May 17, 2017
A new look for Kiener Plaza
Around Town Eagle Scout projects spruce up Pallottine Renewal Center. P.3
Community Voices By Charlotte R. Beard. P.2
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Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis will reopen to the public with a two-day celebration kicking off on Friday, May 19.
Learn & Play
Iconic downtown gathering spot reopens after extensive renovations on May 19 By Nicholas Elmes After over a year of extensive renovations, the iconic Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis will reopen to the public with a two-day celebration kicking off on Friday, May 19. The newly renovated public space will serve as the key gateway point to visitors to a variety of downtown landmarks including the Arch, the convention center and Busch Stadium, according to Ryan McClure of the CityArchRiver Foundation, of the three entities responsible for the new plaza. “It will be your starting point for your journey downtown,” McClure said, noting that after the recent conversion of a parking garage near the Arch to a park space, Kiener Plaza will be a key starting point for visitors and locals alike. “People used to park on the Arch grounds, go up in the Arch and get back in their cars without ever setting foot downtown. Now they are going to be starting their journey from Kiener Plaza where there will be a lot of way-finding signage to direct them to all that downtown has to offer.” Of course visitors will be greeted with much more in the new park where the $23.7 million renovation features more than 140 new trees and a shade garden so people can enjoy a relaxing park setting, the Courthouse Lawn which can hold more than 2,000 people for concerts and events,
a playground for children of all ages, an interactive water feature, the iconic Runner Statue, which will return to its home at the center of Kiener Plaza with a new fountain and LED lighting, lots of seating, tables and benches for people to enjoy the fresh air, eat a meal or hold an event, improved pedestrian connections and street parking for easy access to the park and improved lighting across the park. “On a daily basis you have 90,000 people working downtown and this will be a great space with tables and chairs where people can gather and eat lunch,” said McClure, noting that the new space is also designed to host a variety of special events, both those traditionally held in Kiener Plaza and new events. “Rallies, concerts, parade watching, all of that will still happen there along with a lot more, starting from the moment we cut the ribbon on May 19.” Opening day activities include the ribbon cutting at noon with a drum line performance by the Car Lane VPA Middle School, and live music by the Kelly Wild Duo until 1:30 p.m., with food trucks for those looking to grab a mid-day bite in the new space. The fun continues on Saturday, May 20, where a day of entertainment will be the perfect lead-in to a Cardinals game. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Kiener Plaza Opening Celebration, will feature food
trucks, kids activities, face painting and live music from Acoustik Element, Boderline, Phi and Javier Mendoza presents Hobo Cane. Fredbird and Team Fredbird are also scheduled to appear. The Kiener Plaza Opening Celebration will take place just prior to the St. Louis Cardinals home game against the San Francisco Giants at 6:15 p.m. and is a family and pet-friendly event. “We all remember Kiener Plaza being a great gathering spot before Cardinal’s games and it will be that again almost from day one,” said McClure. “But that is just the beginning. On the first weekend in June there will be huge concert on Market Street and Keiner Plaza with Uncorked St. Louis. Then the next weekend after that you will have the Taste of Downtown there and every Thursday from the end of May through September we are going to have a health and wellness series there. You will see more and more of that in this space.” He said there are not specific studies of the impact of the plaza renovation, but noted that it is just part of the $380 million CityArchRiver project which is also renovating the Arch and river front area. “The economic impact study for the whole projects that we will end up getting about a million more visitors per year to the See ‘KIENER’ page 2
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