by Michael R. Allen
While people are debating larger projects, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group started a small but very important one: stabilization of several vacant historic buildings in the neighborhood formerly owned by the city’s Land Reutilization Authority (LRA). This comes after the group issued a request for proposals that led to two vacant houses finding owners who plan full rehabs.
Above is the house at 1300 Monroe Street, a very stunning corner house that has seen some rough days. The Restoration Group has already secured all of the openings with boards. The next steps are major masonry repairs and new roofing, on the flat roof as well as the projecting bay. When work concludes, what started as a hard-to-handle city-owned vacant building will be a rehab-ready, structurally-sound shell. The Restoration Group will place the home on the market.
No matter how long the buildings take to sell, they will stand safe and secure. Meanwhile, the Restoration Group will have demonstrated how a community development corporation can act to safeguard vacant historic buildings and get those buildings out of the LRA inventory and into a more sale-ready situation.
Support these remarkable efforts this Friday evening at a silent auction from 7 – 9:30 p.m. at 1331 North Market. The auction benefits the Restoration Group’s plans to fully rehab one of the vacant buildings. A mere $5 is the suggested cover, but of course you can be more generous! Details are here.