The Grand Center, St. Louis’ premier district for arts and entertainment, has been a hot topic for development in the city since this summer. On June 23, members of the St. Louis community gathered to discuss plans for the development of the district.

On Nov. 17, the vision for the Grand Center district gained further clarity. Donald Stastny, the architect and urban designer tasked with designing and implementing the Grand Center district plans, presented his Grand Center Framework Plan at the Scottish Rite Auditorium. Stastny said he visualizes the area as one with high potential.

“This has an opportunity to become not only a unique place in St. Louis, but a unique place in the country,” Stastny said. “If we can move the paradigm from a place that you come to and leave to a place that you hang out in, it is going to be a different type of community.”

Stastny has previous experience in St. Louis architecture. He played a role in the development of the Gateway Arch grounds plans in 2010.

Several important institutions in St. Louis call the Grand Center district their home, including the Fox Theatre, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and the Sheldon Concert Hall. Saint Louis University institutions such as Chaifetz Arena, the SLU Museum of Art and the Historic Samuel Cupples House all fall within the area’s borders.

One of the areas of focus for Stastny was improving the accessibility of the area and creating a more visitor-friendly environment. According to Stastny, this can be achieved through improved and increased parking accommodations, one of the primary concerns of the June 23 open forum. Stastny said that the framework will “reorient arrival and approach” and “provide flexibility for exiting and entering.”

“We realized that at some point, there’s going to have to be a serious parking development,” Stastny said. “They [the parking development task force team] also realized that, for the most part, to fully utilize the Grand Center’s potential, parking is going to have to be factored into the situation.”

Stastny said he hopes to improve the pedestrian experience by widening sidewalks along Theresa St., Washington Ave., Spring St., and Grand Blvd., while narrowing the roads. Additional improvements suggested by Stastny include the implementation of garden walks, the reconfiguring of alleyways as unique pedestrian ways and the addition of more trees along pedestrian walkways.

One of the pillars of the framework is the development of the Grand Center district as a community through what Stastny called the “front porch” initiative. Stastny said that area leaders said they were not familiar with the business or institution located next-door to them. The front porch idea maintains that every business should have a front porch, or an area on their property where they can interact with other members of the community.

“We also want to create and build upon ideas where our community and our neighborhood can really come together,” Stastny said.