What’s present is past. I’d long documented the slow demise and demolition of Crestwood Plaza, and today there is substantial redevelopment on the site.
The irony, of course, is that it was originally built as a strip mall with a single anchor tenant and a grocery store, and now it has been rebuilt as a strip mall with a single tenant with a grocery story as the anchor
By the way, I always thought the old Famous Barr, at the far west end of the complex was one of the most non-descript and unattractive of all anchor buildings in all of the shopping center universe in St. Louis.
The new Dierberg’s looks great, and it now lies around the mid point of the old strip of the original Crestwood Plaza, seen below.
There is an eastern residential component with houses that look similar to ones on the Hill where McBride is also redeveloping a vacant former industrial site. The site of the old Stix Baer and Fuller/Dillard’s is still just a muddy lot.
And of course, there’s the office building just like at South County!
Despite the comings and goings of these larger commercial properties, St Louis, compared to Los Angeles, is a miracle of urban design and planning by comparison. And yes, that does include the now destroyed Pacific Palisades, which in it’;s day, is and was the nicest residential part of LA.
Interesting perspective–I have not visited Los Angeles and have not traveled to California since 1992.
Well to be honest, those strip mall retail tenant leases are usually/figuratively cheaper having a non anchor store, shop location with an enclosed shopping mall 🙂 Like isn’t that one of the reasons Kohl’s corporate side is pretty successful among those chain department store brands? Plus it’s also nice that some many decades long ago tarred parking lot within suburbia’s “older” parts is getting another lease of figurative life. Just like that former Maplewood Shop-n-Save location is now a more “average grocery price ranges” Schnucks one.
The Crestwood Stix was beautiful and elegant. The photos took me back when one dressed up to go shopping.
I wish I could have seen it in its heyday.