’t possibly reach such lofty goals outlined by McKee with the building of new schools. The only feasible way of reaching such goals would be to inject the area with a large population of people with high educational capital. This group doesn’t reside in the area because of the poor quality of schooling. The building of high quality schools could attract this group to the NorthSide. McKee’s educational goals will be reached not by astonishing growth in educational attainment by the current population of the NorthSide but rather the entrance of a new highly educated group.

Transportation

Transportation is an issue especially important for urban areas. Residents of the NorthSide enjoy access to mass transit well above city and national averages. 55% of all NorthSide homes are within a 15 minute walk from mass transit as opposed to 40% in the city and only 20% nationally. A similar story is seen for walkability; 4.5% of NorthSiders are able to walk to work while only 4% in the city and 2.9% nationwide. Unfortunately NorthSide mass transit is far less successful at getting people to their jobs. Nationally the percent of jobs that are within a 7-10 minute walk from mass transit is 15%; in St. Louis City it is 10%; and in the NorthSide it is only 2%. For an urban area such as the NorthSide, mass transit is severely under-serving the community’s need to get to work. This very low figure is also affected by the dwindling number of jobs within the NorthSide area. With fewer jobs available within the community, those who depend on mass transit to get to work face longer commutes to areas that have jobs.

McKee’s transportation goals for the community would make it one of the best connected in the nation. He proposes increasing transportation options, encouraging biking and walking through the expansion of the Great Rivers Greenway system to the area, and adding a trolley if funding becomes available. The objective of these proposals place 100% of homes within 15 minutes of mass transit, 80% of jobs within 7-10 minutes, and increase the population able to walk to work to 15%. The cost of improving transportation so drastically will be significant for the city. They will need far greater tax revenues to support such a system. The number of businesses within the NorthSide must also increase for the job figure to become reality. Improving walkability will require the building of hundreds of miles of sidewalks, bike paths, and marked crosswalks with crossing signals.

Smart Energy

The cost of energy in the NorthSide is very cheap. The average annual cost per household is $1,200 compared to $1,810 nationally. This can be attributed to the lower cost of energy in Missouri when compared to high cost energy states like California. The average annual cost of energy in St. Louis City is $300 higher than the NorthSide. Cheap energy in this area is due mostly to low energy demand. While the NorthSide population has steadily decreased, the energy capacity was designed to support a much greater population. Although NorthSiders enjoy energy on the cheap, the systems that deliver it show their age. The average number of power outages in St. Louis is 3 annually compared to 1-2 nationally. Also the carbon footprint is larger 1.92 lbs CO2/kWh in St. Louis verses 0.68 lbs CO2/kWh nationally.

McKee’s energy goal is to update the current energy infrastructure to include sustainable and alternative energy. He plans on incorporating wind, solar, river, waste to energy, and combined heat and power energies into the NorthSide’s energy portfolio. He believes he can maintain current energy costs while reducing the carbon footprint to zero and power outage rate to .01 per year. While the latter two goals are possible they make it rather unlikely that current energy costs will be maintained. Alternative energies are cleaner but have shown to be much costlier than traditional sources of energy. Not to mention the increase in population that is part of McKee’s plan will greatly increase energy demand in the NorthSide; low demand is the reason for cheap energy in this area.

Economic development

The economy in the NorthSide is more than depressed, it’s in ruins. Figures from the 2000 Census put the median household income in the NorthSide ($10, 491) less than a quarter of the national level ($41,994) and the percent of population living in poverty (49.1%) over five times the national level (9.2%). The concentration of persons living below the poverty line in the NorthSide more than meets the criteria for Wacquant’s hyperghetto of 40%. Nationally the unemployment rate of 8.5% is very high but is topped by the NorthSide’s rate of 10.7%.

McKee believes the success of his project relies on the area’s economic development and stability. His goal is to attract new businesses by changing the economic environment of the community. His plans for the NorthSide include increasing the median household income to $42,000, just above the national average; decreasing unemployment and population living in poverty to 5% each, significantly below the national average in both categories. He also has the curious goal of increasing minority and women owned businesses in the area. Currently these businesses make up 5% of all businesses in the area and 15% nationwide. His plan calls for minority owned businesses to be 25% and women owned to be 5% of all businesses in the NorthSide.

Green framework

The NorthSide area is home to many of St. Louis’ parks, but other than vacant lots the streets and neighborhoods sport very little green space. As a percentage of land area green space makes up 4% of the NorthSide and 10% nationwide. McKee plans on increasing the NorthSide’s green space to 11% of its land area. Much of this will be adding grassy medians to streets and extending the Great Rivers Greenway trail through the area. The most costly addition to green space ties not into aesthetics or walkability but sanitation. All people of St. Louis are served by a combined sanitary and storm sewer system. Nationally only 13% of people are served by a combined system like this and for good reason. When the system floods, which is very common for a floodplain like St. Louis, it is not only rainwater filling the streets but also raw sewage. St. Louis’ sewer system is outdated, unsanitary, and requires investment to meet the expectations of this century. McKee’s main green framework objective is to separate the storm and sanitary sewage system. His plans include building a new sanitary only sewage system and series of swales and rain gardens to act as auxiliaries for the current storm sewer. This could drastically decrease the number of sewer overflows and street floodings experienced in the NorthSide as well as bringing sanitation to twenty first century standards.

Healthy community

The biggest inhibitor to the health of the NorthSide community is the absence of essential institutions that promote overall health. In this area the percent of homes within a ten minute walk of a grocery store, health center, school, and fitness center is roughly 5%. Other variables that indicate the poor health in this community are crime, diabetes, and asthma. The project’s boundaries make it difficult to estimate the rates for these key variables for the area, but the rates in St. Louis city are a good barometer. St. Louis had 14,227 violent and property crimes last year, 10.3% of its population had diabetes, and 16.4% of adults had asthma. These figures are very high considering national rates of 3,808 crimes, 5.6% diabetes, and 7.2% asthma. North St. Louis is known for its high crime rates and poor health and is likely the primary driver of the high rates for the city as a whole.

McKee believes his project will decrease air pollutants, increase the availability of healthy foods, bring back needed community institutions, and lower crime rates. His objective is for 90% of all homes to be within a ten minute walk of a grocery store, health center, school, and fitness center. For this to be accomplished the NorthSide would have to achieve a very high density in order to support all these institutions at the neighborhood level. If he does achieve this his other goals of decreasing diabetes to 4% and adult asthma to 7% of the population would seem feasible. Of course lowering the crime rate is the keystone to all of these goals because if people don’t feel safe in their community, they are not going to walk to nearby institutions and will be unable to lead a healthy lifestyle. McKee’s goal of 5000 violent and property crimes for St. Louis would make the city rank moderately safe as opposed to second least safe in the nation. He doesn’t explain how this decrease in crime will be achieved but it follows the displacement of the current population that the other goals suggest.

Heritage

The final design principle of the NorthSide project is the ‘heritage’ of the community. McKee addresses the concern felt by many in the community that they will be displaced by the project. He claims this will not be the case because he has labeled homes with strong traditions and dedicated homeowners as ‘legacy properties’. These properties will not be demolished to make way for his developments and will enjoy all the improvements that his project entails. In the entire 1,500 acres of the NorthSide project, McKee will designate only 80+ legacy homes. These surviving homes will face significant increases in taxes as the infrastructural improvements and new developments will cause their property values to increase significantly. For most current residents of the NorthSide, these hikes in value will make living in the area unaffordable.

Project parts and timeline

Due to the size and scope of the project it has been subdivided into four phases. Phase A is the arm of the project that extends into west downtown. It focuses on reengineering the inefficient highway ramps to free up 30 acres for commercial buildings. Downtown St. Louis is a pedestrian friendly environment, but the current highway ramps at 22^nd street mark an abrupt end to the walkability of downtown. Phase A will restore the original alignment of the streets served by this highway exit and make the area pedestrian friendly. It will also extend the downtown mall and add valuable property for business and residential high-rises.

Phase B also focuses on highway realignment and creating a new business area. It takes advantage of the current Mississippi River Bridge project by proposing two additional off-ramps for the new I-70 bridge interchange that will provide additional access to downtown and the NorthSide. Construction on the bridge begins in 2011 and has already secured $640 million in funding. The NorthSide project will populate the area around the interchange with thousands of square feet of new office and retail space. This phase of the project will involve the realignment of streets and will consume a quarter of the Old North neighborhood. This neighborhood is the most stable area in the entire NorthSide project and has mounted the fiercest objections to McKee’s proposals.

Phase C is the largest land area and encompasses the near north side neighborhood of De Soto-Carr as well as St. Louis Place. The project designates most of its area for residential development. McKee proposes a business and retail area in the geographic center of the NorthSide project which lies within Phase C which will have a community center function. He provides no specifics as to what this entails. Phase D is similar to C in that it is a large area that will mostly become residential developments. A proposed business area in its northwest corner will host a 120,000 square foot medical center.

The time table for the project is very lengthy. Phases A and B are scheduled to begin in 2010 and last until 2024. Next year is an ambitious start date for projects of their size and scope but they must get off the ground by then if they are to qualify for highway stimulus money. Phases C and D begin in 2014 and 2012 respectively and are both scheduled to finish in 2030. The danger of having a project with such a lengthy time frame is that a lot can change over the course of 20 years. Plans made today almost certainly will not fit realities on the ground 20 years into the future. The Mill Creek Valley project was highly criticized for lasting longer than a decade. The years spent between demolition and development earned it the name Hiroshima Flats.

Project funding

The NorthSide project will heavily rely on public funding to get it off the ground. McKee is asking the city of St. Louis for $391 million in tax increment financing. If approved by the city it would constitute the largest sum of TIF money dedicated towards a single project in city history. Additional tax credits and incentives put the total investment in the project by the city at over $739 million. This figure boils down to a $5,000 subsidy per city resident and 45% of the total investment in the project. Although the city will provide nearly one third of NorthSide’s equity it will have no ownership stake in the project. TIF subsidies provide renewal projects will money derived from the increased tax revenue that the project is assumed to create. Although the NorthSide project promises to greatly increase the city’s tax revenue by gentrifying a blighted area, the added services it proposes along with the expansion of school, fire, and police districts that will be necessary as the area becomes more populous will eat into much of these revenues.

The NorthSide will also rely on federal stimulus dollars. In addition to the highway stimulus money, many of the projects other objectives fall in nicely with President Obama’s various agendas. The design principles that focus on education, alternative energy, infrastructure, and green space are all in line with the Obama administration’s priorities and will surely receive federal assistance.

Evaluation of NorthSide Project

The NorthSide project is an enormous undertaking that will have positive and negative consequences. The area it aims on renewing has very high potential value due to its proximity to the downtown central business district. Currently 44% of the land is vacant which demonstrates the area is underutilized and undervalued. Deterioration and lack of investment have allowed crime, poverty, and blight to prevail in the community. Something needs to be done to restore safety, prosperity, and dignity to the community.

The NorthSide project will introduce $8.1 billion of much needed investment to the area. New pedestrian friendly roads, sidewalks, and greenways will add a sense of interconnectedness and security to the community. The return of vital institutions that provide healthcare, education, healthy foods, and fitness will improve the mental, physical, and intellectual wellbeing of the community. Clean energy and modern infrastructure will bring the area into the twenty first century and will make it desirable for home and business owners well into the future.

All the positive improvements the NorthSide project will create come at a cost and negative consequences for many people. Very little of the heritage of north St. Louis will be preserved as only 80+ houses in what was once among the most densely built communities in the national will survive the project. Current residents of the community are unlikely to realize any of the benefits from the project’s $8.1 billion in investment. Assuming the success of the project, property values will be too high for any of these people to afford to live in their former community. They will have to go elsewhere to find affordable housing—housing that is becoming scarce in the city of St. Louis. The city itself is taking on enormous risk by endorsing the project will so much TIF and other monies. If the project falls short of McKee’s objectives or fails to create a sustainable community it will cost the city millions. Even if it does succeed the margin of revenue realized by the city will be partly or wholly consumed by services it is obligated to provide to the more populated community.