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| Downtown News is a monthly
newsletter published by the Downtown St. Louis Community
Improvement District for its members, downtown property and
business owners, the downtown business and residential community
and all others interested in downtown revitalization. Send all
responses and inquiries to Shuntae' Shields Ryan, Marketing
& Communications Director, via e-mail or mail to: 906 Olive
Street Suite 200 St. Louis, MO 63101 |
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The City of St. Louis Treasurer's Office broke
ground for a $16 million, 192,000 square foot garage
located at the northeast corner of Tucker Blvd. and Clark
Avenue next to the Chouteau Building. The new eight level
garage, called the Justice Center Garage, is taking the place of
an existing surface parking lot and will include 520 parking
spaces and 10,000 square feet of street level retail
space.
Features of the garage will include 20-foot
sidewalks, Diamond Vision Boards and programmable LED lights on
the garage's contemporary façade. 
The Justice Center garage will be
used for downtown employees, event and sports parking and for
those using the area to visit hotels, restaurants and more. The
project's engineering and architectural firm will be
Chicago-based DESMAN Associates and locally-based C. Rallo
Contracting Co., Inc. will serve as the construction manager.
Construction on the project is scheduled to begin immediately
with completion in February 2009.
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LoftWorks has invested $9 million into converting
the former Ludwig Aeolian piano store into retail, residential
and office space. The seven story building includes 14
apartments (eight presently leased), five office tenants, a new
ground floor bridal shop and space for one additional office
tenant. 
Tenants of the newly renovated building include All
State Insurance, Ebersoldt & Underwood Architects, Tower29
Media Development, Signature Studio Photography and Where
Magazine/St. Louis Bride Magazine.
The residential units range in size from
612 - 1246 square feet with pricing starting at $745 to $1,295.
Features of the apartments include high celings, painted brick
walls, polished concrete floors and all new oversized operable
windows.
Features of
the building include all new storefronts, historic facades and a
new lobby with hardwood floors. Other projects LoftWorks is
known for include The Syndicate, Louderman Lofts,
10th Street Lofts, Moon Brothers, Printers Lofts,
Bell Lofts and the Lofts at 315.
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For the fourth year
in a row the St. Louis Public Library has garnered more positive
media attention toward St. Louis, ranking 2nd place
in the Library Category of the America's Most Literate Cities
study. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Center
for Public Policy and Social Research at Central Connecticut
State University (CCSU). Among the 69 largest cities
(populations of 250,000 or greater) in the nation, the City of
St. Louis finished 6th overall (up from
12th in 2006).
The America's Most Literate Cities
study attempts to capture one critical index of our nation's
health-the literacy of its major cities. The study focuses on
six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of
bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources,
educational attainment, and Internet resources (introduced in
2005 to gauge the expansion of literacy to online
media). | |
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As a reminder during the Highway I-64 closure, a
number of efforts continue to help keep the public abreast of
their options.
The Downtown St. Louis Partnership
has placed a section on our website called the "I-64
Toolbox" which reminds people that "All Paths Lead Downtown"
 and encourages visitors to the site to view
all of the things "to do" in downtown St. Louis. Click
here for more information. You can also keep up to date
on transportation information with Downtown Partnership Jim
Cloar's monthly column in the St. Louis Business Journal, called
Mobility Matters. We have also just recently begun
distribution of a biweekly "Transportation Updates"
mailing. To view the first issue, click
here. For more information, contact Patrice Gillespie
Smith at pgsmith@downtownstl.org.
The Downtown St. Louis Partnership has
also been a partner with several other organizations in the
launching of a multi functional website,
www.getaroundstl.com, that is St. Louis' official
one-stop resource for information on where to go, what to do and
how to get there during the construction project. For more
information, click here.
Earlier this month Metro, the operator of the Metro
public transportation system for the St. Louis region, partnered
with Schupp Co. to launch a campaign that focuses on the
convenient and affordable means of transportation offered by
Metro. The campaign, called Decongestant M (contains the
active ingredients of MetroBus and MetroLink), is a fun way to
approach traffic congestion and it's giving commuters that are
stuck in traffic and not knowing how to deal with it an
alternative means to get to work. The campaign includes
billboards, radio and television commercials, print ads and
more. For more information, visit www.decongestantm.com.
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The Downtown Visitors Guide - the official visitors
and newcomers guide to  downtown St. Louis is back! This very popular
guide features every attraction and point of interest in
downtown St. Louis including every attraction, restaurant,
museum/gallery, hotel, club/bar, retail establishment, downtown
living option, and personal service provider in downtown that
would be of interest to newcomers (visitors, conventioneers, new
employees, new residents, consultants, temporary employees,
visitors, etc.).
The publication focuses exclusively
on downtown and continues to be one of the most widely requested
pieces that we have. It is placed at various locations
throughout the region, including suburban shopping malls,
Visitors Centers (downtown, Forest Park and the Airport) and
hotels. Click
here to view the guide or, to request more copies, contact
Shuntae Shields Ryan at sryan@downtownstl.org.
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The
St. Louis Sports Commission and University of Missouri will host
the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Scottrade Center
March 20-22, 2008. With 15,000 visitors coming to town for the
event, generating $10 million in economic  impact (most of those dollars spent downtown),
the Sports Commission needs the support of the community to keep
those fans and revenue created by the event coming to St. Louis
permanently.
Purchasing at least two or four all-session tickets
(for your use or to be donated to a local youth organization) to
the 2008 Wrestling Championships will boost ticket sales
numbers, help fill Scottrade Center, and enable St. Louis to
make a clear statement to the NCAA that we want to be home to
the Wrestling Championships permanently.
In addition, all merchants
that participate in this program can provide materials (coupons,
fliers, etc.) that can be offered to fans at the St. Louis
information table inside Scottrade Center during the
championships or included in the welcome packets distributed to
the 500 athletes and coaches. To participate in this program, click
here. For questions, call 314.206.7388 or email kjuenger@stlsports.org.
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A new upscale special event facility called Lumen
has opened on the ground floor of  the Packard Lofts Building. Co-owned by Pat
Shannon (Mike Shannon's Steak & Seafood), Buddy Coy, and
Pete Ferretti (Loungeconcepts- Pepper Lounge, Nectar, Mandarin),
the $1.4 million space renovation includes 9,000 square feet of
event space available for weddings, corporate events, charity
galas, and private parties for up to 550 guests.
Lumen features state-of-the-art LED lighting that makes the
room glow, 20 ft ceilings, hardwood floors, and a mezzanine
overlooking the first floor. Menu highlights include a variety
of action buffet stations, signature drinks, and passed hors
d'oeuvres. Menus can be customized. | |
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In a space vacant for nearly five years, a new
Irish pub has opened on the ground floor space of the Hampton
Inn at the Arch. The new owners invested $3 million in building out the 6,000 square foot space with
everything in the pub constructed in or sourced from Ireland.
Tigin, the name of the new eatery, is a Gaelic word meaning
small cottage
The restaurant features a
Contemporary Irish fare with traditional Irish Breakfast,
Bangers and Mash, Fish (cod that is tempura battered) and Chips
(thick cut French fries), a signature dish called the boxty
(Northern Irish dish best described as a savory potato crepe
thinly sliced and fried to create out boxty straws, stuffed with
steak, onions and mushrooms with a whiskey sauce to make a
Trinity Steak Boxty, or as a substitute to tortilla shells to
make our Chicken Boxty Quesadillas.
Hours of
operation are Monday - Sunday, 11am to 3am. Saturday and Sunday
open times vary according to European Sports being shown--If
there is an English soccer game being played at 6:30 am they
will be showing
it! | |
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Late last year several retailers along Washington
Avenue decided to work together  to offer great sales pricing and discounts at
their stores. With the success of the first huge sales event
called "Women on Washington" the store owners have once again
decided to bring the sales event back February 2, 2007 from 11
am - 7 pm.
Each of
the six retailers involved in this promotion, Masulla, Charm,
City Chic, Paper Dolls, MacroSun and The Time, will offer a 20%
discount to all shoppers and a "thank you" gift that will be
sent later via mail. For more information on each participating
shop, see the information below.
Masulla, 1301
Washington Avenue*314-241-SHOP* www.masulla.com
Charm, 605 N. 13th Street*314-588-8203*
www.charm-boutique.com
City Chic,
1426 Washington Avenue*314-621-9948* www.citychicshoeboutique.com
Paper Dolls, 1021 Washington Avenue*314-621-9696*
www.paperdolls-stl.com
MacroSun, 1310 Washington Avenue*314-421-6400*
www.macrosun.com
The Time, 922 Washington Avenue*314-241-7171* www.thetimeboutique.net
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www.downtownstl.org
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at 1224 Washington Avenue. The project will
feature 22 rental units and ground floor retail space. 
floor of the Ludwig Lofts building in the
original Ludwig Aoelian piano showroom. The 3,000 square foot
bridal shop offers a wide variety of wedding gowns ranging from
destination dresses to ball gowns, with customizing available to
create the perfect dream dress. 
16,000 square foot, 12 lane bowling alley on the
ground floor of Lucas Lofts. The bowling alley features
signature cocktails such as the Blackberry Royale and Pink
Mojito, an eclectic American menu with a Latin influence,
private party space and much more. Reservations for office or
holiday parties are encouraged. Hours of operation are Wednesday
- Sunday, Noon - 3 am and Monday and Tuesday, 3 pm - 3 am.
accommodate almost 100 people, twice of what
they could at their previous location. Specialty menu items
include home made salsa, tamales, tacos, burritos, 26
margaritas, and baked quesadillas. Hours of operation are Monday
- Friday, 11 am - 9 pm and Saturday from 3 pm - 9 pm. For more
information call 314.231.5620 or visit 