Category Archives: LRA
Losing More Buildings on Martin Luther King Drive
by Michael R. Allen In September and October 2007, the Land Reutilization Authority wrecked the three two-part commercial buildings at 4220, 4222 and 4224 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive in the Ville. The demolitions hardly were startling. Alderman Sam Moore … Continue reading
Posted in Abandonment, Demolition, LRA, North St. Louis, The Ville
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Lost: David Carter’s Saloon and Grocery
by Michael R. Allen A distinctive building in the northern reaches of The Ville is no more. In late August, the city wrecked the two-story, mansard-atop-brick mass at 4159 Ashland Avenue. This strange specimen sat on the sidewalk line on … Continue reading
Posted in Brick Theft, Demolition, LRA, North St. Louis, The Ville
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Fire Strikes College Hill Building
Yesterday evening, a fire raced through the vacant, Land Reutilization Authority-owned four-family building at 4411 N. 20th Street in College Hill. The building’s timber elements quickly gave way to the flames, and within an hour the building was reduced to … Continue reading
Posted in College Hill, Fire, LRA, North St. Louis
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How Easy Death, How Easy Life
by Michael R. Allen This unusual cross-gabled house with striking dormers, located at 3839 Lee Avenue in the Fairground neighborhood, is about to be demolished. Once it is gone, an irreplaceable building — seriously, what else looks like this in … Continue reading
Posted in Abandonment, Demolition, Fairground, LRA, North St. Louis
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Bright Days Ahead for the Sun Theater?
by Michael R. Allen There seems to be some confusion as to the fate of the elegant, vacant Sun Theater at 3627 Grandel Square in midtown. The sumptuously-ornamented theater has been owned by the Land Reutilization Authority since 2009, when … Continue reading
Posted in Abandonment, LRA, Midtown, Theaters
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Picnic on an LRA Lot
by Michael R. Allen This Monday, the Chautauqua Art Lab started its second day with a Public Reclamation Picnic organized by Kara Clark Holland, who has a series of these events. The idea is simple and amazing: transforming an underutilized … Continue reading
Posted in LRA, North St. Louis, St. Louis Place
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Iowa Avenue House’s Days Are Numbered
by Michael R. Allen Last year, the Community Development Administration issued a “last chance” call for a proposal to rehabilitate the vacant house at 3244 Iowa Avenue in Benton Park West, owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. (See “Last … Continue reading
Posted in Benton Park West, Demolition, LRA, South St. Louis
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Ville Area Still Recovering from New Year’s Eve Storm
by Michael R. Allen Severe storms that hit the city on December 31st have left lasting destruction in parts of north St. Louis. In the Ville and Greater Ville area, winds of over 70 miles per hour struck after noon … Continue reading
Posted in LRA, North St. Louis, Severe Weather, The Ville, Urban Assets LLC
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Towards an Ecology of Innovation: Reimagining the Land Reutilization Authority
by RJ Koscielniak They were discarded like lepers, and then collected for bureaucratic internment. They make up an archipelago of crumbling concrete, contaminated plain, and overgrown fields; many have been forgotten, while some have passed on from a famine of … Continue reading
Posted in LRA
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Slow, Steady Progress in Hyde Park
by Michael R. Allen Amid ongoing recession, development is continuing in the city’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Irving School LP, owned in part by Duffe Nuernberger, has started work on renovation of fifteen historic buildings scattered across the western side of … Continue reading
Posted in Housing, Hyde Park, LRA, North St. Louis
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