The intersection of Tower Grove Avenue and McCree Avenue in South St. Louis was formerly known as McCree Town. This long troubled neighborhood, now known as Botanical Heights, has transitioned into a very successful urban destination with lively award-winning restaurants, offices, shops, a top-performing Montessori charter school and over 40 new single-family homes.

Arbolope Studio’s vision is to create a sustainable, vibrant streetscape to complement the vitality and success of the commercial neighborhood.

The goals of the streetscape enhancement were to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety, introduce traffic calming measures, improve roadway lighting, create an iconic district streetscape and to promote festival programming.

The project, framed by elevated I-44 on the South and Vandeventer Ave to the North is defined by curb bump-outs with articulated pavement to reduce traffic speed and create spaces for people to gather; rain gardens at corners to responsibly manage stormwater and promote district sustainability; wide raised-table crosswalks; painted bike lanes and bike boxes; new pedestrian lighting with catenary roadway lights suspended over the center of the street; new street tree and native grass planting that buffer the wide sidewalks from the roadway and parallel parking area.