Category: North St. Louis

Categories
Historic Preservation Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Mullanphy Emigrant Home Effort Unveils Website

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance today unveiled its new website with background in the buidling, information for making donations and updates on the work of the Alliance. The next time someone asks you what happened or why this is important, you can refer them to this wonderfully-designed compendium. (The designer of the site is Old North web whiz Nate Sprehe.)

One of the best features of the site is the graphic used here that shows the progress made in fundraising. Through the site, one can get not only the message but proof that progress is being made.

Here’s the address for the site: SaveMullanphy.org

(Image above from SaveMullanphy.org.)

Categories
Events Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Mullanphy Effort Hits the Royale on Thursday

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance raised over $12,000 at its fundraiser on Saturday at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. Keep the momentum going — here’s your next chance:

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith, Claire Nowak-Boyd and Michael Allen and the Historic Mullanphy Alliance

invite you to the MULLANPHY SALOON

to benefit the effort to rebuild the historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home and for informal conversation on urban issues

featuring music by DJ Akita San

Thursday, April 197:00 – 9:00 PM
The Royale, 3132 S. Kingshighway

What?

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance will be collecting donations toward stabilization of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home, and the Royale is graciouslydonating $1 from every purchase of a Schlafly product to the effort. Cometogether with fellow citizens to help an important effort and for informaldiscussion on architecture, history, politics and anything else on your mind.

Why?

The historic Mullanphy Emigrant Home in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood endured more storm damage on March 31. The building wasbuilt in 1867 as a home for newly-arrived immigrants who settled in St.Louis and points westward. The building is an important part of ourcity’s immigrant heritage, and architecturally-significant landmark and an important part of the future of the Old North St. Louis neighborhood. Thebuilding is owned by the nonprofit Old North St. Louis Restoration Group,which is trying to raise funds needed to repair the storm damage.

More information is online at SaveMullanphy.org.

If you can’t attend, send a donation of any amount to:
Mullanphy c/o
Old North St. Louis Restoration Group
2800 N. 14th StreetSt. Louis, MO 63107

If you have questions, contact Michael Allen at 314-920-5680.

Categories
Historic Preservation Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North People

Creating a Preservation Fund

by Michael R. Allen

In a post entitled “A Dedicated Fund For Historic Preservation In STL?” at STL Rising, Rick Bonsach raises the point that St. Louis lacks a dedicated emergency historic preservation fund. The existence of such a fund would have aided Old North St. Louis with stabilizing the storm-damaged Mullanphy Emigrant Home (pictured above in the “better” days of December 2006).

Bonasch suggests that the topic be discussed among those who attend tonight’s fundraiser for the Mullanphy (at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood from 5-7:30 p.m.; details here).

The discussion should continue past tonight. With rising interest in historic preservation in north side neighborhoods hampered by strong weather, arson and metal thieves, such a fund could establish a sustainable effort to ensure that some funds are available for emergency stabilization. Such a fund could empower neighborhoods who might otherwise consider demolition as the only practical option. Many neighborhoods on the north side are far from having strong markets for historic buildings, but with assistance will undoubtedly reach that point.

The first response to Bonasch in his comments section is dismissive and seems to presuppose government footing the bill for the fund. Bonasch replies that he envisions the private sector administering the fund. After all, the Mullanphy effort has yet to collect a dollar of city money — and probably will not. The momentum is building regardless.

(Some have joked that instead of a preservation fund what is most urgently needed is an advocacy group against our new forms of severe weather.)

Bonasch’s post raises interesting questions:

Does St. Louis have the energy and vision to continue working for emergency stabilization efforts after the Mullanphy is rebuilt?

Can we sustain the effort foe years to come?

Can we successfully collect money for the effort in the absence of a targeted project like the Mullanphy?

Are there existing organizations or people who may have established a suitable foundation for such work?

Should city government be involved?

Would St. Louisans be willing to have any tax money go into the creation of such a fund?

Are their existing municipal funds that could be used for stabilization instead of demolition?

Categories
Missouri Legislature North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Landbanking Bill Also Pending in the House

by Michael R. Allen

Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton is the sponsor of HB 991, the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act. The bill is identical the Senate Committee Substitute section of the same name in SB 282 introduced Senator John Griesheimer (R-26th). The bill has been scheduled for a hearing by the House Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development. (SB 282 awaits a vote by the full Seanate.)

Read the full text here.

Recall that the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act creates a $100 million tax credit program for redevelopment projects of at least 75 acres in federally-certified distressed areas, administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The program was first proposed in February by Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder, who stated to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that sections of north St. Louis resembled Berlin after Word War II and needed such a credit for urgent revitalization. Both Kinder and Griesheimer have admitted that developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. wants to use the credit in conjunction with his controversial north St. Louis project commonly known by the name “Blairmont.”

As with the senate version, the credits are available to any applicant who is appointed redeveloper by a municipal authority or any applicant who has already incurred expenses and assembled parcels meeting the requirements of the bill. McKee almost definitely would qualify for the credits even if St. Louis city government does not appoint him redeveloper of the area in the St. Louis Place, Old North St. Louis and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods where he owns at least 637 parcels through holding companies. Also note that the tax credit application does not require any redevelopment plan beyond site assembly, meaning that even if a parcel remains vacant in ten years an applicant will be able to get the tax credit up front.

Among the co-sponsors of HB 991 is Representatives Rodney Hubbard (D-58th), whose district includes most of McKee’s holdings. Other city Representatives listed as co-sponsors are Thomas Villa (D-108th), Connie Johnson (D-61st), Robin Wright-Jones (D-63rd), Rachel Storch (D-64th), Fred Kratky (D-65th), and T.D. El-Amin (D-57th). Kratky and Hubbard are the only St. Louis representatives on the Special Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development.

Four city representatives are not co-sponsors: Jamilah Nasheed (D-60th), whose district includes the remainder of McKee’s holdings, Jeanette Mott-Oxford (D-59th), Mike Daus (D-67th) and Michael Vogt (D-66th).

Contact information for state representatives can be found here.

Categories
Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Media Recognizing Mullanphy Effort

Yesterday, KMOV Channel 4 ran a lengthy segment on its 6:00 p.m. news report. Watch it here: Group hopes to restore historic building, revive declining neighborhood.

In the last week, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has published both a news story and a commentary:

Efforts to save 1867 building are dealt extra blow by recent storm – Tim O’Neil (April 9)

Mullanphy Emigrant Home welcomed and helped our ancestors – Sean Thomas (April 10)

Categories
JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

McKee’s Acquisitions Slowed in March

by Michael R. Allen

In March, companies controlled by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. slowed their acquisitions of north St. Louis real estate, spending $716,850 to acquire 13 parcels in the Old North St. Louis, St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods.

Among the properties are owner-occupied houses in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood on 20th Street as well as three buildings counted as contributing resources in the Murphy-Blair national historic district. While a public statement by McKee issued in February claimed that his assembly activity had stopped due to backlash from critics, and several of the properties closed in March had earlier contract dates, several had contract dates as recently as March 20.

The companies buying property are Dodier Investors LLC, MLK 3000 LLC and Sheridan Place LC. Sale prices ranged from $5,000 for a sheriff’s sale to $149,500 for the houses on 20th Street.

Categories
North St. Louis St. Louis Place

St. Louis Avenue

by Michael R. Allen

Those seeking an interesting spring stroll and ride should consider St. Louis Avenue between Florissant and Parnell in St. Louis Place. There, historic 19th century townhouses in Romanesque Revival, Italianate, Second Empire and other styles meet the soft colors of red bud, forsythia, Bradford pear and daffodil thriving in unusually warm weather. Many of the blocks retain high density of historic architecture, and most buildings are lovingly kept on a street that bears the name of its city.

This stretch of St. Louis has the Fleetwood and Sons bar, the Polish Falcons “nest” (formerly the mansion of brewer Carl G. Stifel), the Black World History Wax museum, a genuine old-school rooming house, vintage gasoline pumps, lots of native Missouri granite, wrought iron fences, buildings owned by famous developers, lovely churches, a wonderful city park and enough St. Louis charm to topple the most stubborn cases of the blues. Anyone searching for sweet refreshment before or after a stroll can head to Crown Candy Kitchen at 14th and St. Louis to the east. All is well with the city, at least for awhile.

Categories
Documentation LRA North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Place

New Blairmont Map Online

by Michael R. Allen

We have a new Google Earth map of north St. Louis properties owned by companies controlled by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. See the map here.

The map, created on March 13 and sent by a concerned resident of the St. Louis Place neighborhood, shows 637 properties owned by McKee’s companies.

For reference, this map includes pinpoints on adjacent properties owned by city-owned corporations like the Land Reutilization Authority, Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority. Also included are properties owned by Pyramid Construction and the partnership between the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance and the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.

Categories
Brecht Butcher Buildings North St. Louis Old North

Losing It

by Michael R. Allen

My goodness, I hate passing the corner of Cass and Florissant and seeing a strange mess of masonry rubble where before the Brecht Butcher Supply Company buildings stood. It’s getting harder to know when I’m back home. I hate to engage in outbursts of emotion, but I feel that this problem is pretty logical: the loss of tangible landmarks erodes a living environment to the point of unfamiliarity.

Do you want to pass by daily a pile of rubble that may stay a vacant lot for years?  Do you want to look through that rubble and see intact and recognizable parts of the building?  Do you want to deal with the failure of any legal authority to protect the sanctity of place?

This was no mere run of the mill (method) building. The Brecht buildings were among the finest of the near north side’s industrial buildings, and completely worth the loss of reputation I risked to defend them. Additionally, they defined the southern portal of my neighborhood, Old North St. Louis. Without them, I have a vacant lot as a grave and — perhaps surprising — more energy to resist the next assault on my neighborhood. I’m not angry, I’m agitated — and that leads to action.

Categories
North St. Louis Old North Rehabbing

Smokestack Lighting

by Michael R. Allen

One of my most favorite moments of any long day of rehab work on this house is when dusk arrives and the floodlights on the Columbia Brewery smokestack come on. This is a perk of having a flat roof with a great view — I can go out, beer in hand and wait for the sudden moment when the dark smokestack is almost silver bathed in light. I rarely check the time, because I like the full surprise. (I never guess right when I think I’m moments away.)

Usually, I can see the Continental Building beacon in the far distance blinking as if to wink at my wonder at what is actually a pretty mundane event.

Sometimes, the mundane is magical.