St. Louis County officials discuss overhaul of Jamestown Mall
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
July 16, 2010
by Greg Jonsson
Residents and businesses concerned about the future of Jamestown Mall heard for the first time Thursday night from the team tasked with re-imagining the struggling shopping center, but got few details.
Those, planners say, need to come from the community.
Instead, the team lined up by the St. Louis County Economic Council showed some past work, discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by the north St. Louis County mall and outlined how residents, business owners, the property owners and officials will come up with a vision for the mall's future.
The team -- urban design firm Dover, Kohl & Partners, planning firm H3 Studio, economic advisers Urban Advisors and public relations company Vector Communications -- will host a series of meetings in September to look at all the options for the 152-acre site, get public input and begin to narrow the vision.
"It's going to be extremely important that you give us feedback," County Executive Charlie A. Dooley told a crowd of about 200 in a movie theater at the mall. "This is your community. You need to be engaged. Tell us what you want it to be for the next 20, 30, 40 years."
Nearly half of the storefronts stand empty, including two of the four anchors stores after Dillard's and Sears closed their locations at Jamestown Mall. Macy's and JC Penney outlet store remain.
In September, a panel of experts convened to study the struggling mall made its recommendation: Tear the mall down and start over. They threw out a few ideas, such as a specialty grocery store, a YMCA or a farmers market.
The "tear it down" proposal caused some customers to think the mall's days were numbered, and some businesses said they saw a big drop in sales, a drop that just added to their troubles.
But the mall is still there, and open. The recommendation was just a recommendation, and there's no money to tear Jamestown Mall down and no firm plans of what to build in its place.
Still, the county wants to get the ball rolling on planning for the future. The St. Louis County Economic Council is bankrolling the team now working on a plan for the mall.
The team will produce a feasibility study and master plan over the next eight months.
The sessions later this year will run from Sept. 9 to 14 and will be held at St. Louis Community College's Florissant Valley campus, where the team will set up a temporary design studio so participants can help them plan the future of the mall.
For more information, visit www.slcec.com/jamestownmall.html
