Laclede Street Bar & Grill/Billiken Bench Club

[Box and Won]

Rumor has it that a developer has purchased the Laclede Street Bar & Grill (formerly known as Caleco's) and the old BBC building and has plans to demolish both in favor of some sort of new development.

This is not good news. SLU needs more bars nearby, not less. Pretty soon, Humphrey's will be the only bar left. Joe Boccardi's and Vito's are nice to have in the neighborhood, but they're not full-fledged bars.

[JMM28]

>Rumor has it that a developer has purchased the Laclede

>Street Bar & Grill (formerly known as Caleco's) and the old

>BBC building and has plans to demolish both in favor of some

>sort of new development.

>

>This is not good news. SLU needs more bars nearby, not

>less. Pretty soon, Humphrey's will be the only bar left.

>Joe Boccardi's and Vito's are nice to have in the

>neighborhood, but they're not full-fledged bars.

Agreed. The problem comes is that BiondiSLU has all/most of the votes on liquor licensing. They kept Boccardi's from being more of a bar type atmosphere. They will do the same to anyone else. At least we have the Pasta House....oh wait...Quotations..oh wait..

[eskimo]

Any word on other buildings in that immediate area...are those the only two buildings that were purchased?

[bonwich]

Only peripherally related, but has anyone noticed what it now says on top of the new loft-dorms (I assume) to the left of the new home of Aquinas? I think there's a cool photo to be had with that in the foreground and the "Saint Louis University" sign atop Gries in the background.

[willen]

The building on Forest Park, that Jimmy John's is located in, is for sale and may be under contract by now too. The owners are family friends.

[Box and Won]

Are you talking about University Village (the old Warehouse of Fixtures)? I haven't been by there lately.

[Box and Won]

From what I've heard, just those two were purchased by the developer. SLU is acquiring the old Fifth House building, with plans to demolish it, presumably for parking.

Of course, the buildings that really should be torn down - the old Pasta House/Colorado/Quotations and the four two-families (foreign language dorms?) remain. My problem with the Pasta House building is how far it sits back from Laclede - it doesn't really fit in with its surroundings.

[bonwich]

It's the building on the back of WoF -- I think, most recently, it had a sign on it that marked it as the old Stix, Baer & Fuller warehouse. However, the Stix sign apparently covered up a more permanent sign that has now been revealed, and with luck will be a harbinger of many basketball seasons to come.

[TheA_Bomb]

This is a topic that concerns me, when I first came to SLU they had Vito's, BBC, Humphrey's, 20 North and Bull Feathers. Later BBC closed, 20 North lost an imminent domain case, Laclede's and Kearby's (dance club) opened.

College Bars are essential to quality of life on campus and Humphrey's is not enough for a growing SLU. Students need more choices close so they don't have to drive to M.P.O.s or someother spot.

[TheGoat]

Humphrey's may not be enough, but right now, if this info it true, then they are going to be laughing all the way to the bank.

[brianstl]

Willen you are right i Know one of the buildings owners and it is under contract.

[Box and Won]

I guess we have to hope that a bar will go into the first floor of the University Village development. The south side of Laclede had so much potential to be a great strip of bars with an actual college town feel to it - with Humphrey's, Laclede, BBC, a renovated Fifth House and University Village - but I guess we'll never see it come to fruition.

The loss of Bullfeathers and the building that housed it was huge. It's now just a massive vacant lot at the most prominent location in Grand Center.

[bonwich]

Ahh, but the U. has plans for that lot, Box. Plans! No doubt they will be realized nearly as quickly as their plans for the arena have been.

[Box and Won]

Maybe they could put in another pool with some palm trees there.

BTW, to see some of the great buildings that once graced Grand Center but have since been demolished for parking, check out this link (this article was written by an architect who has included renderings of his vision for Grand and Lindell (Marina Building site), which I don't really care for): http://www.thecommonspace.org/2003/04/stockton.php

[Gus Chiggins]

Good ole Gay-cledes. Hopefully this will rid the slu area of mark michaels.

yeah, it spretty amazing they have left the grand center lot vacant. they were in such a hurry to tear it down...

[Pistol]

I was not the biggest fan of Laclede's (and it is dirtbag central in there when the students are away), but SLU can't afford to lose another bar. Humphrey's is great, but it needs some healthy competition. I would like to see at least a few bars or bar-restaurants spring up around the Grand Center in the next several years. It doesn't need to be the Landing, but enough to make it a night destination for younger people. SLU students can walk there, and it isn't as close as Laclede Street, but it doesn't look promising that another bar will spring up on that block.

[FromGreeceWithLove]

It is amazing to me how the number of bars at SLU has dwindled to basically one. Humphrey's is a great college bar, but it is more the friendly neighborhood bar you frequent to catch-up with friends. Laclede's offered more of a club-type feel. Their Happy Hour was always a good time, 2 for 1 appetizers and drinks and karaokee. At night it was a good place to go and dance and let loose a little bit. Its hard for me to believe that another bar could not survive around SLU's campus. When I go to other cities it seems like the areas around colleges always have a group of bars and restraunts that offer something a little different at each. Is the problem that you have the Central West End, Laclede's Landing, and Washington Ave fairly close to SLU? On a side note, I heard Lacledes was going to retire the green York shorts and flip-flops of Lacelde's favorite "Rudy."

[Pistol]

Rudy will be enshrined in the Caleco's/Laclede's hall of fame. He holds the all-time record for number of times kicked out of the bar. Miraculously, he never received a lifetime ban, and has been known to visit the bar occasionally even today, over a year removed since his graduation from SLU.

[FromGreeceWithLove]

He really earned any honor he receives from the local drinking establishments. Not too many SLU students would have the balls to take on a group of Iowa wrestlers, but "Rudy" had the heart of a lion and he was not gonna let some foreigners invade his territory. Rumor has it one of Rudy's cohorts was threatened with a lifetime ban by an individual from Fenton after an incident about a month ago. I believe Rudy frequented Laclede's about once a week, yet maybe stayed inside for a total of 45 minutes. Rudy sure is missed by all those on and around SLU's campus.

[dewey33]

Didn't the developers of the lofts at Lindell and Compton set aside space for bars/restaurants on the ground floor of those buildings?

Good spot for it....close enough to campus and the new arena...

but not within earshot of the academic buildings....

[Pistol]

I'm all for 3 new bars, but that's a pretty disgusting bit of hate you spewed at the end there. I can't believe I just read that. I also can't believe there are still people who would make such ignorant comments like that in 2006.

[bonwich]

> Maybe once the arena starts up, it will spur some development on that end of campus.

Like the massive number of bars and restaurants that have opened adjacent to Savvis Center since it was built? Perhaps not. If the 10,000 or so captive patrons at the U. every day during the school year haven't spurred development (on any side of campus), a 30-night-a-year sports venue isn't going to add much to the equation.

> I met a guy a year or two back saying he was planning on building a microbrew type place at the corner of Compton and Market? I don't know if that is/was/ever was planned or not?

The good news is that there are two new places that should open soon -- not necessarily bars, but new places nonetheless. The Tuxedo Room is a swanky nightclub and restaurant opening up in Grand Center in early September; and Santo Bento is being built just west of Compton on Olive. And you've also got the Loft Jazz Club (which isn't a jazz club) in essentially the same building.

[JMM28]

>The good news is that there are two new places that should

>open soon -- not necessarily bars, but new places

>nonetheless. The Tuxedo Room is a swanky nightclub and

>restaurant opening up in Grand Center in early September;

>and Santo Bento is being built just west of Compton on

>Olive. And you've also got the Loft Jazz Club (which isn't a

>jazz club) in essentially the same building.

Is Dante's back to being Dante's again or what is the deal with that building? I remember going there a few times back before it switched, but never really after. It wasn't all that much of a college type crowd if I recall.

and pistol, go be pc somewhere else.

[FromGreeceWithLove]

.

[Pistol]

This is a public forum. It's not about "being PC," which is such a dumb phrase to begin with. It's about respect, which you obviously have no concept of. Read the line you wrote again- it's hate, plain and simple. You're a sad person if you really have that kind of mindset.