Category: Midtown

Categories
Demolition Grand Center LRA Midtown

Grand Center and the Central Apartments

by Michael R. Allen


Demolition is nearly complete on the Central Apartments at 3727 Olive Street in Midtown, and there is still no answer to the big question: What were they thinking?

The better question seems to be: Were they thinking?

Central Apartments in 2005.

The graceful apartment building is the latest victim of the indecision of Grand Center, Inc., the redevelopment corporation charged with revitalizing the midtown area. While the Central Apartments has been owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority since 2001, its fate has been under the control of Grand Center. Since the apartment building fell empty in 2001 — it was partly occupied with storefront tenants up to the time of closing — Grand Center has failed to articulate a vision for its reuse or demolition. After languishing for several years boarded and deteriorating, the building fell to wreckers in December apparently at Grand Center’s request.

The Building Division considered the demolition an emergency, and some reports of brick loss on the west wall circulated. However, the brick loss was spalling of face brick, and the concrete structure of the building was as solid before wrecking began as it was when people were living there just six years prior.


Alas, the potential for reuse in December 2007 was perhaps greater than ever. Thanks to the work of Restoration St. Louis, Steve Trampe and other developers, there finally is an apartment housing market in Midtown. These developers have seen the obvious need for off-campus housing for St. Louis University students and have rehabbed large historic buildings for housing. Two blocks from the Spring Avenue mall entrance to the SLU campus, the Central Apartments had an obvious market.

While the 3700-3800 block of Olive Street has long lost any semblance of cohesive historic character, and lies outside of the Midtown National Historic District, the block retains a few buildings and many lots the could be developed. The William Cuthbert Jones House and the former Lindell Exchange (later Wolfner memorial library) on the south side of the block were recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Historic rehabilitation and new construction could transform that block from its current dullness.

Built in 1916, the Central Apartments possessed an elegant front elevation adorned in the Renaissance Revival style. With a sound structure, mostly solid masonry and largely intact interiors — revealed when exterior walls were knocked off of the building — the building was in good shape. The building could have provided the high-density urban housing one would assume is needed to make a thriving arts and entertainment district function as a real neighborhood.

Why Grand Center did not make rehabilitation of the building a priority is a mystery. Too often, such a senseless demolition is the result of deliberate bad planning. Here, it seems the result of no planning and no deliberation whatsoever.

Categories
Architecture Demolition Historic Preservation Midtown

Givens Row Loses Two of Its Three Houses

Read the story on the Landmarks Association of St. Louis website. (Thanks to Paul Hohmann for documenting this travesty.)

Categories
Demolition Historic Preservation Midtown

Emergency Demolition Order for Midtown’s Central Apartments

by Michael R. Allen

Paul Hohmann reports that the city Building Division has granted an emergency demolition order for the Central Apartments at 3727 Olive Street in Midtown.

The building is owned by Grand Center, Inc. Brick spalling has beset the western wall for the past three years, and the owner has not performed preventative maintenance despite obvious trouble. Still, the Central Apartments are structurally sound in fact and under the terms of the city’s Preservation Ordinance, which stipulates that the building must be stable enough to stand for at least another six months to be deemed stable. Clearly, there is no emergency here.

Categories
Churches Fire Midtown

St. Alphonsus Liguori After the Fire

by Michael R. Allen

These photographs of St. Alphonsus Liguori (“Rock”) Church are frpm Friday afternoon. As the photographs suggest, the worst damage was sustained by the roof. The fire appears to have spread quickly across the roof, consuming some of the trusses and rafters while causing some roof collapse behind the steeple and over the altar. Overall, though, the church retains structural integrity. Even the roof damage is far less severe than anyone could have suspected on Thursday night during the fire. No assessment of interior damage is available. Given the amount of water used to fight the fire overhead, I would expect to find extensive water damage.

St. Alphonsus church was opened in 1872, although the steeples were not completed until 1894. The original plans came from Reverend Louis Dold and architect Thomas Walsh, while noted church architect and sculptor Joseph Conradi designed the steeples and the marble altar inside. Construction of the limestone church, designed in the Gothic Revival style, had begun in November 1867. The church was built by the Redemptorists, a Roman Catholic order founded by Liguori. After racial integration in 1947, the church congregation membership became heavily African-American.

Categories
Churches Fire Midtown

Good News for St. Alphonsus "Rock" Catholic Church

Church set to rebuild – Aisha Sultan (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 18)

Categories
Churches Fire Midtown

More Coverage of "Rock" Church Fire

Pub Def (with video)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

KWMU (links to photos)

Categories
Events Midtown

Rally for Historical Preservation and Urbanism

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Douglas Charles Duckworth
Phone: 566-3465
Email: dcdb66@umsl.edu

Date: July 26th 2007

Once again there will be a rally protesting Lawrence Biondi’s demolition of historical buildings within Midtown and the burgeoning Locust Business District. The last two attempts at dissent were cut short due to inclement weather; however this Thursday the 26th many will rally at the intersection of Locust and Josephine Baker Boulevard. Please arrive by 5:30 PM. At 6PM we will be walking from the remnants of the Livery Stable to the soon to be demolished Second Empire mansion at 3740 Lindell. Show your opposition to the annihilation of historical buildings as they represent St. Louis’ unique built environment and history! Inform Biondi and the political machine that needlessly bulldozing the built environment is not a policy which will revitalize St. Louis.

St. Louis City has a precedent of demolition extending back decades. The practice is ingrained within its political culture. The argument for demolition, specifically of large areas, was that certain neighborhoods were blighted slums thus their redevelopment was in the interest of the City. In fact Soulard was supposed to be demolished per the 1947 City Plan. These large scale projects, called “urban renewal,” were designed to provide new housing, office space, and industrial, that would allegedly offset population losses due to suburbanization. They failed miserably as the City continued its depopulation.

Considering the former Livery Stable, the argument for demolition was that surface parking must be provided for SLU’s new arena. In reality, there is plenty of parking available via on-street, surface, and garage parking. Moreover, the benefit of providing parking does not outweigh the loss of St. Louis’ unique built environment. Readily apparent throughout St. Louis City is our plethora of parking garages and lots, many of which supplanted a historical building through demolition. Suburbanites visit the City for a ball game, concert, or other event; yet afterwards the sidewalks are devoid of pedestrian life. The goal of the establishment should be a change of policy. Both large scale urban renewal and demolition for parking are failed policies. What didn’t work in the past should not be repeated.

There is a better solution. The City will gain residents by concentrating resources on rehabbing the built environment. Ironically, after decades of decline, Mayor Francis G. Slay and others in power cite the Washington Avenue rehab boom, and other transitioning neighborhoods, as explanation for the City’s recent population increase. Why is needless demolition acceptable in some areas when rehabilitation of the built environment has had such positive benefits elsewhere? Specifically, within Grand Center, concentration on rehabilitation and new infill construction would bring pedestrian life. With such activity comes a market for storefront retail and commerce. The end result is that Grand Center lives up to its official name, The Intersection of Art and Life, rather than its current reality: The Intersection of Art and Death.

Pedestrian traffic facilitated through urban residential and commercial development provides SLU with patrons to their new arena without the construction of parking. Individuals would simply walk from where they live or work. They could even use a bike. Finally, the rehabilitation of our built environment would provide the City a higher tax yield. These monies could fund mass transit expansion within the City, thus lessening the need for parking. The possibilities are endless, yet are utterly destroyed when a viable historical building is demolished. The Livery Stable is gone, but the mansion at 3740 Lindell, which contributes to the Midtown National Register Historic District, can be saved. Moreover, a message must be sent: St. Louis should have higher standards.

After the rally we will be walking across Lindell to the Moolah, which was masterfully rehabbed in 2004, for our monthly discussion of politics, urbanism, preservation, and architecture. This is the perfect opportunity to meet fellow activists and make new friends. Be sure to attend the rally and the social gathering afterwards. The future of St. Louis City is being decided today. Make sure it does not look like O’Fallon. Your children will thank you.

Categories
Media Midtown Northside Regeneration People

Blairmont, Locust Street Covered in Today’s RFT

by Michael R. Allen

There are two excellent articles in today’ Riverfront Times pertaining to controversial development matters:

Phantom of the Hood, Part 2 by Kathleen McLaughlin

The newest member of the RFT staff has written a great article on Paul McKee’s north side project. Some of the new information she dug up includes the fact that McKee’s attorney Steve Stone of Stone, Leyton & Gershman was involved in drafting the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Act. McLaughlin includes a choice quote from State Sen. John Griesheimer, original sponsor of the tax credit: “My idea of redeveloping is taking a blighted area and bulldozing it, putting mixed-uses in.” The “bulldoze the ghetto” rhetoric gains some credibility. Kathleen McLaughlin’s byline is definitely one to watch; she is tenacious and smart.

Rebuilt to Suit by Randall Roberts

Randall Roberts’ last story for the RFT covers the tension between St. Louis University and the developers and businesspeople who are transforming Locust Street (as well as parts of Olive and Washington) east of Grand into a force that puts the “life” in that fables intersection Grand Center advertises. The last part chronicles the livery stable demolition, bringing to light SLU’s promise to demolish no more of its holdings north of Lindell. Roberts has a fine sense of public journalism, and of how an article like this one can make a difference for the better. While this article comes out too late to make a difference in the livery stable fight, its timing is still good since few know SLU’s next step on Locust Street. I’m confident that McLaughlin will continue Roberts’ legacy of providing critical coverage of development and preservation issues in the RFT.

Categories
Demolition Midtown

Livery Stable Demolition Permit Issued, Work Begins

by Michael R. Allen

This morning, the Building Division issued a demolition permit to St. Louis University for the historic livery stable at 3401 Locust Street. By mid-day, a wrecking crew from Bellon Wrecking & Salvage was at work stripping the building’s roof decking and guttering. Oddly, the crew did not have an on-site dumpster and did not have a copy of the demolition permit on display as is required by city law. The site is not secured, with several window and door openings easily accessible and not even so much as caution tape keeping pedestrians off of the sidewalks. Perhaps there was some haste on the university’s part to get work started.

At the end of the day, about one-third of the roof deck appeared to be removed, and there was minor damage to the top of the western wall where the gutter was located. Obviously, fatal damage will not come from a crew of six men — especially given how sound this building is.

Categories
Demolition Midtown

Electrical, Water Services Pulled on Locust Street Livery Stable

by Michael R. Allen

Workers have removed the water and electrical services to the historic livery stable at 3401 Locust Street owned by St. Louis University. A demolition permit has not yet been issued.

According to sources, two of the biggest development players in the “Automobile Row” area on Locust and Olive Streets have made offers to buy the livery stable in the past. The first came when the building was last offered for sale, and the second after the university purchased it.

The building is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and for state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits. Both potential developers were examining conversion to housing, office and retail spaces.

Meanwhile, north of the stable are large surface lots that could be sites for multi-level parking garages to serve both the St. Louis University arena and the Locust Street business district.