ST. LOUIS • The $380 million overhaul of the Gateway Arch grounds failed to win a key federal approval Wednesday, threatening to delay the project’s ribbon-cutting by four months, officials said.
Project leaders, determined to finish by the Arch’s 50th anniversary in October 2015, have struggled for months to squeeze the ambitious overhaul into two years of construction.
Wednesday morning, a contingent of Arch grounds officials presented the plan in Denver to the National Park Service’s top construction advisory board, whose approval is required to begin bidding and construction.
But one of the project’s main partners, the CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation, had refused to provide a series of agreements between it and the park service. CityArchRiver leaders were frustrated that the park hadn’t yet signed a separate contract, over operation of the Arch trams.
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The park service board, called the Development Advisory Board, doesn’t meet again until March.
“We weren’t able to pull the trigger today,” said Tom Bradley, superintendent of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, which includes the Arch grounds. “It’s not a good thing. It slows us down,” said Bradley, who attended the presentation.
Bradley said he expected CityArchRiver, the nonprofit group raising private funds and spearheading renovation designs, to send the agreements at the last minute. The group refused, which surprised him, he said.
The agreements govern the relationship between the nonprofit group and the park service, including how CityArchRiver raises money, how it donates that money to the Arch grounds and how the nonprofit helps provide for ongoing maintenance and operations.
Walter Metcalfe, chairman of the CityArchRiver board, said the group has $105 million, with pledges close to another $45 million, more than enough to meet commitments.
He said he understands that some will say CityArchRiver can’t come up with the money. But that’s not what this problem is about, he said.
Metcalfe said he withheld the agreements because of a separate issue.
Metro Transit has long run the trams that carry visitors up the legs of the Arch. Metro has also received ticket proceeds from those $10 tram rides, and used the money to maintain the rides. In January, the contract between Metro and the park service lapsed, Metcalfe said, and the two agencies haven’t yet signed a new one.
John Nations, president of Metro, could not be reached for comment.
But Metcalfe said the trams need attention — new generators, modernizing, and new roofs over the tram stations. He wants to make sure Metro continues to receive the money from the rides, so St. Louis doesn’t pay for the upkeep.
“We said we’re not going to pay for things you haven’t taken care of. We’re here to do new stuff,” Metcalfe said of the renovation designs. “We want to make sure — because this is never going to be a federal bailout — that the visitors’ money stays in St. Louis.”
Besides, he said, he doesn’t see why his withholding of the CityArchRiver agreements means a four-month delay. “I don’t see why there’s any delay,” Metcalfe said. “We could do this all by conference call tomorrow, if they just signed the contract.”
Bradley didn’t disagree. The contract with Metro, he said, should have been done, and is instead caught in bureaucracy. “This should have happened a long time ago,” he said.
Moreover, his team briefed the Development Advisory Board on the project Wednesday. The board liked it, Bradley said, and could indeed call an unplanned meeting to approve it. But, he said, that’s not his decision. “It’ll be an interesting day tomorrow,” he said. “We’ll see what shakes out.”
The project’s other partners are trying to figure out how the possible delay affects them.
Deanna Venker, an engineer heading the Missouri Department of Transportation’s work on Arch streets, said the park service board shouldn’t hurt MoDOT — with the possible exception of the landscaping for the park over Interstate 70, which still needs park service approval.
Susan Trautman, executive director of the Great Rivers Greenway trails district, in charge of stewarding the tax dollars devoted to the Arch renovation, said she plans to continue getting ready for a bond measure.
Groundbreaking on the Leonor K. Sullivan river road remains scheduled for next week, she said.
Still, she is worried the new wrinkle adds to a packed schedule. “I think what we have is a bureaucratic tangle. It’s a hurdle,” she said. “But we’ll use this time. We’re not going to be sitting idle.”
“Some of it,” she continued, “will still be done by Oct. 28, 2015.”
Metcalfe said he isn’t willing to admit any holdup. “None of the delays they’ve given to me so far are really understandable,” he said. “Sure, people have to work hard and press hard, but that’s the date.
“Let’s go for it.”
