Category: LRA

Categories
Abandonment LRA North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Pruitt Igoe

Pruitt-Igoe Site the Key to Blairmont’s Scheme?

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.

Categories
Hyde Park LRA Preservation Board

Callow Urges Urbanists to Buy Houses on Blair

by Michael R. Allen

Preservation Board Chairman Richard Callow made an interesting post to Urban St. Louis yesterday. The post, entitled “Why Not?”, urged readers to consider purchasing one of the two LRA-owned houses on the 3900 block of Blair Avenue in Hyde Park whose demolitions were denied by the Board on Monday.

Writes Callow: “Drive by 3961, in particular. Wouldn’t it be more interesting living there than in a former warehouse with something called Shoppes in the ground floor?”

While it takes more than a forum post to sell an LRA building, at least Callow is trying.

Some readers may recall that Mayor Slay seemed appreciative of two frame houses on 19th Street in Hyde Park also threatened with demolition last year. Hmmm.

Categories
LRA

LRA’s Problem With Marketing: It Needs to Start

by Michael R. Allen

Check out the featured properties list of the city’s real estate agency, the Land Reutilization Authority.

Maybe it looks fine on first glance, if a little short on the number of properties. That number, though, gets even shorter when you look at the little red tags added next to each address. Two of the properties have already sold. One has an offer made on it, although the tag “OFFER” may not be as self-explanatory to a first-time visitor to the website. Another reads “Available,” leading one to question whether or not the other addresses listed are available as well.

Further investigation shows that of the buildings that sold, the sale of 3463 Potomac was recorded December 16, 2005 and the sale of 1919 Agnes was recorded August 1, 2006. The website proclaims its last update as being August 23, 2006, making the presence of the August 1 sale somewhat understandable. Yet there is no good reason why the sale from late last year should still be listed on the Featured Properties pages.

Further investigation reveals that almost all of the current addresses have been on the Featured Properties page since 2004, and that only one or two have been added since that year. In the past, even more “sold” properties cluttered this page.

Are we to believe that the city has no more worthwhile LRA-owned buildings to sell when it gets through with this list?

Of course not; there are thousands more and many of them would sell quickly if one didn’t have to deal with the city to purchase them. The LRA should be constantly rolling in new properties to the Featured Properties page. As soon as one sells, another should replace it. If a sold house needs to remain on the site to show people what kind of properties LRA has sold, it should be moved to an archive page.

Yet even an enhanced Featured Properties page only reaches anyone who can find the page, which isn’t easy to find. What LRA really needs to do is actual marketing.

Here are some suggestions for an LRA marketing plan:

1. Publish the entire LRA property list on the LRA website, complete with a photograph of each building in the inventory and the asking price (which should be $1.00 in every instance).

2. Form partnerships with neighborhood organizations that have proven development ability, such as the partnership being forged between LRA and the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. The neighborhood groups will create marketing strategies and materials.

3. Eliminate the requirement of an alderman’s letter of support for a sale. Why this is even part of LRA policy is beyond comprehension. (For instance, the Third Ward has the highest concentration of LRA buildings in the city. Good luck getting that letter of support there!)

4. Create an attractive for-sale sign to be placed on each LRA building.

5. Explore the possibility of public-private partnerships that would utilize LRA buildings for Habitat for Humanity and other housing efforts.

6. Create a dedicated staff position for the purpose of sales and marketing. Of course, funding is tight at present but I would argue that selling LRA buildings should be a huge priority of city government and worthy of the expenditure. After all, the St. Louis Development Corporation already spends a lot of city money every year contracting to outside parties for appraisal and consulting work. Why not figure out ways to save money on those contracts to fund a position at LRA?

With some effort, LRA could sell much of its inventory in a few years. Of course, aldermen would lose their ability to give favored developers property, and land banking for large projects might become difficult, but rarely is that approach conducive to smart urban planning. Aldermanic control of development has been nothing but a downfall for the city.

I am not suggesting that LRA drop its proof of financial responsibility requirement. However, the agency needs to stop using that requirement as a threat. LRA needs to conduct itself to ultimately completely divest its property. LRA properties have a bad reputation as eyesores that are difficult to purchase. In fact, they could be the raw material of urban homesteading and returned to use.

Categories
LRA North St. Louis Old North

Volunteers Needed for LRA Project

Need: Anyone who can walk, drive, write or talk and wants to do something about LRA building conditions on the near north side.

What: Old North residents and student volunteers are doing a survey of LRA building conditions in the “Murphy-Blair” historic district. Instead of complaining bit-by-bit as each new problem arises, we want to present LRA with one professional work write-up, with contractor bids and dollar figures. All LRA would have to do is write a check and issue a press release, what could be better?

Why should you volunteer outside of your neighborhood?: Hate the way our beautiful old buildings are rotting? We have concocted a “proactive” plan and want to give it a try. If it works it could be used as a model for YOUR neighborhood.

How: You will be paired up with one other volunteer. The team will get a short list of addresses, a form to fill out for each LRA address, and a map. You can take just one address or more if you like. Go out to the address, complete the paperwork, bring it back to the office for the data entry girl.

Who: Organized by Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, with help from Washington University engineering students. We hope to provide enough city dwellers to pair up with the students one-to-one. The student group is called Engineers without Borders.

When: Saturday morning or afternoon (arrive anytime between 8am-12pm, work for half an hour or longer, wrap up by mid-afternoon). If you are going to the rehabber’s club meeting, you could stop by either before or after!

Where: meet in Old North St Louis at the Urban Studio on 14th St (across from the ONLSRG office). The address is 2815 N 14th Street, St. Louis, MO 63106

Categories
LRA Public Policy St. Louis Board of Aldermen

LRA Reform?

by Michael R. Allen

Pub Def reports that Alderman Troupe is talking about reforming the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), the city’s largest real estate arm. LRA mainly owns vacant properties whose owners have failed to pay taxes or otherwise abandoned the properties. Some say that the LRA hoards vacant buildings and makes it difficult for individual rehabbers to buy their properties, which are ostensibly for sale to the public. Others talk about the LRA’s giving low-income people the chance to buy a building for $1 (plus the cost of rehabbing one of their derelict buildings); those days seem to have passed.

Two things are clear:

1. The LRA does not do much to stabilize and maintain the buildings it owns, and frequently ends up demolishing them. LRA has often torn down buildings that are contributing resources to local and national historic districts — often against the recommendation of the city’s Cultural Resources Office.

2. Despite the LRA being a citywide agency under the auspices of the St. Louis Development Corporation, LRA properties in each of the city’s wards are virtually controlled by the aldermen. In fact, as part of the official process for purchasing an LRA building, the LRA asks the alderman for the ward for approval of the sale. If the local leader says “no,” the sale is almost always dead, and the property could sit vacant for another decade before a better-connected buyer comes along.

These are two things that could stand to be changed.

Categories
LRA North St. Louis

Greyhound on the Move

by Michael R. Allen

Word is that Greyhound has signed a lease for the proposed multi-modal transportation center planned in downtown St. Louis just south of Kiel Center.

What is going to happen to the lovely Cass Bank Building at 13th and Cass now occupied by Greyhound? It is located in a nether zone between downtown and the near north side’s residential areas, and will be uncomfortably close to a noisy and congested off-ramp from the proposed Mississippi River bridge. Will the Beaux Arts building and its lobby of marble and gilt plaster be another casualty? Or can we figure out a new use for it before Greyhound vacates?

What would you like to see there?

Categories
Columbus Square Historic Preservation LRA

Neighborhood Gardens Coming Back to Life

by Michael R. Allen

Today, I stopped by Neighborhood Gardens Apartments and chatted with developer Dan Dalton. His crew is working steady, and the results are apparent. The site is a beehive of activity during the day, and the buildings are starting to look much different. Windowpanes have even been installed in one building facing 7th Street. Dalton told me that 99% of the original steel cast window sashes were restored for the project — that is impressive. Window sashes typically don’t survive rehab projects, often because they are wooden and have not been maintained well enough to warrant saving.

When Dalton and company are done with their work, Neighborhood Gardens Apartments will be a shining example of what good can come of persistence and sensitivity to historic materials. Dan and his brother Jim have taken a large, neglected LRA-owned landmark and restored it without the fanfare and financial assistance that other developers have received. Good work, guys!

Categories
Abandonment Housing LRA North St. Louis Old North

2917-23 N. 13th Street

by Michael R. Allen


Photograph by Michael R. Allen; December 21, 2005.

A lovely row of late 19th-century houses at 2917-23 N. 13th Street creates a very urban setting in Old North. Too bad that the back walls have fallen off and the owner is the city government.  I wonder how much time this lovely group has left. There is nothing stopping anyone from coming in, removing damaged sections and rebuilding the row with modern materials. This could be the site for a demonstration of historic-modern stylistic blending, but fate likely is a strong counterweight to that dream.

Once upon a time, people cared for this row. (Source: National Register of Historic Places Inventory Form: Murphy-Blair Historic District, Prepared by Landmarks Association of St. Louis, 1984.)


Around back. Photograph by Michael R. Allen; December 21, 2005.

Categories
Demolition LRA North St. Louis Old North

2013-15 and 2021-23 Palm Avenue

by Michael R. Allen

The buildings still standing on June 8, 2005. Photograph by Michael R. Allen.

Built in the period of 1893-1895 by Clemens Eckhoff, the buildings at 2013-15, 2017-19 and 2023-25 Palm Avenue in Old North were sturdy Mansard-style four-flat buildings. Eckhoff owned the Eckhoff (later Valley) Furniture Company operating across the alley from these buildings at 21st and Branch and developed much of the area around his factory. In addition to these buildings, he also built two buildings on 21st Street in the same period.

Sadly, these three buildings fell empty in the 1970s and 1980s and sustained the usual structural problems brought to old buildings by water and stupid people. Vandalism came quickly, followed by collapsing rear walls. Unpaid taxes led the ownership of 2013-15 and 2023-25 as well as the buildings on 21st Street to the hands of the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. In the 1990s, the owner of 2017-19 Palm wrecked the building and recently sold the cleared lot to a suspicious group of speculators organized as Blairmont Associates LC.

2023-25 Palm Street on June 8, 2005.

2033-15 Palm Street on June 8, 2005.

In summer 2004, I suspected that demolition may be on the way. Palm Avenue is not enjoying as much reinvestment as the rest of Old North St. Louis and that reinvestment is a fragile things itself. Buildings in more desirable neighborhood locations have fallen in the last three years, too. We visited the buildings and took photographs. We saw a hopeful sign: Someone was working on a gut rehab across Palm that is now nearing completion. The buildings slipped out of active recall as I progressed on purchasing and rehabbing a home in the neighborhood, until we learned from a resident on Palm that demolition had commenced.

According to this resident, demolition of 2013-15 Palm began on Saturday, November 5, 2005 and was complete within a week. The lot has already been graded and a new sidewalk poured. Our neighbor says that demolition of 2023-25 Palm began on Monday, November 7. Much of the building still stands, although wreckers have been working steadily at taking it down.

The specifics of the demolition of these buildings are distressing. First of all, neither building’s demolition went through demolition review by the city’s Cultural Resources Office. Such review is mandatory for all buildings considered contributing resources in a National Register of Historic Places district. The buildings on Palm Avenue are indeed contributing resources to the Murphy-Blair Historic District (listed in 1984). Secondly, no one in the neighborhood received notice of the forthcoming demolition. Lastly, on the day of the demolition, a representative of a private development company visited the site and observed the proceedings while talking on a cellular phone. Could this person be connected to Blairmont?

Also distressing is that this unlawful demolition cannot be stopped. The city government enforces its own laws, so its actions occur largely outside of the scope of law enforcement. The only recourse in this case would have been a lawsuit seeking a restraining injunction, and that recourse is meaningless once work has already commenced (as painfully learned in the Century Building case).

The only good news is that the city government stopped an illegal demolition by a private owner at 1501 Palm Avenue recently, and intervened before much damage had been done. For some reason, however, fortune was set against the buildings down the block.

Categories
Housing LRA Midtown

Central Apartments

by Michael R. Allen

Yet another historic building sits in Midtown amid vacant lots where its neighbors have fallen steadily in the last fifty years — many of them falling only in the last twenty during the reign of Grand Center, Inc. This particular building is the elegant Central Apartments at 3727 Olive Street. The Central Apartments building is a simple T-shaped single-entrance apartment building built in 1916. One notable feature is that each apartment has its own balcony. Unlike other apartment buildings from this age, Central Apartments uses little catalog-order terra cotta and relies on fenestration and soldier courses of brick to articulate the facade. The only terra cotta here is a thin Greek key course in the cornice and a blank course running above the fourth floor windows. Still, the building is a worthy composition in the eclectic realm of Midtown architecture.

Central Apartments on September 29, 2004.

Somehow the Central Apartments fell empty in 2001 and the Land Reutilization took title, presumably holding the building for redevelopment under the Grand Center, Inc. master plan for Midtown. The future looks dim for this building given Grand Center’s penchant for demolition and for driving out any use not related to the large-scale projects it wants to populate Midtown. This block of Olive has lost at least 25 buildings in the last 30 years, and has become a wasteland of vacant lots and marginal uses. Small-scale developers simply aren’t welcome in Midtown these days. Neither are small buildings, it seems. Lack of imagination is a key feature of the “museum and arts” district.

Looking northeast at the Central Apartments on September 29, 2004.