Preservation Research Officeby Michael R. Allen
KWMU’s Matt Sepic is back with another built environment story, this time for NPR’s national “Marketplace” program. “Brick rustling on the rise in St. Louis” provides an overview of the problem plaguing parts of the city where there is more masonry than money — but brick yards offer a tempting conversion rate. The story features interviews with salvage specialist Larry Giles, brick dealer Bud Boldt and myself.
by Michael R. Allen
Tonight, I was part of a group of three Old North St. Louis residents and one other city resident who undertook securing a building owned by a holding company controlled by Paul J. McKee, Jr. This particular house sits on a block McKee’s agents have worked hard to bust, and in just a few months since purchase has been stripped of new aluminum windows exposing other more historic features intact inside.
We in Old North are a vigilant bunch, and we don’t let our heritage get plundered. Upon spotting the empty window openings, my neighbor Barbara Manzara spread word and gathered an impromptu board-up crew. Now, the building is secure before irreplaceable parts are gone. Of course, boards won’t protect against brick rustlers who have destroyed many other vacant north side buildings owned by McKee’s companies, the city’s Land Reutilization Authority and other private parties. These boards can — and will — be removed. But residents will probably return to keep the boards on.
On the larger scale, though, we face hundreds of vacant buildings owned by McKee. Four people can’t get to them all, and most of the buildings don’t have even one person in close proximity to keep watch. Many are already so damaged by theft and weather that they may be lost forever.
Vigilante board-ups are no substitute for a public policy that would protect historic community resources and make them part of the burgeoning revitalization of the north side. Until there are assurances from city officials that they are interested in preservation planning as well as code enforcement for the area that McKee has targeted, residents will continue to take action — and be suspicious of those who are charged with safeguarding their rights as city residents to participatory government.
Pub Def just published an excellent video, What’s McKee Planning for Old North?. Thanks to Antonio French and Dan Martin for this good work.
Michael Allen appears in this video produced by Antonio French for Pub Def.
North siders worry about big tax break plan – Matt Sepic for KWMU (MP3 available)
The story features interviews with Michael Allen, Mayor Francis Slay and Old North St. Louis Restoration Group Exceutive Director Sean Thomas.
by Michael R. Allen
Governor Matt Blunt has not yet signed or vetoed the economic omnibus bill passed by the Missouri Legislature (HB 327) that contains the $100 million tax credit program to benefit Paul J. McKee Jr.’s north St. Louis land assemblage project.
Meanwhile, no other bills containing the “Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act,” as the proposal for the credits is formally known, passed the both houses. The House inserted the land assemblage tax credit into SB 22, a bill concerning local political subdivisions, but during a joint conference on the bill Rep. Thomas Villa had the language removed. (However, Villa is a co-sponsor of HB 991, which would directly enact the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, and voted in favor of HB 327.)
The Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act is far from the most controversial part of HB 327, a bloated bill containing many questionable tax credit proposals and bearing an estimated cost of $113 million in lost state revenue. Should Blunt veto the bill, the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act would be defeated for now.
Of course, the proposal will return. Two obvious paths exist:
The proposal could return in its current form, engendering the same opposition as it has attracted from north side residents, progressive legislators and urbanists.
The proposal could be refined through conversation with critics so that their concerns are answered.
Personally, I love the idea of a $100 million tax credit program directed at north St. Louis. Given that many residents of surrounding, wealthier counties are the descendants of those who abandoned north St. Louis, but who are still culturally and economically dependent on the city (which cannot tap the revenues of its neighboring counties), state aid is logical and fair. However, the details of the proposal do not create the sound public policy that should be crafted to guarantee that the $100 million program actually results in quality development in north St. Louis.
– The project size is greatly out of scale with north St. Louis. Nowhere in north St. Louis do 50 contiguous acres of vacant land exist. The largest vacant site is the Pruitt-Igoe housing project site of 33 acres, which remains undeveloped. The proposal should reduce the minimum project size to 5 acres and cap it at 45 acres. This would encourage more context-sensitive planning, and allow multiple developers with different plans to utilize the tax credit.
– State tax credits should not be used to cover bills and fines from municipal government for code violations or demolition. That’s just wrong.
– The tax credit needs to require that the applicant’s properties meet municipal codes at the time of application. State law should not encourage the violation of municipal law.
– The tax credit should establish a time line for redevelopment. Land assemblage alone does not revitalize distressed areas. If that was the case, north St. Louis would be in great shape given the vast amount of city-owned real estate there. The proposal should provide greater guarantee that assemblage projects will lead to actual development.
– The tax credit should not be used to acquire occupied housing units. What is most needed on the north side is creative reuse of vacant property. Allowing use of the credit for occupied housing seems to encourage the displacement of existing residents. McKee’s project has involved acquisition of dozens of occupied dwellings that are now vacant nuisance properties. The people his agents moved out of north St. Louis could have been stakeholders in renewal efforts.
– The tax credit should require historic preservation planning for affected areas. North St. Louis is one of the most architecturally significant areas in eastern Missouri, and should not be bulldozed wholesale. As written, the tax credit actually reimburses up to 100% of demolition costs.
Should the tax credit proposal be defeated, there is then a chance to improve it greatly. Hopefully its supporters will consider doing so.
Tomorrow, also consider dropping by a cool event showcasing some of the grassroots energy transforming at least one corner of the Hyde Park neighborhood — and hopefully spreading outward.
The Friedens Neighborhood Foundation and Landmarks Association of St. Louis invite you to an open house at the historic Friedens United Church of Christ church and fellowship hall buildings at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
In addition to the buildings, Friedens will have on display renderings of the projected rehabilitation of two neighboring historic buildings that will be rehabbed by students in the new Northside YouthBuild Academy based at Friedens.
Also, at 2:30 p.m., there will be a screening of the films “Heritage Homes of St. Louis” and “The Challenge of Urban Renewal,” both from the 1960s but still relevant today. Films are shown courtesy of the Academic Film Archive – St. Louis. (To tie the weekend together even more, “Heritage Homes” includes a segment on the Chatillon-DeMenil House.)
Landmarks Association will be giving away copies of the 1976 publication Street Front Heritage, which offers an architectural history of Hyde Park with vintage black and white photographs. (Contemporary recreations of these photographs will also be on display!)
Please join us:
19th & Newhouse Avenues
2:00 – 4:00 PM
Saturday, May 19
Driving directions: I-70 to Salisbury Avenue. North (right) on Blair Avenue to Newhouse. West (left) on Newhouse. Friedens Fellowship Hall is on the left at the end of the first block, and the church is across 19th Street.
Questions?
Call Brian Marston at 238-4339 or Michael Allen at 920-5680.
UPDATED: The Preservation Board of the City of St. Louis has published the final agenda for its meeting on Monday.
Among the controversial items are the following appeals of staff denials:
– Demolition permit for a house at 4320 Arco Avenue in the Forest Park Southeast Historic District
– Demolition of houses at 1120, 1124 and 1400 Newhouse in the Hyde Park Historic District
– Demolition of the Blairmont-owned building at 1629 N. 19th Street in the Clemens House/Columbia Brewery National Register District
– Replacement of the historic windows of the house at 59 Kingsbury Place in the Central West End Historic District (the owner has replaced — without a permit — the windows on the Colonial Revival home with Prairie School style windows)
The meeting takes place Monday, May 21, at 4:00 p.m. in the 12th floor conference room at 1015 Locust Street.
by Michael R. Allen
HB 327, the costly omnibus economic development bill passed from the Missouri Legislature that includes the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, may be headed for a veto from Governor Matt Blunt.
SB 22, which modified laws relating to political subdivisions, that inappropriately contains the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act (oddly with a 100-acre minimum), appears to be dead this session.
HB 991 contains only the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, but has not proceeded. The prospect of an up-or-down vote directly on the proposal probably doesn’t appeal to the proposal’s backers. For one thing, the process could lead to amendments that would make the credits actual public policy instead of a law for private benefit. For another, this tax credit proposal is one of the least popular bundled into the omnibus.
The next big event where you can show your support for the effort to preserve and stabilize the Mullanphy Emigrant Home is this Wednesday:
Mullanphy Benefit Concert
Featuring Lydia Ruffin and the Flying Mules
Wednesday, May 16
7:30 PM (Doors at 7:00 PM)
Christ Church Cathedral, 1210 Locust Street
$25 at the door; $20 in advance (call 231-5031)