When it comes to the ongoing downtown revitalizations in cities throughout the nation, destination points always are part of such plans, since they bring in visitors. A good downtown revitalization always includes a sports stadium or two, since such spots create a vitality that radiates out into the neighborhood surrounding it.
In St. Louis, plans for a proposed Major League soccer stadium downtown are meant to build upon the success of recent developments there. The design plans dovetail into plans of the MLS league to expand to 30 teams.
Recently, MLS4TheLou released a conceptual design of the Major League Soccer Stadium that the booster group would like to see built in the city. The mixed-use, soccer-specific stadium will have a capacity of 22,500 to 25,500 visitors. Fans will be able to enter the stadium from all sides of the facility. A large entry plaza will serve at different times as a pre-game or post-game gathering spot for fans. The stadiums’s pitch will extend 40 feet below ground level—which will provide a unique sports viewer experience. The design plans resulted from a whirl of activity by organizers of the stadium push.
“It has been an amazing 36 hours for our effort to bring an MLS team to St. Louis. With Major League Soccer’s announcement that the league will expand to 30 teams, combined with being able to share our initial stadium design plan, we are inching closer to making this a reality for St. Louis,” says Carolyn Kindle Betz.
See Also: HKS unveils retractable-roof ballpark in Japan
The stadium will be configured so that it is open to the north and east, offering views of the Downtown West District neighborhood. Adjacent to the stadium, as part of the development, will be a grouping of mixed-use buildings and restaurants, which will add more character and definition to the surrounding neighborhood. The design concept for the stadium was partly informed by researching what many others have done in developing their city’s soccer stadium.
“Over the last six months, we’ve visited numerous MLS stadiums to review designs and learn best practices in order to be as thoughtful as possible to our proposed stadium here in St. Louis,” Kindle Betz says. “While they’re still a work-in-progress, we’re excited to finally give fans a glimpse at our proposed stadium.”
The design plans will bolster St. Louis’s chances of winning a new MLS team. Such a team would have about 20 regular season games and three exhibitions per season and be capable of hosting concerts and other events. The ownership group has been working with the partnership of HOK and Julie Snow, co-founder of Snow Kreilich Architects, as the design team helping to shape the initial vision of this project.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Dream Fields, Lone Star Style
How important are athletic programs to U.S. school districts? Here's one leading indicator: In 2005, the National Football League sold 17 million tickets. That same year, America's high schools sold an estimated 225 million tickets to football games, according to the American Football Coaches Association.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
| Aug 11, 2010
Nurturing the Community
The best seat in the house at the new Seahawks Stadium in Seattle isn't on the 50-yard line. It's in the southeast corner, at the very top of the upper bowl. "From there you have a corner-to-corner view of the field and an inspiring grasp of the surrounding city," says Kelly Kerns, project leader with architect/engineer Ellerbe Becket, Kansas City, Mo.
| Aug 11, 2010
Financial Wizardry Builds a Community
At 69 square miles, Vineland is New Jersey's largest city, at least in geographic area, and it has a rich history. It was established in 1861 as a planned community (well before there were such things) by the utopian Charles Landis. It was in Vineland that Dr. Thomas Welch found a way to preserve grape juice without fermenting it, creating a wine substitute for church use (the town was dry).
| Aug 11, 2010
Integrated Project Delivery builds a brave, new BIM world
Three-dimensional information, such as that provided by building information modeling, allows all members of the Building Team to visualize the many components of a project and how they work together. BIM and other 3D tools convey the idea and intent of the designer to the entire Building Team and lay the groundwork for integrated project delivery.
| Aug 11, 2010
Bronze Award: Alumni Gymnasium Renovation, Dartmouth College Hanover, N.H.
At a time when institutions of higher learning are spending tens of millions of dollars erecting massive, cutting-edge recreation and fitness centers, Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., decided to take a more modest, historical approach. Instead of building an ultra-grand new facility, the university chose to breathe new life into its landmark Alumni Gymnasium by transforming the outdated 99-y...
