Category: North St. Louis

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Brecht Butcher Buildings Demolition North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North St. Louis Building Division

Brecht Butcher Supply Buildings Under Demolition; Permit Altered

by Michael R. Allen

Two weeks ago, the A.G. Mack Contracting Company began wrecking the Brecht Butcher Supply Company Buildings at the northeast corner of Cass and Florissant avenues in Old North St. Louis. The historic buildings, owned by Blairmont Associates LC (30% owned by developer Paul J. McKee, Jr.), have sat empty since their purchase by the current owner in 2005. On October 6, 2006, a large fire struck the buildings and caused extensive but not insurmountable damage.

On October 31, 2006, the city’s Building Division issued an emergency demolition permit for the eastern two buildings of the three-building group. According to demolition inspectors, the two-story western building was to be spared while the other buildings would be wrecked with city money.

Then, suddenly, salvagers removed the cornice from the two-story section beginning January 8. Demolition started on the two-story section, and a complaint to the city led to information from Demolition Supervisor Sheila Livers stating that all three building would be wrecked.

The city’s Geo St. Louis website shows that the original wrecking permit issued October 31, 2006 was replaced by a new one issued January 12, 1007.

The reason for the change is unknown. Obviously, the loss of the two larger buildings would have diminished the visual impact of the two-story building. Yet leaving some part — a part not at all damaged by the fire — of the historic row would have been better than nothing.

(Photograph from February 8, 2007. Most of the two-story section is demolished now.)

Categories
North St. Louis People St. Louis Place

Two Good Things About St. Louis

The Royale Treatment – Eddie Silva (St. Louis Magazine, February 2007)

Is this an article about Steve Smith or the cultural future of this city? Does it really matter, with prose this lovely?

Cool to be Kind – Molly Languir (Riverfront Times, January 31)

Amid depopulation and big-time real estate maneuvers, a quiet revolution is occurring on the near northside. Its leaders are the gentle Catholic Workers from the Karen House community, some of my favorite neighbors.

While some might read articles like this and think we have a fine counterculture, others could come to the conclusion that many St. Louisans have redefined the city’s cultural identity. Forget the easily replicated allure of new condos or the sports teams that other cities have. The really original things about St. Louis may pass undetected by most people, but they are providing desperately needed cultural continuity. Some people seem to truly think that St. Louis is a great city, and they translate these thoughts into actions.

In fact, so many interesting people live here one could easily stop thinking about the old guard forever, if only they stopped stealing houses, leveling neighborhoods and pulling the city further into decline.

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

Three Neighborhoods, Thousands of People

by Michael R. Allen

If anyone tuned into last night’s excellent program on the 6:00 p.m. news program of KMOV Channel 4, you would have seen a compelling, tightly-edited report from Russell Kinsaul.

Just don’t get the wrong idea. More is at stake here than Old North St. Louis with its eager young middle-class white rehabbers. The “Blairmont” project encompasses the lives of thousands of people, and the biggest impact is on a largely poor, African-American population. This population may not survive the development apparently envisioned by Paul McKee’s McEagle Properties. (That project is in line to receive a large subsidy from the state of Missouri should a proposed bill amendment go through this week.)

The concerns of renters in JeffVanderLou are as politically important as those raised by homeowners in Old North St. Louis. In fact, the fact that both share the same concerns show that the near north side already enjoys incredible diversity — and an unfortunate deep bond in fear over the possible changes to come.

In the future, that bond and that diversity could be improved by thoughtful, careful redevelopment efforts. Clearance would erase the potential for retaining the existing population that has maintained the cultural fabric of the area despite incredible obstacles posed by decades of disinvestment.

Instead of viewing the area as a potential blank slate, would-be developers should see an area already possessing a great array of architectural, cultural and social resources. The focus needs to be on filling the gaps harmoniously to create a strong urban fabric for three very cool neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods already are rebuilding block by block, neighbor by neighbor, house by house. While Claire and I are a part of this effort, so are many other people. We look forward to many others joining us in the next decade, and to seeing our fellow near north siders stick around for the good future we share.

Categories
Missouri Legislature North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blight Proposal Being Rushed In State Senate

by Michael R. Allen


Tax subsidy backer cites St. Louis blight – Virginia Young (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 8)

Imagine the possibility of a massive state-backed subsidy for large-scale urban revitalization in St. Louis.

Bet you don’t imagine it being spearheaded by senators from St. Charles County, arriving in a hurry with little warning and with almost no knowledge of the proposal among St. Louis development insiders.

What could be carefully-crafted, responsible policy seems to be rushed and made without the insights of those with the experience at the “tough sledding” of development work in depressed parts of St. Louis.

With some refinement, such a policy proposal might be appropriate. At the moment, the proposal raises concerns in St. Louis.

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Hyde Park North St. Louis

Good Work in Hyde Park

by Michael R. Allen

There is a brand new force for good in Hyde Park! The Friedens Neighborhood Foundation is on a roll with an uplifting message of community empowerment, education and rebuilding one of the city’s most needlessly distressed neighborhoods. Based at the historic Friedens United Church of Christ at 19th and Newhouse, the organization is working rehabbing historic church-owned buildings and launching the first northside YouthBuild Academy. The YouthBuild schools provide construction education to teens who have dropped out of high school, and provide students both a G.E.D. equivalent and exposure to the work needed to revitalize their own neighborhoods. What could be a better match than the new academy and the Hyde Park neighborhood, one of the city’s most endangered architectural assets?

Please peruse the Friedens Neighborhood Foundation website and consider making a donation of time, talent or treasure to one of the most inspiring neighborhood organizations in the city. The foundation truly is confronting the social causes and physical symptoms of neighborhood decline. We can’t let them fail.

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North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blairmont Site Assembly Heading to the Long Final March

by Michael R. Allen

Has Paul McKee Jr.’s Blairmont juggernaut slowed? Not likely. However, word on the street is that they various active purchasing companies — including Sheridan Place LC, MLK 3000 LLC and Dodier Investors LLC — are making contracts with close dates as far off as May. The hold-up may be due to capital flow issues, or perhaps it’s a strategic timing to avoid greater scrutiny in the wake of recent publicity.

If the hold-up is due to lack of working capital, that is not difficult to understand. A scan of their last day of recorded deeds, January 24, shows four sales totaling $333,500.00.

These purchases are a house and lot at 2219-21 Benton Street with a deed of trust for $80,500.00, a house at 2545 Warren Street ($86,250.00), a house at 2507 North Market ($92,000) and a house at 2911 James Cool Papa Bell.

These prices are very high for older homes in the St. Louis Place and JeffVanderLou neighborhoods, but there’s good reason for the elevated prices: these four homes were occupied and maintained up to date of the sale. No doubt, the families that owned and occupied these homes were not about to sell out their little acre for pittance, even in the face of the usual rumor-mongering Blairmont’s agents have been caught perpetrating.

As the Blairmont machine heads onward in the later stages of site assembly for the “bulldoze the ghetto” project, the last remaining properties are owned by reluctant owners, unyielding owners and unknowing owners. Now that the machine is trying to buy hold-outs and hard-to-locate owners, we may be witnessing the greatest displacement of residents since this whole messy business started in 2002. In the first few years, when few realized the plot, Blairmont purchased properties at sheriff’s tax sales and bought vacant land and buildings. Then, the agents began soliciting sales and picked up properties owned by folks ready to sell. They also began making inroads with public agencies, including purchase of the old Benton School site at 2333 Benton from the Board of Education and a disposition from the Public Administrator’s office.

Now, all that is left are people who own property that they have intended to maintain as residences and businesses. Now, all that is left is a full-on assault against the strongest parts of near north side neighborhoods. That, and a grab for the crucial public lands.

What will our political leaders say as hundreds of north side residents are displaced and a tremendous public land-grab is planned? So far, they are mostly silent.

Categories
North St. Louis Northside Regeneration St. Louis Place

Blairmont: 1900 Block of Montgomery Street

Date of photograph: August 19, 2005.

LOCATION: 1915 Montgomery Street; St. Louis Place; Saint Louis, Missouri
CURRENT OWNER: N & G Ventures LC

Date of photograph: August 19, 2005.

LOCATION: 1937 Montgomery Street; St. Louis Place; Saint Louis, Missouri
CURRENT OWNER: N & G Ventures LC

Read More: Built St. Louis The Slow Death of a City Block

Categories
North St. Louis Northside Regeneration People

Michael Allen & Randall Roberts on "The Wire" Monday

Monday night Michael Allen will be joining Randall Roberts of the Riverfront Times and hosts Thomas Crone and Amanda Doyle on The Wire. The show runs from 7:30 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. on KDHX, FM 88.1.

While Randall is the main guest, Allen will join him in discussion of a certain large-scale development project on the near north side.

Categories
JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blairmont: 2900 Block of Montgomery Street

Part of the Photographic Survey of Blairmont Buildings.

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION: 2933 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou; Saint Louis, Missouri
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

The building is at right The building at left is owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority. Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION (LEFT): 2949 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Private Citizen

LOCATION (CENTER): 2947 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

LOCATION (RIGHT): 2945 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: N & G Ventures LC

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION (LEFT): 2946 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: Sheridan Place LC

LOCATION (RIGHT): 2948 Montgomery Street; JeffVanderLou
CURRENT OWNER: VHS Partners LLC

Categories
JeffVanderLou North St. Louis Northside Regeneration

Blairmont: 2629 St. Louis Avenue

Part of the Photographic Survey of Blairmont Buildings.

Date of photograph: January 21, 2007.

LOCATION: 2629 St. Louis Avenue; JeffVanderLou; Saint Louis, Missouri
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION: c. 1880
CURRENT OWNER: VHS Partners LLC

The first block on St. Louis west of Jefferson is fairly barren. There are some homes on the south side, but on the north side there is only this building at the northeast corner of Elliott and St. Louis. It’s a predictable landmark that is so quintessentially a north side building. The side gables, wide front elevation, brick corbelling, cast iron storefront and tall plain chimneys are all typical of the common commercial and residential buildings of the 1860s and 1870s before the local vernacular was heavily laden with Italianate and Second Empire references. Of course, buildings like this are pretty rare on the north side today, especially here between Jefferson and Grand.

This landmark is a welcome marker on my way home from points westward in the city. When I spot this building, I know that home is near and I am back to the older northside where the blocks are shorter and the buildings very old. Seeing that it survived a whole block worth’s of other buildings only strengthens my appreciation of its hardy body.

Will this landmark be a marker for the next generation, or will I be among the last to see it stand?  I hesitate to discover, but know that I must.  ~ Michael R. Allen