THE GRAND CROSSING (St. Louie University)

“The Chasm” is where most new products fail. With early promise but a lack of momentum, they never take off and appeal to the majority of their target market. Successful products bridge the gap by appealing not just to the visionary, but to the pragmatist majority by demonstrating a complete product.

The Grand Crossing proposal applies this theory of technological entrepreneurship to the development of a site, city, and region where just such a bridge is needed to overcome an array of challenges.

Crossing Chasm #1: Regenerating the Site

Although surrounded by regional assets, the site sits underutilized unable to sustain many uses particularly those of residential and retail character. Although it is strategically located near a metro stop, it is haunted by a heavy freight train line with its accompanying noise and vibration, a major highway that visually separates much of the site and a raised major road with limited access. Mitigating those barriers and providing both activity centers and connections between them create a climate for the regeneration of the Grand Crossing site.

Crossing Chasm #2: Restoring Access and Circulation

The freight railway and highway have previously created dangerous and uninviting divisions through the site. It is simultaneously challenging for pedestrians and vehicles due to limited points of access from Grand Avenue and lack of activity on the street. A greenway crossing, the size of the site is constructed to completely span the railway, an improved grid is created to minimize the highway’s barrier effect, and a new commercial character is proposed to increase street activity. As a result, the site bridges the gap between the two halves of Saint Louis University and knits back together the surrounding neighborhoods. The convergence of this corridor with the Chouteau Greenway and MetroLink will draw users together from surrounding and more distant neighborhoods in all four cardinal directions.

Crossing Chasm #3: Enabling Economic Transition

Grand Crossing is designed to provide the next step for graduates of the local business incubators as they attempt to become commercially viable and new biotech companies to the area. Bringing together a mix of young companies in an interactive setting provides a context for innovation as well as a focus for venture capitalists, business lawyers, and others essential to business development. On an individual level, the site design encourages the potential for advancement that the biotech sector provides by enabling technology-focused educational opportunities for high school and college students and biotech professionals.

By crossing these Chasms, Grand Crossing creates a dynamic “complete community” that will spark new industry, technology and innovation that will emanate throughout the site, St. Louis, and the region.