Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A Clear View on Washington!... Well Almost

This week, exactly a month after the Bridge Bash, the St. Louis Centre sky-bridge over Washington Avenue is completely gone. Looking from a few blocks west, it is almost hard to believe that it ever existed.

The westbound lanes of Washington Avenue are now reopened. The eastbound lanes are still blocked as demolition crews still work on removal of the half bay of the mall that extends over the sidewalk on the south side of Washington.

The former Stix Baer & Fuller (Dillards) building is now completely free of the former structure. It's facade awaits restoration as part of the Laurel project which is now underway to convert the building into a hotel, apartments, and ground floor retail.

The view east however is still marred by the final barrier between Downtown St. Louis and the riverfront. Check out City to River's recently added page to see what you can do to help remove this last obstacle to reopening our City's front door.

The gaping wound in the former mall building.

Scar tissue on the Stix facade... fortunately all reparable.

4 comments:

STLgasm said...

Never thought I'd see the day!

Kate said...

What a welcome sight!

Vanishing STL said...

YES!!

A.A. said...

This is HUGE! What a wonderful outcome and once the I-70 elevated lanes are gone this will really make a difference!