Using Drone Sky View to Record Demolition and Rebuild of Crestwood Plaza

Drone technology has many uses. One of which is being employed as a communications vehicle to record the demolition and rebuild of a popular shopping center in St. Louis, Crestwood Court, formerly known as Crestwood Plaza.

ThrottleNet is employing 4K Drone technology for this purpose. The goal is to provide these videos to St. Louisans and others nationwide who grew up in the Crestwood area and/or have fond memories of the shopping center.

The area will be rebranded as the new Crestwood Court. According to its website, http://newcrestwoodcourt.com, the original Crestwood Plaza opened in 1957. It was the first major mall in the St. Louis area and one of the first to have more than one department store. Thousands of St. Louis families have fond memories of going on dates, shopping and working at Crestwood Plaza.

The Center was originally an open-air mall. It was enclosed in 1984. Later it would be renamed Westfield Shoppingtown Crestwood and finally Crestwood Court in 2007. Most recently, it served as a lifestyle center with art spaces. The Center was finally closed to the public and became vacant in 2013.

In 2014, the City of Crestwood released a request for proposals to redevelop the Crestwood Court site. The empty mall had a presumed negative effect not only on Crestwood Court but on the entire Watson Road corridor by depressing economic activity and decreasing traffic. The City of Crestwood has now begun its efforts to turn this historic mall into a new community asset and a new life for Crestwood Court.

The Crestwood Court Redevelopment Project aims to create a destination for the entire community, a place where a new generation can gather, spend time together, and encourage people from across the region to shop, eat, and play in Crestwood.

As this project develops ThrottleNet’s goal is to let everyone who has an interest in Crestwood Plaza follow the demolition and re-build of the site whether they are in St. Louis or elsewhere.

For example, the parents of ThrottleNet President George Rosenthal currently live in Los Angeles but lived in Crestwood for many years. They have fond remembrances of the shopping center, it was a part of their lives.

ThrottleNet’s offices are located next to the construction site. The firm is using a DJI Phantom 4 Drone for precision hovering. The images are available in 4K video as well as standard high definition. Each video runs around two minutes and features different camera angles and music. The company plans on updating the videos twice per week until the project is completed.

The videos are available at ThrottleNet’s YouTube Channel, http://youtube.com/throttlenet