© 2024 St. Louis Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

In the proposed footprint of a new St. Louis stadium, a photographic tour of what's already there

Grace Kenyon walks her dogs, Lhenny and Brown, near the Ashley Street Power House, a city landmark that developers have said could become a team store in the proposed stadium plan.
Carolina Hidalgo | St. Louis Public Radio
Grace Kenyon walks her dogs, Lhenny and Brown, near the Ashley Street Power House, a city landmark that developers have said could become a team store in the proposed stadium plan.

As debate continues over the proposed riverfront football stadium, those who live and work within the planned footprint have obvious reasons to pay attention.

A few of the area’s historic buildings, including the Ashley Street Power House, are set to be spared. But others face uncertain fates if the new stadium actually becomes a reality.

Are these buildings worth saving? As expected, opinions differ.

“When you drive over the Stan Musial Bridge, you see those 50 vacant buildings,” Alderman Stephen Conway said at an aldermanic committee hearing last week. “Welcome to St. Louis: It’s contaminated. It’s hazardous. No one here today has a plan to redevelop that.”

But some business owners in the area feel differently. "People think this is a derelict neighborhood," said Marty Hauck, who co-owns Zymo Sculpture Studio with her husband, Wally.  "But several of us have thriving businesses here.”

A new stadium would change the landscape dramatically. Here’s a look at some of what’s already there:

 

_

Carolina Hidalgo joined St. Louis Public Radio in 2015 as the station’s first visual journalist. She now produces photographs, digital stories and radio features with a focus on issues of race, inequality and immigration. In 2019, she reported from the United States-Mexico border as an International Women’s Media Foundation fellow. In 2018, she was named one of The Lit List’s “30 photographers to watch.” Carolina also volunteers as a mentor with NPR’s Next Generation Radio project. She is a proud native of New York City and a member of Women Photograph and Diversify Photo.
Brent is the senior data visual specialist at St. Louis Public Radio.