Phantom of the Hood – Randall Roberts (Riverfront Times, January 10)
Finally, print media attention on Blairmont. Let there be more!
Category: Northside Regeneration
by Michael R. Allen
Anyone wondering who is making purchase loans to the Blairmont family of companies will have to keep guessing. While purchases made from 2003 through 2005 did not have accompanying deeds of trust filed (with one exception), purchases made late in 2006 with new front companies have had deeds of trust of varying amounts. However, the companies recorded as the lenders are as cloaked as the acquisition companies — and each “lender” is company specific.
MLK 3000 LLC gets all of its loans from the Parkburg Fund LC, incorporated on August 17, 2006 by CT Corporation System, a third-party incorporator.
Dodier Investors LLC gets all of its loans from Rice Capital Group LLC, incorporated on August 8, 2006 by the CT Corporation System.
The newest front company, Sheridan Place LC, gets all of its loans through the Lincoln Asset Allocation Fund LLC, incorporated July 28, 2006 by the CT Corporation System.
The three acquisition companies began purchases in September after the lending companies were created. Where the money comes from and where it goes is thus neatly hidden from scrutiny.
by Michael R. Allen
Here’s the view from the alley of the east wall of the former funeral home at 1930 St. Louis Avenue. Brick rustlers have been taking the wall down in recent weeks, but the building has been unsecured for months. Read the citizen complaint log here.
The building is owned by N & G Ventures LC, a Missouri corporation in which developer Paul McKee has reported a 30% ownership interest.
Obviously, the corporation has no interest in preserving this building or it would put its resources into securing it — or actively seek a buyer who was willing to safeguard this beautiful building.
Here’s the front view:
To watch the loss of this beauty on a daily basis is something that I hope most readers never have to endure. Who could own this building and not want to cherish it? I suppose that Americans are a callous breed when it comes to appreciation of great architecture, but no cynicism takes away the fact that myself and many other residents here have to watch this wonderful building die.
In response to a comment in this blog asking if the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group was taking a public stance on Blairmont, president John Burse posted this comment. We are re-posting it here so that it doesn’t get buried amid the lengthy and heated comments Blairmont posts generate:
On behalf of the ONSLRG, I would like to express our gratitude to Michael and Claire for their diligent investigative work of Blairmont’s activities and offer a response to some of the comments. Our organization has been aware of Blairmont’s activities for quite a few years and is very concerned about their impact across the entire near north side.
EOA’s work has provided us the kind of useful data on Blairmont’s activities, data that we simply do not have the time to mine given the current work load and activities we have underway – work that includes over the past 18 months moving over 40 new families into renovated and newly constructed dwellings into the neighborhood, the planning and predevelopment of the 14th Street Mall Project, and the effort to save the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. This work is slowly but surely transforming the landscape of our neighborhood and capturing the imagination of other to join our calling – to revitalize the physical and social fabric of our community. This work is ongoing, healthy and quite visible in spite of the activities of Blairmont. Those who know our organization know we are not undertaking these efforts alone – it is through a broad spectrum of close working relationships ranging from city officials, organizations like RHCDA, and neighbors like Michael and Claire that we have been able to reverse Old North’s decline.
EOA’s contribution has lit a candle in the darkness of this one situation, and we are certainly inspired by its light. In this matter we have not been “silentâ€. Over the years we have had a number of conversations with elected officials and even Mr. McKee regarding Blairmont. While I will not go into detail about those conversations, we believe the facts Michael, Claire and others have been uncovering make action on this matter possible and even easy to consider. A year ago in a conversation with our organization, Mr. McKee denied any involvement in this enterprise. EOA’s detective work allows a different kind of conversation to occur at this point and we are actively pursuing those discussions.
Let there be no question: Blairmont’s activities are most certainly a concern to us. They do indeed raise our “hackles.†As a community based development organization we are committed to principles of openness and public engagement as key ingredients in any socially sustainable, large scale development activity. This has been a virtue we have practiced in our own work, and one which we consider as an imperative for others considering large scale efforts. We have expressed this position to both Mr. McKee and city officials.
In the matter of neglected problem property, our organization has in the past organized efforts to report Blairmont properties to the city and urge action to clean these properties up. This activity usually involved calls and emails to the CSB and ultimately did not produce the kind of sustainable action needed to hold these folks accountable for taking care of what they own and being good neighbors. I’m sure they simply paid the fine or bill the city sent (if any) for board up, debris removal, or mowing the city did at our urging. For an organization like Blairmont that kind of activity is like a buzzing gnat – it really doesn’t slow this gorilla down and so we are very interested in a more proactive working relationship with the city to pursue this issue and have also expressed that position to both city officials and Mr. McKee.
I apologize for the length of this note, but help it hopes your readers to understand our stance regarding this situation. Again thank you to Michael, Claire, and Doug Duckworth for your outstanding efforts.
Kind regards,
John Burse
Board President
Old North St Louis Restoration Group
Other industrial buildings in St. Louis and elsewhere have been stabilized and rehabilitated after sustaining damage as sever or worse that that sustained by the 1897 addition to the Brecht Butcher Supply Company building. These photos here show conditions at buildings brought back from ruins. Thanks to architect Paul Hohmann for providing these images.
LISTER BUILDING (Central West End, St. Louis)
The Lister Building at the southwest corner of Taylor and Olive was in ruins before its historic-tax-credit rehab. Read more here.
M LOFTS (Formerly part of the International Shoe Company Factory, Lafayette Square, St. Louis)
The “M Lofts” building in Lafayette Square was in a very similar state to the Brecht addition before developer Craig Heller purchased it in 2001 for an ambitious rehab. The former International Shoe Company manufacturing building was a mill-method building like the Brecht, with extensive structural collapse. Heller’s LoftWorks company rebuilt much of the building and converted it into residential space. Read more here
WIREWORKS (formerly the Western Wire Products Company Factory, Lafeyette Square, St. Louis)
A significant portion of the Western Wire Products Company buildings burned after rehab started in 2000. The developers chose to stabilize the affected section and create an inviting enclosed courtyard. Read more here on Landmarks Association’s 2002 Most Enhanced Building Awards page (the building was among the winners).
MILL CITY MUSEUM (Minneapolis)
From the museum website: “Built within the ruins of a National Historic Landmark — the Washburn A Mill — the museum provides a multi-sensory, interactive journey. The story of flour milling — and its impact on Minneapolis, the nation and the world — comes to life through the eight-story Flour Tower and other hands-on exhibits.”
by Michael R. Allen
Summary
The Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings are three separate brick multi-story industrial buildings built between 1890 and 1900 at 1201-17 Cass Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri. The center building suffered a fire on October 6, 2006 and was condemned through emergency order of the Building Division on October 10, 2006. Subsequently, on October 31, the Building Division issued a demolition permit for both the 1890 section at 1201 Cass and the adjacent 1897 addition to its west at 1209 Cass Avenue. However, according to Demolition Supervisor Sheila Livers of the Building Division, this demolition permit was based only on evident conditions from the exterior of the group of buildings and not on a structural inspection of the interior. Livers says that she will not send a city building inspector into the two earliest buildings, which she says were structurally destabilized by the fire.
However, an interior inspection of the buildings reveals not only that the original building at 1201 Cass Avenue survived the fire with only minor masonry damage caused by the pressure of fire hoses used to put out the fire but also that the fire-damaged center building’s remains are possibly stable enough to be conserved through temporary stabilization. A thorough evaluation by a structural engineer is warranted by the current conditions, which allow reasonably safe access to most of the complex. Demolition has not started, and the owners of the building have neither endorsed nor opposed the demolition.
See the accompanying photographic narrative of the current condition here.
Elaboration
The eastern section is a four-story mill-method, bearing-wall building rectangular in plan. Several later openings on the western wall connect it to the 1897 addition and a stairwell and freight elevator at the north end that may be original to this building or built later. All openings have sliding-track steel fire doors that were effective in preventing the spread of fire on October 6. The building shows few signs of fire damage on its exterior. Its prominent Cass Avenue elevation shows visible signs of minor masonry damage likely wrought by the pressure of water sprayed by fire hoses. Under some window sills and at the cornice level, masonry elements have been dislodged although the wall remains stable. Boards and other window cladding were removed by firefighters attempting to ventilate smoke. Inside, this building also shows few signs of fire. On the first floor, there are almost no signs at all. On the upper floors, where fire doors were not closed completely, some partitions and other non-structural wooden items show signs of charring. In one place on an upper floor, at the base of a wooden column, a small section of the floor is burned from what appears to be an unrelated debris fire. This fire damage is minor. Throughout this building, the wooden columns and beams are all as true as would be expected and show no signs of fire damage or undue movement. The roof is in relatively good condition, although the collapse of parts of the adjacent addition damaged the parapet wall on the western side. Below the parapet, however, the wall remains stable with no large areas of mortar deterioration. The Building Division is worried about the condition of that brick, but it is unlikely that exposure of a former exterior wall faced in face brick would cause major structural faults.
To the west of the original building is the four-story 1897 addition. This building is U-shaped, with its long side facing Cass Avenue maintaining the wall line established by the original building. The eastern wall of this building is reinforced with structural clay tile that provided additional fire protection. This addition is also of bearing-wall mill-method construction, except for a two-story addition that fills the opening created by the U shape. This addition suffered extensive structural collapse during and after the fire. Most of this damage is concentrated in the south end in the five westernmost bays, where all four floors’ worth of wooden structural members collapsed. The recessed north masonry wall of this section, between the two wings of the building, also collapsed down to the second floor level. The side and alley walls on the north side are totally intact, though. However, the three easternmost bays of the south section retain some stability and are providing an anchor for the south wall. The structural framework is intact to the full height in the first bay from south, with various missing elements in other bays back to the start of the wing. The easternmost of the two ends of the U was connected to the main section and suffered some structural collapse on the upper two floors, although it remains intact below. The westernmost wing, perhaps a later addition although no building permit record exists, is separated from the main section by a masonry wall that prevented the spread of fire. Notably, the south wall along Cass Avenue appears stable and suffered no loss of masonry elements during the fire except for some decorative parts of the cornice.
The two-story westernmost building, built in 1900, has a steel frame with masonry walls and concrete slab floors. This building suffered no fire damage and is not part of the condemnation order for the group.
The Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings were built for industrial uses at a time when fireproofing was an utmost concern for St. Louis manufacturers. The construction of the 1890 and 1897 buildings in this group demonstrate the successes and shortcomings of fireproofing technology used in their construction. Overall, the fireproofing performed remarkably well and saved the 1890 building from significant damage. The 1890 building clearly does not need to be demolished as a result of the fire. The 1897 building is obviously structurally unstable and meets the criteria for condemnation. However, the building retains sufficient structural integrity to be appropriate for stabilization. The south wall could be reinforced with steel supports pending reconstruction of the structure; with proper bracing it would be in no danger of collapse. Other local buildings that were in similar advanced states of structural collapse include the Lister Building in the Central West End and the Wire Works buildings and the so-called M Lofts in Lafayette Square. (Another excellent example of an extensive recovery from structural collapse is the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis.) These buildings recovered through extensive reconstruction using Missouri’s state historic rehabilitation tax credit (see photographs). A developer is currently working to rebuild the Nord St. Louis Turnverein in Hyde Park, nearly destroyed by fire on July 4, 2006. Clearly, the Brecht buildings are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and such listing could make available funding mechanisms to ensure reconstruction.
Conclusion
The Brecht Butcher Supply Company buildings slated for demolition are not beyond repair. The original building actually is in sound condition, while the 1897 section could be stabilized and rebuilt with urgent work. A full report by a structural engineer could determine the best course for the 1897 addition, although demolition is certainly not the only option available. If the current owner would be interested in stabilization or selling to a developer who would stabilize the building, the prospect of rehabilitation is good. At the least, the Building Division should reverse the condemnation and demolition of the 1890 building, which is not structurally compromised by the fire.
Appendix
Post-Fire Photographic Evidence: Photographs of existing conditions.
Examples of Buildings Stabilized After Collapse: Buildings with structural collapse that successfully have been rehabilitated.
Find two or three street names within the Fifth Ward. Cobble them together in an unexpected way and tack on a “Venturers” or “Partners” or “Associates” label to give the name sobriety. Get CT Corporation System to register the name as an LC or LLC (and make sure there is an accompanying mirror company), and use it to buy property within boundaries of I-70 on the east, Delmar on the south, Grand on the west, and Natural Bridge/Branch on the north. Kudos if your property is adjacent to city-owned land or an RHCDA development project. Double kudos if you buy your land from the Board of Education, the Public Administrator or the Sheriff at a tax sale. Triple kudos if your purchase lowers property values and destabilizes a part of a neighborhood where you want to buy more parcels. If you buy a building and it becomes a crack house, give yourself a gold star. If you actually ever develop the property, get the mayor to give you a gold star and a TIF.
Here are some possible names:
Branch + Knapp = Brapp Venturers LLC.
Stoddard + Leffingwell + Elliott = Stolefiott Associates LC.
Dayton + Gamble = Dayble Investors LLC.
Howard + Knapp + Helen = Hownhel Associates LC.
Dodier + Sullivan + 23rd = Ervan 23 Investment Ventures LC.
And so forth.
Try your hand and leave your names in the comments section.
Categories
Sheridan Place
by Michael R. Allen
The Blairmont family is using a new name for acquisitions: Sheridan Place LC, likely named for Sheridan Avenue which runs through the near north side of the city.
Sheridan Place LC was incorporated on March 24, 2006 by the CT Corporation System. Its first deed was filed October 30, 2006, three days after this blog reported on the then-latest Blairmont entity to be used for acquisitions, Dodier Investors LLC.
On the first few deeds filed, Sheridan Place LC listed its address at Eagle Realty Company’s old address, 721 Olive Street Suite 920. On the deeds in type is reported the name Roberta Defiore as manager, but her name is crossed out and the name Bridget G. Calcaterra is handwritten. Calcaterra signed the deeds. Later deeds use a Brentwood address for the company’s mailing address but show Calcaterra’s name in print.
If the name Bridget Calcaterra seems familiar to some of you, it’s probably because she recently served as Deputy Director of the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) of the City of St. Louis. She was also director of Operation Impact, a city program designed to help neighborhoods get privately-owned nuisance properties into the hands of the LRA which then seeks development projects for those properties. Readers can draw their own conclusions.
As an aside, the Blairmont scheme is growing to such epic proportions that I think it’s high time that the parties responsible begin to engage the affected communities. If the end goal is a massive development project, they will need allies here — assuming we all get to stay. If a Blairmont agent is reading, consider the smallest gesture of contact — a call to the head of a neighborhood group or a meeting with an alderperson. Those of us living in the near north side don’t want to stop something good — but we don’t have any reason to believe that what you are proposing is good. Dialogue might resolve the fears and animosity brewing here, and cut my sarcasm in half (maybe).
by Michael R. Allen
If one studies the map of Blairmont holdings that we posted last month, an interersting picture emerges. Besides other concentrations that I have noted, all of the holdings seem to center on one site: the vacant site of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project.
All of the holdings fan out from that location, a city-owned mega-parcel frequently discussed as the nexus of new development on the near north side. Recall that nearly ten years ago the administration of Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr. embraced a plan to build an 18-hole golf course surrounded by suburban-style housing, using the Pruitt-Igoe site and much of the St. Louis Place neighborhood.
Jump forward to 1999-2000, and one may remember the Fifth Ward Land Use Plan created by Schweyte Architects and vigorously opposed by architects and preservationists, including the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Landmarks Association and former St. Louis Place resident Robert Myers. That plan called for the demolition of hundreds of buildings located in the footprint in which Blairmont has been purchasing its holdings. The Pruitt-Igoe site was key to the recommendations of that plan, which seems to be one guide to Blairmont’s scope of activities.
Is the Pruitt-Igoe site key to whatever project Blairmont might be concocting? It’s hard to say without word from the company’s representatives. But it seems that acquisition of that site is essential to any development Blairmont may be planning.
“… Tell me what’s going on in North St. Louis.”
“Nothing more than what’s in the papers every night.” Chuck raised his voice, as if many stupid people had been asking him this very question. “Nothing more than business as usual. Now, to my knowledge, there’s been no excessive speculation on the North Side. Property values have risen, and the various institutions I serve have seen fit to protect their future and the future of the depositor — the little man, Martin — by making some selected and I believe wise purchases in the area. To add to what we already had. And, of course, to replace what we’d sold before we properly assessed the market’s strength. There’s some very choice property down there, and it’s about time the city made something of it. … I think the time is coming. We’re certainly quite satisfied with the crime situation at present.”
– Jonathan Franzen, The Twenty-Seventh City (published in 1988)