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Saint Louis CitySide - an overview of the City Government of Saint Louis
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 St. Louis Front Page presents St. Louis CitySide, an overview of the City Government of Saint Louis. From time to time, we will take an indepth look at many of the projects in which the city is involved and how these projects will affect residents and visitors.
 St. Louis Aldermanic Ways and Means Committee Endorses Ballpark Agreement/Summary of Final AgreementBallpark Bill Draws Heated Opposition at Public Forum/House Bill NO. 1889Saint Louis Art Museum Donates $10 Million to 'Heart of the Park' ImprovementsSt. Louis Lands 2004 U.S. OlympicWomen's Marathon Trials Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing Site DedicatedMississippi River Trail DedicatedMayor Slay, Multi-Faith Religious Leaders Encourage Religious ToleranceTaking Stock of Our City and Our RegionMissouri Attorney General Stops Internet Auction FraudSt. Louis/East St. Louis Joint Economic Development Initiative Receives Nearly $3 Million in Funding |
Revitalization of Downtown Begins With $35 Million Renovation of Old Post Office ST. LOUIS, MO, (SLFP.com), March 12, 2002 - The DESCO Group and DFC Group, Inc., both of St. Louis, are moving forward with their proposed $35 million renovation of the Old Post Office and development of a $38.6 million, 1,050-space parking garage on the west side of Ninth Street between Olive and Locust streets. The DESCO/DFC development team and the not-for-profit Downtown Now! organization have invested more than $750,000 in project planning over the last 17 months. According to a spokesperson for DESCO, the development will anchor and serve as catalyst for new office, retail and residential development totaling $213 million in surrounding historic structures. The combined $286.6 million capital investment will create more than 2,000 jobs during construction and more than 2,300 permanent jobs. When completed in late 2003, the ownership of the Old Post Office will likely be transferred to the State of Missouri by the federal government (the General Services Administration). The parking garage will be owned by the state's Missouri Development Finance Board (MDFB) and operated by the Parking Authority of the City of St. Louis or another operator selected by MDFB. Proposed Users of the Old Post Office Two anchor tenants intend to occupy the Old Post Office. A 50,863-square-foot downtown campus for Webster University will be located on the moat, mid and mall levels (two levels below grade and first floor). The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, will occupy 47,927 square feet on the third and fourth levels. The historic third floor courtrooms will be preserved and used as the Court En Banc and the Missouri Court of Appeals Library. Up to 60,000 square feet will be leased for retail uses on the moat and mall levels and first class multi-tenant offices on the second floor. The 242,000-square-foot Old Post Office provides about 155,000 square feet of rentable area. Significance of the Old Post Office The General Services Administration ranks the Old Post Office as the sixth most historic building in its vast inventory of structures. Construction of the 242,000-square-foot Old Post Office Building, originally known as the St. Louis Custom House and Post Office, was begun in 1872 and completed in 1884 at a cost of $5.7 million. It stands four stories tall with two additional levels below grade. The primary architect was Alfred B. Mullett, supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury. The building's monumental proportions, emphasis on vertical elements and distinctive double-slope hipped roofline are characteristic of its French Second Empire architectural style. The Old Post Office and the Executive Office Building (originally the State, War and Navy Building) in Washington, D.C. are the only two remaining French Second Empire governmental buildings in the U.S. The style was imported from France, where it was popular in government buildings during Napoleon III's modernization of Paris in the last half of the 19th century. The most famous Second Empire building in the world is the Louvre in Paris. The Old Post Office is also the only remaining Custom House and Post Office completed in the late 1800s. Four similar structures in Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Cincinnati were demolished between 1936 and 1942. In addition to its historic architecture, the building features:
The first floor facade consists of Iron Mountain Red Granite, transported by train from Iron Mountain, Mo., 87 miles west of St. Louis. The three upper levels are faced in Grey Hurricane Island Granite from Maine, shipped by boat via the Atlantic Ocean to New Orleans and up the Mississippi River. The Old Post Office was originally built to house all federal offices in St. Louis, which had become the hub for post-Civil War expansion westward. The building has served as a U.S. Post Office, Custom House, U.S. Courthouse and one of only three sub-treasuries in the country. It has also hosted various federal offices, including Steamboat, Lighthouse, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, military recruiting offices and U.S. Congressmen's offices. The building symbolized the nation's resurgence following the devastation of the Civil War. Its design conveyed a reassuring image of unity and strength within a city that played a central role in the country's recovery and the nation's westward expansion. At the March 18, 1884 opening ceremony, General William T. Sherman described the building, "It was a symbol not only of the business sense of this republic, but an emblem of power, an evidence of the kindness of the government of the United States." Ninth Street Garage Parking demand in the Old Post Office district exceeds more than 1,200 net new spaces despite new parking construction currently under way downtown. DESCO undertook a comprehensive October 2001 parking study which made a compelling case for replacing the Century Building with a modern, attractive parking garage. The Ninth Street Garage "reads" like the Century Building. The garage's sensitive design, scale and massing "reads" as a structure similar to the existing Century Building, rather than the state-of-the-art, secure and efficient parking structure it will be. First floor retail spaces fronting Ninth Street and limited retail space on the Olive Street facade will restore street-level retail uses characteristic of that location prior to the district's decline. That retail vitality has been absent from the streetscape for more than 10 years. Bi-State Development Agency and the City of St. Louis are conducting independent studies on the possibility of locating a Bi-State transit center at the Ninth Street Garage to provide riders with secure, weather-protected waiting areas for transferring between large metro buses and smaller downtown shuttle buses. Proposed Funding About one-third of the $35 million Old Post Office redevelopment cost will be privately financed by an $9.1 million bank loan supported by the net operating income of the property and $2.2 million of the loan will be supported by City of St. Louis tax increment financing for a total of $11.3 million. Other funding sources include $5.8 million from the issuance of $6.3 million in federal historic tax credits and a $1.5 million special purpose grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Administration [for a total of $7.8 million in federal contributions]; $6.4 million from the sale of $7.8 million in Missouri historic tax credits; and $10 million in financing from the Missouri Development Finance Board provided by St. Louis civic donations (net cost to state: $5 million in contribution tax credits). The $38.6 million in Ninth Street Garage funding includes $15.3 million in privately credit-enhanced financing, supported by the garage's operating revenue; $5.3 million from Bi-State (about 90 percent of which originates with the federal government), and $18 million in financing from the Missouri Development Finance Board funded by St. Louis civic donations (net cost to state: $9 million in contribution tax credits). According to the DECSO/DFC proposal, construction is scheduled to begin in September 2002. Renovation of the Old Post Office and construction of the Ninth Street Garage is planned to be completed and ready for occupancy by Webster University classes in late 2003, followed by operations of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, in early 2004.  Archived Story: Downtown Now! Is Open for Business Archived Editorial: Revitalizing Downtown St. Louis
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