The views of downtown from the McKinley Bridge are also impressive.
The vacant Southwestern Bell building can be seen below, with the boarded up windows that were shot out by stray bullets earlier this year clearly visible.
The Eagleton Federal Courthouse is to the west.
Then there is the iconic Civil Courts building.
The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge is the next span down the river.
The Gateway Arch is to the south of the bridge.
How in the world could such a prominent building be vacant?
No demand for such huge monolithic block of office space in St. Louis, unfortunately.
Isn’t the SW Bell building the lovely art deco-style facility? Unless I’m mistaken, the building with the plywood-covered window openings is the vacant ATT Center.
It’s a little confusing. Both buildings, plus a smaller one in the style of the 1980s skyscraper, were once all part of Southwestern Bell, one of the “Baby Bells,” created after the breakup of “Ma Bell,” which was the monopoly of AT&T. In fact, they were the headquarters right here in downtown St. Louis. Fast forward many decades and the two 1980s buildings are vacant, and the Art-Deco masterpiece is the only occupied building that is still Southwestern Bell, which is now based in San Antonio and renamed the historic predecessor’s name of ATT&T. But you are correct that the tallest 1980s building has also been known as the AT&T Center by some, probably because the name reverted to the historic name of the telephone company. Many local news sources have been sloppy with terminology, using them interchangeably. The Business Journal refers to the historic Art-Deco skyscraper as Gothic Revival, which it is most certainly not!