"Blairmont"

ecoabsence · PostJan 10, 2007#12007-01-10T21:23+00:00

Randall Roberts has a story in this week's RFT about Blairmont Associates:

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/Issues/2 ... _full.html

This is a great introduction to the issue that may help some of my detail-laden blog entries make more sense.

My ongoing coverage is here:

http://www.eco-absence.org/blairmont/

And Doug Duckworth has some great coverage:

http://stlua.blogspot.com/2007/01/enjoy-abuse_09.html

doug · PostJan 11, 2007#22007-01-11T16:01+00:00

To me this seems to be a the end of the Team Four conspiracy and the beginning of potentially another McRee Town yet on a much larger scale. Think of it, if Blairmont wanted to redevelop the area, then wouldn't it be much cheaper to devalue the entire area thereby getting land at a much cheaper price? Market manipulation at its worst. If they are able to successfully run out home owners then there could be far less political and neighborhood opposition through aldermaic courtesy and the lack of a strong civic neighborhood. I may be wrong but who can say when there is no disclosure?

ecoabsence · PostJan 18, 2007#32007-01-18T23:03+00:00

I'll be curious to see what the candidates for president of the board of aldermen have to say.

(Besides any boilerplate about supporting projects that have community support. Who wouldn't?)

littlestar · PostFeb 08, 2007#42007-02-08T16:07+00:00

apologies if this has been posted elewhere:

JEFFERSON CITY — Saying that parts of St. Louis look like battle-scarred Berlin in 1945, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder called Wednesday for a new $100 million program to spur large-scale developments.

Kinder said the money would help investors assemble big tracts of vacant land and deteriorating buildings in the urban core. To be eligible, a project would have to cover at least 75 acres.

Under the plan, developers would get tax credits equal to half the costs of the land and all the interest costs.

Sen. John Griesheimer said a developer from St. Charles County was interested in the subsidy for a massive mixed-use development in St. Louis. The senator said he could not divulge the developer's name.

link

brickandmortar · PostFeb 08, 2007#52007-02-08T16:12+00:00

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but that doesn't seem like a coincidence to me. They'll probably begin pushing for 755 to be finished next.

smsplanstu · PostFeb 08, 2007#62007-02-08T16:29+00:00

The problem then becomes, how do you redevelop 75 acres without demolishing all that already exists > in other words stop the Land Reutilization Authority from demolishing our history through land clearance for large assembly.

MattnSTL · PostFeb 08, 2007#72007-02-08T16:34+00:00

Well, now we know something is definitely up, so we need to organize against it.

ecoabsence · PostFeb 08, 2007#82007-02-08T16:36+00:00

Some of us have been trying to get together an organizing meeting. Who's in?

MattnSTL · PostFeb 08, 2007#92007-02-08T16:37+00:00

I'm in.

dweebe · PostFeb 08, 2007#102007-02-08T17:18+00:00

So what happens when Whitaker (or some other big home developer) tries to drop a version of New Town into North St. Louis?

Alex Ihnen · PostFeb 08, 2007#112007-02-08T17:23+00:00

^ Am in as well.

suburban lou · PostFeb 08, 2007#122007-02-08T18:01+00:00

dweebe wrote:So what happens when Whitaker (or some other big home developer) tries to drop a version of New Town into North St. Louis?

I think that would be the best case scenario but most likely the northside will get strip malls and “villas” .

Me three!

trent · PostFeb 08, 2007#132007-02-08T18:11+00:00

I know it may not be able to wait, but until basketball is over, I ain't got no time. Another week and the season is over, then playoffs start. If I could update my sig, you guys would know that we're pretty good, and hope to make it to state, which would be another two weeks.

But I'll be listening in.

doug · PostFeb 08, 2007#142007-02-08T19:31+00:00

PostFeb 08, 2007#152007-02-08T19:32+00:00

Tax subsidy backer cites St. Louis blight

By Virginia Young

POST-DISPATCHJEFFERSON CITY BUREAU CHIEF

Thursday, Feb. 08 2007

JEFFERSON CITY — Saying that parts of St. Louis look like battle-scarred

Berlin in 1945, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder called Wednesday for a new $100

million program to spur large-scale developments.

Kinder said the money would help investors assemble big tracts of vacant land

and deteriorating buildings in the urban core. To be eligible, a project

would have to cover at least 75 acres.

Read More

I already contacted Jeff Smith and Maida Coleman as this is Urban Renewal. This cannot be allowed.

stlmizzoutiger · PostFeb 08, 2007#162007-02-08T22:00+00:00

Doug wrote:
Tax subsidy backer cites St. Louis blight

By Virginia Young

POST-DISPATCHJEFFERSON CITY BUREAU CHIEF

Thursday, Feb. 08 2007

JEFFERSON CITY — Saying that parts of St. Louis look like battle-scarred

Berlin in 1945, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder called Wednesday for a new $100

million program to spur large-scale developments.

Kinder said the money would help investors assemble big tracts of vacant land

and deteriorating buildings in the urban core. To be eligible, a project

would have to cover at least 75 acres.

Read More

I already contacted Jeff Smith and Maida Coleman as this is Urban Renewal. This cannot be allowed.

God Bless Atlanta. They razed blocks of deteriorating neighborhoods and replaced them with high rises and business districts. Why can't St. Louis do it too? Call it urban renewal if you want, it's the right way to go. I'd rather have a bunch of new office parks in the city than blocks of dilapidated housing and overgrown vacant lots. If St. Louis would follow Atlanta's blue print I bet a lot more could be happening here.

doug · PostFeb 08, 2007#172007-02-08T22:10+00:00

We did that already. Urban Renewal is the cause of our current blight. National policy, motivated by racism, explains our current situation. We cannot solve the problem by repeating the same mistakes. The problem will simply move elsewhere and we will loose a non-renewable resource: historical housing. If we want this problem to be solved then we need that 100,000,000 to be accessible to the average Joe. Through rehabs and new construction we can turn it around. Progress is already happening and with more funds it would increase. Wide scale demolition is not going to fix anything.

brickandmortar · PostFeb 09, 2007#182007-02-09T17:45+00:00

Urban Review has a post on this very subject. Something is fishy...

http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=2996

doug · PostFeb 09, 2007#192007-02-09T20:05+00:00

Of course it is fishy. The bottom line is that this was planned beforehand. There is little we can do to stop the project but a wide coalition of groups can influence the decision making and planning process to ensure we don't get another Winghaven or McRee Town. Its going to happen but we can have a big influence over the outcome.

gary kreie · PostFeb 11, 2007#202007-02-11T22:55+00:00

Mysterious company buying north St. Louis homes concerning residents

Mysterious company buying St. Louis homes

(KMOV) -- Someone is buying up hundreds of parcels of land in St. Louis, but who and why are a mystery. Many of those buildings are now empty and decaying. One of the homes was once owned by Mark Twain's uncle.

It's one of many north St. Louis properties, purchased by a company called Blairmont which is causing a lot of concern. Blairmont, and several apparently related companies, have purchased more than 500 parcels of land in north St. Louis.

Residents are concerned that these companies may develop new, modern housing and that they will lose the historic homes and features of the neighborhood. Residents can't reach anyone with those companies.

urbanarchstl · PostFeb 12, 2007#212007-02-12T01:01+00:00

Thanks for starting a thread on this topic! We need to get the word out to as many people as possible about what is going on. Its very real and its very scary! Please take a look at the following to learn more about the Blairmont blitzkrieg on North St. Louis:

Ecology of Absence - The World of Blairmont: http://www.eco-absence.org/blairmont/ Includes a map of all the properties owned by Blairmont and the other shell companies, as well as extensive photos of the historic building they are letting decay.

Ecology of Absence Blog: http://ecoabsence.blogspot.com/ includes almost daily chronicles of Blairmont's activities.

Urban Review STL: http://www.urbanreviewstl.com/?p=2996 connects the Blairmont scheme to the City's 1947 master land use plan that called for bulldozing much of the north side as well as to the more recently adopted 5th Ward Plan.

doug · PostFeb 12, 2007#222007-02-12T05:17+00:00

"Getting the word out" will do absolutely nothing. Now is the time for actual coalition building.

threeonefour · PostFeb 13, 2007#232007-02-13T13:31+00:00

ecoabsence wrote:Some of us have been trying to get together an organizing meeting. Who's in?

I probably wouldn't be able to contribute much until March, because I have a killer mid-term in one of my classes. I don't know what kind of timeline we're looking at here, but once that's over, I'm in.

jcity · PostFeb 14, 2007#242007-02-14T05:17+00:00

How sad. These historic homes will be wiped out for a sea of s***, just like winghaven, st. charles, etc. Have we not learned anything from Mill Creek Valley? These "new" vinyl crap houses will then have a shelf life of 20 years. This is extremely unfortunate. ONSL has some very impressive architecture, it's actually a lot more impressive than most of the south side. historically, the north side was more impressive than the south side, except for a few neighborhoods. Who is behind this? The ONLY way I'd support this is if what they built is somehow more impressive than what is currently there. If this means brick on the front,siding on the side, then I'm completely opposed. I'd rather see a brick frame barley able to stand than Winghaven.

shannon · PostFeb 16, 2007#252007-02-16T00:17+00:00

I was just told that at least one block of St. Louis Ave. between Jefferson and Grand was served eminent domain papers today. This came straight from my husband's assistant, who's mother was one of those directly impacted. I only know about this particular block, and not any of the surrounding ones.

Is this the beginning of the end?

"Blairmont"

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