Preservation Research OfficeFilmmaker Carson Minow’s award-winning 48 Hour Film Project entry, Hanley’s Meadow, is now available online. Readers of this blog will recognize a few of the actors and many of the locations, which range from St. Louis Place to the Wellston Loop.
Pub Def has the good news: McKee Tax Credit Vetoed
by Michael R. Allen
Here is a review of recent media coverage of Paul J. McKee, Jr.’s plans for north St. Louis. Times have changed when all I have to do is link to the work of others.
Even on Donnybrook
The old gang on KETC’s Donnybrook program brought up Paul McKee’s plans for north St. Louis on the June 28 show. Ray Hartmann and Bill McClellan make good points critical of the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act and McKee’s silence, while Charles Brennan and Martin Duggan wonder why people are upset. Watch the show here (the discussion starts about twelve minutes into the program).
Making the news all over the state
On July 2, Southeast Missourian business editor Rudi Keller published a column entitled “One person may qualify for new tax credit”.
Keller also published a blog entitled “The $100 million man” on July 2.
The Kinder connection
On June 26, Fired Up! Missouri blogger Howard Beale reported that NorthPark Partners, the development partnership that includes Paul McKee’s McEagle Properties, hired David Barklage as a lobbyist in April. Barklage is a long-time associate of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. Beale speculates that the recent inexplicable claim that the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act has more to do with NorthPark than north St. Louis has a lot to do with the hiring of Barklage.
Read more here.
On the radio, too
Some of the July 5 St. Louis on the Air program on radio station KWMU was dedicated to discussing McKee’s plans. Listen here.
Handling the truth
Back in June, a Truth Handler blog entry made a point about the unintended consequences of well-meaning liberal support for urban renewal schemes like McKee’s:
So, in the end, the good-intentioned attempts you had made to shift some sort of power/wealth to the poor by creating a new use for government power is then ultimately used by the rich to benefit themselves, and no one else.
Good coverage from At Home
At Home magazine blogger Stefene Russell has been continuing its pithy coverage of McKee’s plans. One of her best recent posts is “The Politics of Neighborhoods” — check it out.
Urbanists debating McKee’s plans
Over at the Urban St. Louis forum, usually suffering from a dearth of discussion on north St. Louis, the thread on McKee’s north side project has blown into a vigorous debate. Jump into the discussion here.
by Michael R. Allen
In a written statement sent to Riverfront Times reporter Kathleen McLaughlin, developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. remarked of his north side holdings, “what we do own, with a few unremarkable exceptions, is owned in small, undevelopable scattered sites.”
McKee is wrong on several counts:
– The most desirable and sustainable development in any urban area is precisely done in small, scattered sites. Great cities are built through accumulation, not master planning — the same goes for great redevelopment. McKee’s 662+ parcels were each developable, or they never would have been surveyed and divided as parcels. These are not good sites for large buildings or homes with generous front lawns, but they are perfect for dense urban infill construction.
– With property values rising throughout the city, all property in the city is “developable” — especially land as close to downtown as McKee’s holdings are. Even what he owns now could lead to an extremely profitable develoment program.
– McKee owns dozens of historic buildings in the Murphy-Blair, Clemens House-Columbia Brewery and Mullanphy National Historic Districts — many adjacent to rehabilitated buildings or soon-to-be rehabilitated buildings. Obviously, he’s already eligible for an established and proven state development tax credit: the historic rehabilitation tax credit. His Paric Corporation can been seen all over the city serving as general contractor on numerous historic rehabilitation contracts utilizing the tax credit, and that company does good work. He could proceed with rehabilitating all of his holdings eligible for the state historic tax credit and make a huge and qualitative difference in north St. Louis.
– In Old North St. Louis and the eastern side of St. Louis Place, McKee’s holdings fall among rehabbed buildings, maintained houses, businesses and new construction. Large-scale development is not only unfeasible in these areas, it’s not needed. There already is development activity scattered in these areas. On some blocks, everything is in good repair except the holdings of McKee and the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. Surely he can put together development projects on a small scale where they will make such a critical difference.
Overall, McKee’s holdings are a remarkable development opportunity as-is. Rather than wait for big political deals to take shape, the developer is posed to start now on meaningful development based on community needs and sensitivity to the existing urban fabric. In fact, if he only rehabbed every building eligible for the state rehab tax credit the difference on the near north side would be clear. If that statement doesn’t seem true, one need only look at the result of the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance’s CONECT project on North Market and Monroe streets in Old North St. Louis. There, scattered rehabs using the state historic rehab tax credit and other existing financing mechanisms changed the character of some blocks from hopeless to hopeful. Simultaneous construction of new houses helped make the difference bigger. Some of these blocks are unrecognizable in their renewed states.
As such good changes take place, they spread — fast. Private development is at an all-time high in Old North St. Louis. Within a few years, the 14th Street Mall will be reopened and dozens of historic buildings will be rehabilitated as part of that project. In short time, figuring out what to do with all of the vacant land in the neighborhood won’t be a problem; the gaps will fill in. This won’t happen in even ten years, but I’d be surprised if it takes more than thirty. Given the magnitude of the decline of the neighborhood, that is remarkably fast.
With careful planning, McKee could identify other potential historic districts among his holdings and carry that momentum westward into JeffVanderLou. That process seems to coincide with Mayor Slay’s statement that historic preservation is part of what will happen in development of McKee’s holdings.
The large scale on which McKee has operated is hardly visionary any more. We have watched decades of such projects fail. In the meantime, we have seen developers make bigger differences in reversing decay by tackling the city on a parcel-by-parcel basis — the same way the city was first developed. McKee has the chance to do something unique by putting his resources and energy behind smarter urban development projects. No matter what happens, development of his parcels will take decades. Why not start now and work steadily doing something no other developer can do?
While the MayorSlay.com’s attack on the Post-Dispatch coverage of Paul McKee’s north side land assemblage struck a predictable posture, two responses online are worthwhile reads:
Slay Supports McKee, Blasts Post – Antonio D. French (Pub Def)
I Take the Bait – Lisa Selligman (clearview)
by Michael R. Allen
During testimony at Monday’s Preservation Board meeting, Alderman Freeman Bosley, Sr. (D-3rd) stated that he would no longer support demolition in the Hyde Park Historic District, a federally-certified local historic district located entirely within his ward.
According to Bosley, decades of demolition have taken their toll. After watching buildings fall during days when the Hyde Park neighborhood was more desperate for development, he sees mistakes in past practices. However, the alderman wants to see extensive new construction in the neighborhood because it makes the older buildings more attractive to rehabbers.
Bosley was testifying in favor of a plan to build two new houses on 25nd Street offered by Mark Zerillo in consultation with realtor, developer and Preservation Board Vice Chairperson Mary “One” Johnson. The houses would entail reuse of existing foundations poured in 1995 but never build upon that would support two-story brick-faced frame houses supposedly modeled on older flat-roofed flats on the neighborhood.
Cultural Resources Office Director Kate Shea opposed granting preliminary approval due to the project’s lack of compliance with the standards of the local district. (Read Shea’s report here.) The Preservation Board concurred; a motion to withhold preliminary approval made by John Burse passed by a vote of 5-1 with board member Ald. Terry Kennedy (D-18th) opposed.
The Preservation Board also granted preliminary approval to infill housing in Hyde Park proposed by a development group headed by Ken Nuernburger (more here). That plan called for demolition of a two-story commercial building at 2303 Salisbury and a two-story brick house at 3915 N. 25th Street, across the street from the foundations proposed for reuse by Zerillo and the Johnsons.
The Board approved demolition of the building on Salisbury by a vote of 8-1, with member Mike Killeen dissenting. The Board denied demolition of the building on 25th street by a vote of 5-3, with members David Richardson, Johnson and Kennedy dissenting. Chairman Richard Callow abstained from these votes.
by Michael R. Allen
According to an article that appeared in the November 26, 1966 issue of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat with the prosaic title “$151,000 Demolition Job,” the city of St. Louis was embarking upon a large-scale scattered-site clearance project on the near north side. In an area bounded by Jefferson on the east, Delmar of the south, Grand on the west and St. Louis on the north, the city was planning to demolish 150 buildings identified as substandard. This area at the time was known as Grand Prairie or Mid-City, but today is better known as the eastern half of JeffVanderLou. $101,000 of the $151,000 cost of the project came from federal funds.
This project started six years ahead of the introduction of the Team Four Plan for the wholesale deprivation of the near north side. This came ahead of widespread organized architectural surveys conducted by Landmarks Association of St. Louis and city government. This came thirty years before Paul J. McKee, Jr. set his sights on this area.
This part of the city has been long betrayed by many people. McKee’s plans are simply the endgame of decades of deprivation, demolition and neglect. However, knowing what we know now about the lack of sustainability of large-scale urban renewal projects, we should be in a better position to avoid further destroying the near north side. We don’t have the density of physical and social resources that should remain on the near north side, but we now know the value of what’s left, if only due to its scarcity.
by Michael R. Allen
Despite statements to the contrary, Paul McKee’s north side holding companies continue their purchasing spree. One of those companies alone, MLK 3000 LLC, spent $935,400 between May 17 and June 20 in order to acquire nine properties.
The properties and their recorded sales prices are: 2517 North Market, $92,000.00; 2225 Mullanphy, $80,500.00; 2223 Mullanphy, $80,500.00; 2221 Madison, $74,750.00; 1902 Dodier: $115,000; 1831 Laflin, $78,200.00; 1836-42 N. 22nd, $147,200.00; 2529-31 Hebert, $97,750.00; 2500 Sullivan, $172,500.00.
The building at 1902 Dodier is an occupied contributing resource to the Murphy-Blair National Historic District, the largest historic district in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.
The deeds are signed by Roberta M. Defiore, manager of MLK 3000 LLC and former consultant to the Archdiocese Office of Urban and Community Affairs (see here). The loans come from the Parkburg Fund LC, an entity incorporated in August 2006 prior to MLK 3000 LLC’s first purchase.
Tonight at 6:00 p.m. in Ivory Perry Park (Cabanne at Belt), Hamiet Bluiett will be performing for free. Something must be going right in this city if the world’s greatest jazz saxophonist is playing for free in a north side park. See you there.
by Michael R. Allen
A tax-credit bill for one man? – Virginia Young and Jake Wagman (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17) [DEFUNCT LINK]
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch makes up for its rather late coverage of Paul McKee’s acquisitions in north St. Louis with a well-written in-depth story that appears above the fold on the front page of Sunday’s paper. Online, there is additional material including a great Flash graphic showing the flow of campaign contributions and in-kind gifts from McKee to a host of Missouri politicians, from Matt Blunt to Lewis Reed.
Despite significant coverage from other media outlets ranging from the Riverfront Times (the first major media outlet to cover the story, thanks to reporter Randall Roberts), Pub Def, KWMU, KDHX’s “The Wire” program and KMOV Channel 4 TV news, this issue has not received the huge major publicity it deserves. Here it is, at long last — and before Governor Blunt’s decision on the economic development bill in which the tax credit program sought by McKee is embedded.