Riverfront stadium gets new frills, keeps some historic buildings
• By David Hunn
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_ef6a0bb2-b7c0-5c2b-b9fc-f849a888322b.html
ST. LOUIS • Gone are the light towers, the square Jumbotrons and the parking lot grids.
The newest plans for an open-air riverfront stadium add a translucent lip girding the arena, giant televisions that rise with the stadium walls and greener, more geometric parking.
They even keep a few historic buildings, deemed too important, so far, to bulldoze.
“It really gives me peace of mind,” said Jack Larrison, owner of Shady Jack’s Saloon on North Broadway, whose biker bar now stays. “I worried to death about relocating.”
The planning team has been meeting with landowners, utilities, the National Football League and St. Louis Rams management for weeks, said David Peacock, one of two planners assigned to the task by Gov. Jay Nixon.
The stadium plan, meant to persuade the NFL to keep the Rams in St. Louis, could cost as much as $985 million. If a team does not commit to St. Louis, the stadium will not be built.
The changes released Monday are mostly practical, Peacock said.
The Army Corps of Engineers asked the planners to keep lighting from affecting river traffic, and, at the same time, the design firm HOK was tracking wind patterns. So the light towers were scrapped and a roof lip developed to block wind and contain field lighting, angled downward instead of out.
Planners pushed club seats more to the center. And the angular end zone replay screens — six times bigger than the ones at the Edward Jones Dome, where the Rams now play — were developed to fit the rising line of the stadium wall. (All screens that big have to be custom-built, Peacock said, so the shape doesn’t matter.)
In addition, designers tentatively added a few elements. A green swath just west of the stadium looks an awful lot like a practice field, with team offices surrounding it; Peacock said it could also be a “kid zone,” or even more parking. The railroad, which once seemed an obstacle, is now almost entirely underground, much as it is under the Gateway Arch grounds.
Four tunnels extend under Interstate 44 from Bottle District parking, and connect with a sweeping pedestrian path into the stadium to the south.
And the stadium planners have begun talking to Great Rivers Greenway, the trails district, about extending the Riverfront Trail and public parks north from the Arch.
Locals want food, drink and relaxation opportunities along the riverfront, said Susan Trautman, Great Rivers’ executive director. The Arch grounds redevelopment offers some of that, she said, but the real opportunities are in the stretch leading toward the stadium.
“The connection from the greenway into the stadium is really important,” she said.
At the same time, the new arena loses a few seats, Peacock said, dropping from 64,000 to about 62,000. The new seats are wide, with as much leg room as any stadium in the league. But designers also wanted standing rooms, sponsor decks and plenty of open space.
Rams attendance hovers around 57,000 now, Peacock said. In the really good years, the team drew fans in the mid-60,000s. They don’t want to build a stadium with too many seats. “We’d love a packed house,” he said.
There’s still plenty of room for temporary seating, to accommodate big events like Super Bowls, should one come here.
Designers are also thinking of the niceties, Peacock said: center islands housing food and beer booths, wide entry portals into the arena, and few seating sections blocking field views from concession halls.
And, for now, yes, Shady Jack’s, and all of that strip down North Broadway, will stay.
“It’ll be a great little row of eating and drinking establishments,” said Downtown STL President Doug Woodruff, who is helping put together the land.
Larrison said he was getting frustrated with the uncertainty. “People are afraid to book events,” he said. “You’re costing me business.”
He’s ready to redo his beer taps, add a deck and insert a $15,000 register system. “Now I can start working on my plans for the summer,” he said.
“I’m always updating something,” he said. “It’s time for me to quit being so cheap and spend some money.”
Not everyone there is convinced.
NYP Corp., formerly Great Western Bag, occupies one of the buildings that would be spared under the new plan.
But Barry Roché, a 32-year employee, said he believes the company would be forced to leave even if the buildings were saved.
“I’m sure they’ll kick us out,” he said, “and renovate the buildings for fancy bars.”
Tim Bryant of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Stadium plan updates
• Historic buildings along North Broadway would stay.
• Railroad line would go underground.
• Translucent lip added to top edge of stadium would provide lighting and wind block.
