Preservation Research Officeby Michael R. Allen
I was taken aback by a developer’s decision to rename the Chemical Building in downtown St. Louis to “Alexa”, but I am completely floored by the latest move: a change of the building’s address to 777 Olive Street from its legal address of 721 Olive Street. That’s plain fiction. Furthermore, an Urban St. Louis moderator changed the title of the thread on the project to reflect the supposed new address. Bah.
by Michael R. Allen
Photograph by Nicole Rork for Detroit Ruins. Used with permission.
I want you to look at a website of photographs of abandoned places…
I already sense the disinterest.
Well, hear me out. I want you to look at Detroit Ruins.
I want you to see how Nicole Rork offers a tour of the ruins of Detroit, Gary and a few other cities through images that are at once prosaic and beautiful. I want you to notice that she provides short histories of the places she documents, with accurate information and links to other sources. Rork captures the vividness of faded colors, the brightness in dark rooms and the larger world in confined spaces. She’s a bit of a conjurer — taking shots with views wide enough to suggest that life in some form is lurking right outside of the frame of the still scenes she documents. Perhaps she is confronting that force somewhere while her camera takes its picture. Perhaps not. Does it matter? The subject matter itself gains a new life through her gaze.
I want you to look at Detroit Ruins.
by Michael R. Allen
In the past two weeks, construction of the Old Post Office Plaza downtown unearthed some fragments of a Louis Sullivan masterpiece lost twice, the St. Nicholas Hotel. The hotel stood at the northwest corner of Eighth and Locust streets downtown between its construction in 1893 and its demolition in 1974, surviving an unfortunate remodeling in 1903. Since 1974, its site has been paved and maintained as a parking lot. Salvagers picked the building of recognizable Sullivan ornament, but apparently other parts stayed on site.
When workers broke through the asphalt, they unearthed a mess of structural steel, brick and other parts of the old hotel. The city had an unusual and unanticipated archaeological site, offering potential clues on the elusive details of the St. Nicholas. Unfortunately, the potential opportunity came and went without any real investigation. Steel was loaded out to be scrapped, and more solid debris was either removed with other fill or left in the ground. The good news is that the excavation was fairly shallow, and surely more of the building survives beneath the plaza. Should the plaza ever be less than successful, and it future land use reconsidered, we may have another chance to mine the lot for traces of the prairie master’s hotel.
Photo courtesy of Landmarks Association of St. Louis.
The eight-story St. Nicholas Hotel was defined by a dramatic side-gabled roof, large center arched entrance on Locust and projecting oriel bays on both street-facing elevations. Like the Wainwright and Union Trust buildings, the St. Nicholas featured a monochrome exterior palette accentuated by terra cotta featuring Sullivan’s imaginative geometric and organic motifs. The roof profile was somewhat unique among Sullivan’s designs. A supposed fire led to conversion of the building to office use in 1903, when the gabled roof and arched entrance were removed and four floors added according to plans by Eames & Young. Renamed the Victoria Building, the hotel survived in diminished form for another seventy years. (Read more about the St. Nicholas in Patty’s Ramey’s article Louis Sullivan and the St. Nicholas Hotel, St. Louis, MO.)
Kathleen McLaughlin, Riverfront Times: Forum on Paul McKee’s North-Side Doings Devolves into Name-Calling
Steve Patterson, Urban Review: Alderwoman Argues Against Modern Zoning, Prefers Piecemeal Approach
by Michael R. Allen
Yesterday, on the last day of the legislature’s special session, the Missouri House of Representatives passed the economic development omnibus (HB1) sought by Governor Matt Blunt. The bill contained a new version of the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act (DALATCA), modified slightly in the House and Senate economic development committees and on the floor of the Senate.
The basic formula proposed by Blunt survived: The credit creates a $95 million tax credit program that covers 50% of acquisition costs and 100% of maintenance and interest costs on eligible parcels located in census tracts that meet federal and state income-based definitions of distressed areas. No more than $10 million in credits will be issued annually. The tax credit is available to applicants who have assembled at least 50 acres within a 75-acre redevelopment area established by a municipal redevelopment agreement. The 50 acres need not be contiguous, and no parcel acquired by eminent domain is eligible for the credit. The applicant can only redevelop 75% of the project area alone, and must assign redevelopment rights to other developers or create partnerships to redevelop the remaining 25%.
Obviously, the tax credit structure has changed very little since first proposed by Peter Kinder in February 2007 and drafted by Steve Stone, attorney for developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. The whole idea is still predicated on a scale that is unrealistic for urban areas and small towns. The whole idea remains predicated on rewarding McKee for an acquisition project he has already undertaken in north St. Louis. Consequently, the credit fundamentally is a reimbursement for purchases already made rather than an incentive for future development.
However, the legislature made a few changes to the tax credit, at least one of which may be of consequence:
The credits cannot be used to cover fines or bills levied by municipal government.
To be considered eligible, a parcel must have its municipal taxes, fines and bills paid in full.
The redevelopment agreement must be approved by ordinance of the governing body of a municipality.
The redevelopment agreement must include a timeline for redevelopment.
All redevelopment work conducted by the applicant must be done in compliance with Missouri fair labor and wage laws.
The tax credits are considered redevelopment tax credits under state law, requiring an applicant to furnish financial information as well as project cost and completion date.
These are small but welcome improvements to the bill. However, the only ones that alter the state’s expectations of an applicant are those relating to redevelopment timelines. These stipulations encourage actual development planning and construction, two aspects not previously part of the proposal. The two stipulations relating to municipal fines and bills are important on principle, but are of minor consequence to the nature of land assemblage rewarded by DALATCA.
The version of DALATCA headed to Governor Blunt’s desk may require McKee to make his project better, but it won’t enable other people to start new ones. DALATCA remains a gilded albatross designed for one project. The governor should veto the omnibus, but that seems unlikely. Still, the scrutiny that the tax credit act invited may lead to future amendment or scrapping of DALATCA and enactment of a tool of wide and true use to distressed areas in Missouri. After all, most legislators probably weren’t thinking about the scale, form and nature of development before this tax credit act came along. They will take some time to learn the lesson that DALATCA is a huge mistake.
Full text of HB1 is available here; DALATCA is section 99.1205.
In this week’s Riverfront Times, Kathleen McLaughlin has a story on the impact of Paul McKee’s plans for the near north side on its residents and on other developers. In particular, McLaughlin turns up some interesting tales of McKee’s purchase methods and how people feel about selling.
Read it here: “Arrested Development”
Please read Toby Weiss’ blog entry “The River Roads Memorial Garden” over at B.E.L.T..
That is all.
Tomorrow, residents of the near north side neighborhoods affected by the acquisitions of developer Paul J. McKee, Jr. have a chance to share their concerns in a public setting hosted by elected officials. In addition to appearances by state representatives, there will be presentations from alderwomen April Ford-Griffin (D-5th) and Marlene Davis (D-19th) as well as mayoral aide Charles Bryson. While the issue of the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act is important, we should not lose sight of the big picture of development — and that the fact that most of the political power to shape McKee’s development lies at the local level.
Long before anyone amended the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act, there was local control over the near north side. Under our municipal government system, the aldermen have a lot of power to either facilitate smooth sailing by developers or hold them accountable. Lately we have watched the two aldermen representing the wards most affected by McKee’s project act to hold the developer accountable. We have watched the mayor’s office use its power to set the big picture of what is permissible by lending support to the embattled developer.
Tomorrow is a chance for citizens to ask questions, learn facts and discuss solutions. The meeting’s attendees should not lose sight of the fact that they have a lot of power — both through the officials who will be speaking and on their own.
Hopefully, the spirit of the forum will be one that acknowledges the power. Hopefully the officials will identify ways in which they can use their power to shape outcomes to the problems they will be detailing. Too often, we see public process get mired on problems. Citizens watch their leaders identify problems without offering real involvement for citizens who want to solve the problems. The resulting feelings of powerlessness and cynicism further stagnates our anemic civic culture.
With the McKee development, the aldermen are gatekeepers of redevelopment. They don’t need to see McKee’s plans to articulate a vision for their wards, and ask that the developer act accordingly. They can expedite nuisance complaints. They will be on the front lines of the fight in the Board of Aldermen on McKee’s plans. No matter what version of Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act passes the General Assembly this week, it will require a tax credit applicant to get a redevelopment agreement with a municipal government — and that has to come from the Board of Aldermen in St. Louis.
Nothing can happen for McKee without the support of these alderwomen. That’s mighty power. Furthermore, nothing can happen for these alderwomen without the support of their constituents. That may be the biggest power in play here, if people use it well. Any power imbalance here can be overcome, and tomorrow offers a great chance to start.
PUBLIC FORUM ON LARGE SCALE DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF JEFFVANDERLOU, ST LOUIS PLACE, AND OLD NORTH ST LOUIS
The neighborhood impact of vacant properties and rebuilding our community
A public forum will be held in the auditorium of Vashon High School at 3035 Cass Avenue on Thursday, August 30th at 6 p.m. The forum is co-sponsored by Alderwoman April Ford-Griffin (Ward 5), Alderwoman Marlene Davis (Ward 19), Rep. Jamilah Nasheed (District 60) and Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford (District 59).
This forum will be an opportunity for residents, business owners, developers, neighborhood stabilization officers and other city services workers, and state and local elected officials to come together to discuss development in the community.
Topics will include:
– concerns over large numbers of vacant buildings and parcels being held by developers, including the reported 40 acres owned by Paul McKee
– ways area residents can influence state and local laws and policies, including the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit being considered in Special Session by the General Assembly
– and ways to make each block a safer and more pleasant place to live
The goals of the evening are:
– To give area residents an opportunity to voice their concerns
– To make progress toward a consensus on how to improve neighborhood safety, stimulate the local economy, and rebuild the community
Contact: Anthony Coffin
Phone: 314-498-0483
Email: acoffin@stlouiscinemas.com
by Michael R. Allen
Yesterday the Economic Development Committee of the Missouri Senate passed to the full Senate the economic development bill (HB 1) that includes the Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act.
Despite the absence of testimony at the hearing from critics of the current version of DALATCA, the committee approved two amendments that were suggested by myself and other critics: a measure requiring that the applicant for the credits host public meetings and a measure that prohibits use of the credit toward fines and bills paid to municipal government.
Read more here.