North siders worry about big tax break plan – Matt Sepic for KWMU (MP3 available)
The story features interviews with Michael Allen, Mayor Francis Slay and Old North St. Louis Restoration Group Exceutive Director Sean Thomas.
Category: Northside Regeneration
by Michael R. Allen
Here is a summary of actions at Monday’s meeting of the St. Louis Preservation Board, by agenda item. The meeting started with only two members present, Chairman Richard Callow and David Richardson. Later, members Anthony Robinson, Alderman Terry Kennedy and Luis Porello arrived.
PRELIMINARY REVIEWS
A. 5291 Washington; application for new construction.
ACTION: Deferred due to lack of quorum.
B. 4155-63 Magnolia; application to install vinyl windows on an early 20th century revival-style apartment building in Shaw. Owner Lisa Presley applied to replace 300 wooden windows on the front elevation of this apartment building with white vinyl windows featuring simulated dividers. Normally, this would be unconvincing but the front elevation happens to face the side of the lot with the long, narrow apartment building running from street to alley. An interesting moment came when Presley’s window salesman stated that vinyl windows lasted forever. When asked how long aluminum windows, he said almost as long as vinyl.
ACTION: Denied by vote of 2-1 with Alderman Kennedy dissenting.
C. 3628 N. 14th Street; application to retain vinyl windows installed without a permit. This wonderful commercial building at the southeast corner of 14th and Salisbury in Hyde Park suffered the removal of its wooden windows and a prism-glass transom last year; most windows were evident and likely in condition to be rehabbed. Owner Lisa Hines claimed that although she had rehabbed 16 buildings, she had never rehabbed in a “blighted” historic district where design standards applied. She also claimed that most of the windows werer broken or missing when she bought the building. I presented a photo showing most of the windows in place, without much evident damage; rehabber Barbara Manzara discussed how easy window rehab can be.
ACTION: Denied by unanimous vote.
D. 1912 LaSalle Street; application for addition. Owner Thomas Benignus and his architect Ralph Wafer presented design for an addition to a house in Lafayette Square; Paul Doerner of the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee stated that he liked the design but wanted review by the LSRC Development Committee.
ACTION: Approved by unanimous vote.
E. 2035 Park Avenue; application for alteration and addition of building. At this point, the meeting still lacked a quorum so the item was pushed off until later. Owner Thomas Bramlette wants to rebuild the odd one-story brick church building sometimes called the ugliest building in Lafayette Square. Architect Ted Wofford has designed a graceful Italianate project that will resurrect the low hipped roof form that was found in the Square before the 1896 tornado. Cultural Resources Office Director Kate Shea claimed that the roof was too short and the second-story addition two narrow for a house that sites between two impressive and larger homes and wanted approval to require a taller roof and wider second story.
ACTION: Approved by unanimous vote without stipulations sought by Shea.
APPEALS OF STAFF DENIALS
F. 4549 Pershing; application to retain light standard in front yard. Owners have installed a bizarre and inappropriate light standard in the front yard of this Central West End home without a permit, in violation of local historic district standards.
ACTION: Permit approved by 2-1 vote with Richardson dissenting.
G. 4320 Arco Avenue; application for demolition. Owner Dwight Hatchett wants to demolish this one-story Forest Park Southeast house. The house, a splendid flat-roofed Romanesque is missing roof decking and its parapets have massive mortar deterioration. However, Hatchett has performed no maintenance and has no plans for redevelopment; he stated that he wants to tear the house down and sell it to neighbors for side yards. Hatchett started his testimony by stating his fear that the building would fall and kill someone — a rather old trick. Opposition testimony came from Manzara, Anthony Coffin, Claire Nowak-Boyd and myself. A motion to uphold the staff denial from Porrello failed, as did a motion to grant approval from Kennedy. Board member Robinson abstained from both votes; he stated that without a roof the house would surely collapse and denying the permit could still condemn the house. He moved to defer consideration for 60 days to give the applicant time to sell the house.
ACTION: Deferred for 60 days by unanimous vote.
H. 59 Kingsbury Place; application to retain inappropriate windows installed without permit. William Streett, owner of this Colonial Revival home, removed the original 12-over-1 windows and replaced them with casement windows to completely alter the architectural character of the house. His 20-minute defense (what happened to time limits?) was a ludicrous PowerPoint presentation that covered the design of other houses on the street and his personal preferences but did little to address the fact that he violated a local design ordinance. Streett boldly claimed that his house’s hipped roof was borrowed from French architecture and thus muddied the stylistic waters; however, he seemed to have never read the local district ordinance or the National Register of Historic Places nomination that clearly state both the recognized style of his house and the requirement that its original appearance be maintained no matter what Streett may think is appropriate. Opposition testimony came from William Seibert, representing the Central West End Association, and myself.
ACTION: Staff denial upheld by unanimous vote.
I. 1120, 1124 and 1400-02 Newhouse Avenue; application for demolition. The applicant, the Land Reutilization Authority, did not send a representative. In the absence of a quorum, the applicant must be present to waive the right to having an appeal heard by quorum.
ACTION: Set aside for next meeting.
J. 1629 N. 19th Street; application for demolition. This house is owned by VHS Partners LLC, one of Paul McKee’s north side holding companies. However, the demolition is sought by Ald. April Ford-Griffin and the application is the Board of Public Service. The board neglected to send a representative.
ACTION: Set aside for next meeting.
At the end of the meeting, the Preservation Board unanimously voted to enter into the minutes of the meeting the St. Louis Post-Dispatch obituary for Marti Frumhoff.
by Michael R. Allen
Governor Matt Blunt has not yet signed or vetoed the economic omnibus bill passed by the Missouri Legislature (HB 327) that contains the $100 million tax credit program to benefit Paul J. McKee Jr.’s north St. Louis land assemblage project.
Meanwhile, no other bills containing the “Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act,” as the proposal for the credits is formally known, passed the both houses. The House inserted the land assemblage tax credit into SB 22, a bill concerning local political subdivisions, but during a joint conference on the bill Rep. Thomas Villa had the language removed. (However, Villa is a co-sponsor of HB 991, which would directly enact the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, and voted in favor of HB 327.)
The Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act is far from the most controversial part of HB 327, a bloated bill containing many questionable tax credit proposals and bearing an estimated cost of $113 million in lost state revenue. Should Blunt veto the bill, the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act would be defeated for now.
Of course, the proposal will return. Two obvious paths exist:
The proposal could return in its current form, engendering the same opposition as it has attracted from north side residents, progressive legislators and urbanists.
The proposal could be refined through conversation with critics so that their concerns are answered.
Personally, I love the idea of a $100 million tax credit program directed at north St. Louis. Given that many residents of surrounding, wealthier counties are the descendants of those who abandoned north St. Louis, but who are still culturally and economically dependent on the city (which cannot tap the revenues of its neighboring counties), state aid is logical and fair. However, the details of the proposal do not create the sound public policy that should be crafted to guarantee that the $100 million program actually results in quality development in north St. Louis.
– The project size is greatly out of scale with north St. Louis. Nowhere in north St. Louis do 50 contiguous acres of vacant land exist. The largest vacant site is the Pruitt-Igoe housing project site of 33 acres, which remains undeveloped. The proposal should reduce the minimum project size to 5 acres and cap it at 45 acres. This would encourage more context-sensitive planning, and allow multiple developers with different plans to utilize the tax credit.
– State tax credits should not be used to cover bills and fines from municipal government for code violations or demolition. That’s just wrong.
– The tax credit needs to require that the applicant’s properties meet municipal codes at the time of application. State law should not encourage the violation of municipal law.
– The tax credit should establish a time line for redevelopment. Land assemblage alone does not revitalize distressed areas. If that was the case, north St. Louis would be in great shape given the vast amount of city-owned real estate there. The proposal should provide greater guarantee that assemblage projects will lead to actual development.
– The tax credit should not be used to acquire occupied housing units. What is most needed on the north side is creative reuse of vacant property. Allowing use of the credit for occupied housing seems to encourage the displacement of existing residents. McKee’s project has involved acquisition of dozens of occupied dwellings that are now vacant nuisance properties. The people his agents moved out of north St. Louis could have been stakeholders in renewal efforts.
– The tax credit should require historic preservation planning for affected areas. North St. Louis is one of the most architecturally significant areas in eastern Missouri, and should not be bulldozed wholesale. As written, the tax credit actually reimburses up to 100% of demolition costs.
Should the tax credit proposal be defeated, there is then a chance to improve it greatly. Hopefully its supporters will consider doing so.
by Michael R. Allen
HB 327, the costly omnibus economic development bill passed from the Missouri Legislature that includes the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, may be headed for a veto from Governor Matt Blunt.
SB 22, which modified laws relating to political subdivisions, that inappropriately contains the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act (oddly with a 100-acre minimum), appears to be dead this session.
HB 991 contains only the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, but has not proceeded. The prospect of an up-or-down vote directly on the proposal probably doesn’t appeal to the proposal’s backers. For one thing, the process could lead to amendments that would make the credits actual public policy instead of a law for private benefit. For another, this tax credit proposal is one of the least popular bundled into the omnibus.
by Michael R. Allen
Yesterday the Missouri House truly passed HB 327, sometimes known as the Quality Jobs Act. The bill contains the $100 million Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act sought by St. Charles County developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. for his massive, controversial north St. Louis “Blairmont” project.
St. Louis area Representatives Jeanette Mott-Oxford, Mike Daus, Michael Vogt and Jamilah Nasheed voted no. All other St. Louisans voted in favor of the bloated “economic development” bill.
The Distressed Areas credits received strong support from St. Louis city and county governments as well as McKee’s McEagle Properties. Opponents never coalesced into a formidable lobby despite strong individual efforts and no existing organization took up their cause.
by Michael R. Allen
Built St. Louis documents a slow crime that residents of the near north side have watched unfold in the last several weeks: the destruction on five buildings on the 1900 block of Montgomery by brick rustlers. Need I add that these are the only five buildings on this block?
Apathy breeds neglect, and neglect of whole areas of a city is fatal. When our cultural leaders have had the chance to safeguard St. Louis Place and other near north side neighborhoods, they have chosen otherwise. When our leaders have seen dozens of buildings fall, they have offered apologies or ignored the destruction. When they have watched residents loose their sense of place…well, they haven’t. Apparently a “sense of place” is germane only to the central corridor and the south side. North St. Louis gets fucked.
North St. Louis the region’s shameful embarrassment, and the “Blairmont” solution will help us forget about some of it without having to do any real work for change. While we can’t preserve a building whose walls have fallen to thieves and their eager fences, we can look back and see decades where we had the chance to prevent this tragedy from unfolding and instead we silently let it happen.
Of course, the reality is very disconcerting east of Grand: blocks with much vacancy also contain well-kept homes and apartments, smiling children and strong churches. Middle-class mythology renders the people who live here politically and culturally nonexistent, and that helps us to cope with our end of the problem. The harsh reality is that there is enough social fabric left to rebuild this area without wholesale clearance or mass relocation.
But the myths are easier: Oh, they don’t care. Most of those buildings are past saving. Parts of that areas have places where you can’t see a building for blocks around. Old North St. Louis is the only part of that area worth saving. No one wants to live there.
The reality is that despite fifty years of degradation and neglect the near north side retains its character and its sense of place. Thoughtful public policy for this area was impossible in the urban renewal age, but in our historic-tax-credit era seems equally impossible. The brick rustlers are committing a small crime with their own hands. Other more powerful parties have committed larger crimes with those of others. Sadly, it seems that the near north side will not fend off either assault, which seems likely to spread west of Grand after the “Blairmont” model is proven and embraced politically.
What then becomes of the character of the rest of the city? Are our self-serving myths worth the loss of a large part of the city’s culture?
by Michael R. Allen
Here is the house at 1941 Wright Street in September 2006. This is a modest side-gabled brick house with corbelling and a centered dormer, like many other late 19th century houses on the near north and near south sides. These buildings were actually tenements, with no internal staircases and no indoor plumbing. Access to the second floor came through a rear gallery porch. Typically, these homes were extended by a narrower half-flounder addition at rear of anywhere from two to four additional rooms. The addition created a covered ell where a gallery porch typically stands; the additions rarely have original internal stairs. This house has a notably deep rear addition.
Never mind the vinyl windows and other historically inappropriate alterations that the house has accumulated. This photograph shows a structurally sound, reasonably maintained occupied dwelling. Shortly after I took this photograph, on October 30, 2006, a new owner filed a warranty deed showing a sale of the property for $109,250. The new owner: Sheridan Place LC, a holding company controlled by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. The sellers moved out, and Sheridan Place LC and affiliated companies subsequently purchased every building on both sides of this block save for one large row to the immediate west of 1941 Wright.
Moving forward to April 2007, we find very different conditions at the house.
All of the windows and doors have been stripped, and the yard is strewn with litter. Most disturbing, however, is the building’s interior where the first floor rooms are piled with bags of construction debris.
Inside of these bags is white pipe insulation, heavy with asbestos. Someone wanting to avoid the dumping fees of this waste chose to stash the bags here. Sadly, this is a common practice in the city of St. Louis. Bags of asbestos-laden waste can be found in neglected vacant buildings and on vacant lots all over the city.
In just six months of McKee’s ownership, the house at 1941 Wright Street has gone from housing a family to being packed with hazardous waste. While obviously McKee and his agents did not dump the waste and cannot prevent such incidents, they have total control over the enabling factors. McKee decided to buy occupied housing units and remove the residents, thus creating opportunities for nuisance crimes and illegal dumping. McKee has avoided maintenance of these properties down to the basic act of boarding up a building like this one. (Citizen’s Service Bureau registered a citizen complaint for unsecured vacant building at this address on December 19, 2006 with resolution of sending the owner a secure notice.)
There is no doubt that McKee wishes to collect the land assemblage tax credits that are part of various bills pending in the Missouri Legislature. The house at 1941 Wright is just one of over 100 historic buildings, many occupied at time of purchase, that McKee has purchased for his north St. Louis project. The decline of its condition is a story that could be repeated address by address in Old North St. Louis, St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou with different variants like fires, brick rustling and drug dealing. When locals are in doubt about whether or not a sale to McKee’s companies have gone through, they only look at a house. If the windows are gone and the door is wide open, they know that the new owner has taken possession — the sad creation of an “eligible parcel” under the proposed land assemblage tax credit.
Could any reasonable person assume that McKee and his agents have conducted due diligence of compliance with city codes for vacant properties? The contrary seems true — flagrant contempt for those codes. McKee’s companies have perpetuated demolition by neglect on a huge scale. If the aim of the endeavor is to “bulldoze the ghetto,” as a flier circulated earlier this year stated, there seems to be inflation of supply and demand by the agents of the project. Taking occupied houses and safe blocks and allowing them to be stripped, pillaged and burned creates a ghetto that did not exist before. The effect creates more dramatic images of blight for public relations purposes. Yet the cause is falsely attributed to the very people who were displaced and are no longer around to create the ghetto — and who were probably afraid of such conditions as those that have now befallen their homes.
While Mayor Francis Slay may urgently call for passage of the tax credits, his silence on the specifics of McKee’s operation is telling. No apology could hide the conditions of the over 640 properties now controlled by McKee’s companies. All narratives inspire counter-narratives beyond political control; best to go clinical and talk of static things such as “blight” and “parcels.” Any narrative would have to include the white flight and the inability of city planners in 1947 to do anything but wish to kill neighborhoods like the ones affected by McKee’s project. The story would include a culture of political apathy where white mayors and black aldermen alike ignored the causes and blinded themselves to the symptoms. The story would have to admit that racially-explosive notions of “depletion” became public policy by default, and that the current actors on the near north side have just appropriated old ideas as their own rather than seeking innovative new policies. The story that could be told would discredit almost everyone.
by Michael R. Allen
The Missouri Senate Newsroom has slow-to-download audio and video files of Sens. John Griesheimer (R-26th) and Harry Kennedy (D-1st) stating their support for the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act. Griesheimer even goes so far as to state that if he thought the proposal was a bad idea, he “wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.”
State Representative Rodney Hubbard (D-58th) spoke in favor of the proposal on the house floor and dismissed critics by insinuating that they did not care about the needs of north St. Louis. Hubbard’s July 2006 Quarterly campaign finance report shows contributions from several upper-level McEagle Properties employees (including Chris McKee and Bruce Sokolik) as well as development attorney Steve Stone and his firm Stone, Leyton & Gershman. Stone testified in favor of the Distressed Areas proposal at a special House hearing this week.
The Distressed Areas language is found in a version of HB 327 that the House approved 146-9 on Tuesday, with St. Louis representatives Mike Daus (D-67th), Connie Johnson (D-61st) and Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59th) voting against the proposal. Please give them your thanks.
by Michael R. Allen
Rep. Ron Richard, sponsor of controversial economic development bill HB 327, today moved that the Missouri House refuse to move on the House’s acceptance of the conference version of the bill. That version includes the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, the tax credit developer Paul McKee seeks for north St. Louis.
Apparently, the bill faces strong opposition in the Missouri Senate due to the number of different bills that were added on through amendment without their own hearings, including the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act.
Richard’s motion would prevent the bill from returning to conference. If the Senate rejects the version of the bill that the House approved today, the bill is effectively dead. However, the Distressed Areas language remains intact in SB 282 and SB 22 (in an inexplicable 100-acre version) as well as HB 991.
by Michael R. Allen
Here’s some timely news: The Missouri House passed, 146-9, the conference report on HB 327, which includes the tax credit for land assemblage that Paul McKee wants to use in north St. Louis. Apparently the report will be heard in the Senate tomorrow morning, and supposedly St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay will appear in person in support of the bill’s passage.
Basically, senators need to hear from people by the end of today. So if you read this before 4:30 p.m. please email or call your state senator. Contact information for senators is here.