St. Louis is a Major League Baseball City. So, it doesn't surprise me that the first ever stadium-anchored mixed use development is contiguous to Busch Stadium. Speaking of Busch Stadium, it occupies the site of the former Busch Stadium. Appropriately, Ballpark Village opened up on the first day of the 2014 Cardinals season.
The Ballpark Village that I spent time at in the summer of 2018, is a mixed use development that is growing. Towering over the brick restaurant fronts that compliment Busch Stadium are an army of construction cranes. They are building a $220,000 million second phase that will include the first class-A office building in downtown in 20 years, a Loew's Live! Hotel, 29-story apartment building and more retail and entertainment venues. Walking towards Ballpark Village from the north, construction equipment seems to outnumber baseball bats.
Clark Street is the heart of Ballpark Village. It's retail, restaurants, and entertainment venues border the north of the closed off street across from Busch Stadium that borders the south. Its businesses include a beer garden, Fox Sports Live! Midwest, Cardinals Nation, Cardinals Hall of Fame, the Skybox, and Drunken Fish. Much to my disappointment, the Howl at the Moon Dueling Piano Bar is out of business. What I found neat about the streetscape is that the business overlook the baseball field. When I watched the Cardinals game I'd see Cardinals Nation, the Skybox with the Ballpark Village exterior across the outfield fence. It is without doubt an extension of Busch Stadium physically and spirituality.
The entertainment venues and restaurants are spiritually a celebration of the St. Louis Cardinals and professional sports. They provide a very crowded yet first-rate view of the action across the street in Busch Stadium. In similar style to Wrigley Field, there is roof top seating. One of the venues even has a retractable roof. Large HD TVs add to the excitement of seeing the St. Louis Cardinals and other sports events. It is important for me to bring up that Baseball Village is open 365 days of the year including when Major League Baseball is on hiatus.
On my visits here, I took in the Ballpark Village walking around. The businesses were very crowded at the same time that I had done enough drinking at the Embassy Suites Manager Reception and dined at different restaurants throughout downtown before the four Cardinals games we saw. Now if Howl at the Moon was still rocking the hits on dueling pianos, I would have spent time there after the games.
From staying at Embassy Suites, we had the advantage that we did not have to worry about parking. Leaving a car here is pricey when the Cardinals are in action. On game days, self parking at the Walnut Street surface parking lot go from $5 to $50. These rates start at 6 am for games beginning before 6 pm and 1 pm for games beginning after 6 pm. There are additional parking garages by Chestnut Street and Broadway. If you don't want the hassle of driving and parking in downtown, the Stadium Metro Station is across Eigth Streets.
The way I see it, as the St. Louis Cardinals work at making home runs, those St. Louis cranes are working at making a better Ballpark Village. I can feel a lot of that positive energy that left Leeds Landing and the Union Station Mall headed to the Ballpark Village phase two completion. As it stands now the current Ballpark Village is a third base hit that can lead to a home run when the first ever stadium-anchored mixed-use development is complete. read more