Categories
North St. Louis Northside Regeneration Old North

McKee’s Holding Company Spent $900K Between May 17 and June 20

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.

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

Plywood and Public Policy

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.

Categories
Events Mullanphy Emigrant Home North St. Louis Old North

Mullanphy Benefit Show Wednesday at Christ Church Cathedral

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)

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

Brick Rustlers and Other Hustlers

by Michael R. Allen

Built St. Louis documents a slow crime that residents of the near north side have watched unfold in the last several weeks: the destruction on five buildings on the 1900 block of Montgomery by brick rustlers. Need I add that these are the only five buildings on this block?

Apathy breeds neglect, and neglect of whole areas of a city is fatal. When our cultural leaders have had the chance to safeguard St. Louis Place and other near north side neighborhoods, they have chosen otherwise. When our leaders have seen dozens of buildings fall, they have offered apologies or ignored the destruction. When they have watched residents loose their sense of place…well, they haven’t. Apparently a “sense of place” is germane only to the central corridor and the south side. North St. Louis gets fucked.

North St. Louis the region’s shameful embarrassment, and the “Blairmont” solution will help us forget about some of it without having to do any real work for change. While we can’t preserve a building whose walls have fallen to thieves and their eager fences, we can look back and see decades where we had the chance to prevent this tragedy from unfolding and instead we silently let it happen.

Of course, the reality is very disconcerting east of Grand: blocks with much vacancy also contain well-kept homes and apartments, smiling children and strong churches. Middle-class mythology renders the people who live here politically and culturally nonexistent, and that helps us to cope with our end of the problem. The harsh reality is that there is enough social fabric left to rebuild this area without wholesale clearance or mass relocation.

But the myths are easier: Oh, they don’t care. Most of those buildings are past saving. Parts of that areas have places where you can’t see a building for blocks around. Old North St. Louis is the only part of that area worth saving. No one wants to live there.

The reality is that despite fifty years of degradation and neglect the near north side retains its character and its sense of place. Thoughtful public policy for this area was impossible in the urban renewal age, but in our historic-tax-credit era seems equally impossible. The brick rustlers are committing a small crime with their own hands. Other more powerful parties have committed larger crimes with those of others. Sadly, it seems that the near north side will not fend off either assault, which seems likely to spread west of Grand after the “Blairmont” model is proven and embraced politically.

What then becomes of the character of the rest of the city? Are our self-serving myths worth the loss of a large part of the city’s culture?

Categories
Events North St. Louis Old North

Old North House Tour Will Feature In-Progress Rehab of 1859 Rowhouse

The Old North St. Louis House Tour is this Saturday. Call 314-241-5031 to purchase advance tickets, or simply show up at the corner of 14th & St. Louis on Saturday and buy your tickets then.

This year’s tour will feature beautifully rehabilitated homes as well as projects in progress, including Kevin Dickherber’s rehab of a c. 1859 rowhouse at 1208 Hebert which will be available for sale later this year (photo here). Dickherber is rehabilitating five houses on that block and may be the first for-profit private developer to undertake a multi-building project in Old North in years. (No slight intended to others working in Old North, including Blue Shutters Development which is rehabbing three connected houses on 14th Street.)

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
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
Mullanphy Emigrant Home Old North

Historic Mullanphy Alliance Forging Ahead

by Michael R. Allen

Since the Mullanphy Emigrant Home in Old North St. Louis endured further storm damage Saturday, its supporters in the Historic Mullanphy Alliance have intensified their fund raising and awareness drive.

Despite overwhelming difficulties and the lack of a model for dealing with emergency building stabilization, the alliance is not shying away from the daunting task of securing an estimated $350,000 for stabilization.

The Alliance announced today an emergency fundraiser next Saturday, April 14, at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. (Details at the new SaveMullanphy.org site.)

Also in the works are a fundraiser at the Royale on April 19 and a benefit concert at Christ Church Cathedral sponsored by Landmarks Association of St. Louis on May 16.

Yesterday, KWMU radio’s Matt Sepic noted the damage and fundraising effort in a story summarized online.

The Historic Mullanphy Alliance is chaired by Old North residents John Burse and Claire Nowak-Boyd.