Rendering courtesy Cherokee Street CID
There’s only one dedicated public gathering space along Cherokee Street in South City. Soon, that space will look, feel, and sound much different.
The Cherokee Street Community Improvement District has plans to renovate and enhance Love Bank Park, a former vacant lot-turned-community plaza at the corner of Cherokee and Nebraska. The $1.2 million project, guided by lead architect Patterhn Ives and landscape architect Arbolope Studio, will redevelop the park to feature a flexible performance space, a refurbished basketball court, planting beds, new shaded seating areas, and chess tables, among other amenities.
“One of the core missions of our community improvement district is creating beautiful, safe, and active public spaces,” says Emily Thenhaus, the executive director of Cherokee Street’s CID. “I think there is inherent value in spaces that bring people together, especially in dense communities like Cherokee Street, where there’s a rich diversity of people and ideas. Places like Love Bank Park are important because they provide a platform to bring all of those folks together in conversation and collaboration, in celebration, and in mourning together. They really are the basis of community.”
Platano
LBP Illustrative Plan
That’s particularly true of Love Bank Park, which was founded in 2015 to serve as a much-needed neighborhood recreational space. Since its opening, community leaders have considered ways to enhance and add to the park, turning it into a space that serves both residents and the surrounding business district. After fielding input and recommendations from locals in recent years, Thenhaus says the CID identified three primary desires from the feedback:
- An improved basketball court: “The current basketball court is bumpy and it has a little hole in it,” Thenhaus says. “It’s not a great place to play.”
- An area for free events and performances: “Even in its current condition, the lot has hosted movie nights and Juneteenth celebrations, but through a lot of challenges,” Thenhaus says. “You’re running extension cords from three buildings over just to power speakers. So folks wanted a turnkey space where they could host a summer concert series, and pop-up markets, and celebrations where it could be easy for folks to come together for free.”
- Green space: “Cherokee Street is a pretty hard landscape,” Thenhaus says. “There’s a lot of concrete. So we’re trying to create a little bit of a green oasis in the middle of that, which also has a lot of environmental stability built into it. We have a large rainscaping grant in partnership with the Metropolitan Sewer District for this project that’s resulting in the entire space being permeable.”
With a groundbreaking set for the spring of 2023, the project is expected to be completed by next summer. In the meantime, to close the gap on the price tag, the CID has established a capital campaign in partnership with St. Louis Community Foundation to bring in individual, small business, and corporate donors. The belief is that the endeavor will pay off for everyone, including residents and visitors to Cherokee Street alike.
“The value really can’t be overstated,” Thenhaus says. “Activating spaces like this is public safety. It is community building. It is economic development. Moving forward, I’m hoping we can bolster all of those areas of life on Cherokee.”
