urbanSTL

You already have Foam, Mississippi Mud and Sump in the area.

Google "coffee shops + gentrification" and you will get hours and hours of entertainment.

Gentrification is exciting!!!!

leeharveyawesome wrote:

beer city wrote:More info on Craft Art Bar opening in March -

http://www.saucemagazine.com/blog/?p=34345

Cherokee is moving fast - like no other district I have seen come together in StL - Hoping it has staying power and there is no backlash

That's good news.

Who do you think the backlash might come from? Because beyond the original poor European immigrants who built the whole area with their bare poor immigrant hands, nobody can claim rights to it. Everyone is just guests passing through at this point.

These are signs of gentrification. It could eventually price nearby renters out as well as homeowners that can't afford the bump in tax valuations.

Still, it's early in the game.

Well, we can't put life on hold because of few temporary renters. This is all premature anyway. We are years away from anything really gross happening. I'm priced out of a few neighborhoods myself. I accept this fact.

Rising waters lift all boats.

leeharveyawesome wrote:

beer city wrote:More info on Craft Art Bar opening in March -

http://www.saucemagazine.com/blog/?p=34345

Cherokee is moving fast - like no other district I have seen come together in StL - Hoping it has staying power and there is no backlash

That's good news.

Who do you think the backlash might come from? Because beyond the original poor European immigrants who built the whole area with their bare poor immigrant hands, nobody can claim rights to it. Everyone is just guests passing through at this point.

I was not thinking of one particular scenario - but fledgling urban districts face potential threats from their own success - growing too fast, growing the wrong way, becoming unbalanced, etc...

I still have yet to see the growth on Cherokee expand 3-4 blocks north or south of the street. The appearance of the housing stock, crime, low household income, etc are still real concerns on surrounding streets and threaten the growth of Cherokee. Until the progress extends beyond the commercial strip itself, gentrification is the least of Cherokees worries and any investment from a SBUX would be welcome.

The Lemp Brewery would add a hell of a lot of foot traffic to the area if it were filled with people! I would love to see a museum, nice offices, apartments, and a college campus maybe the size of SLU Law in the Lemp buildings.

beer city wrote:I was not thinking of one particular scenario - but fledgling urban districts face potential threats from their own success - growing too fast, growing the wrong way, becoming unbalanced, etc...

These are natural growing pains / market corrections. As long as investment forges ahead and risk is distributed, growth is likely to continue.

Los Punk now open on Cherokee -

http://www.stlmag.com/Blogs/Relish/Febr ... -Los-Punk/

Blank space is expanding -

http://www.saucemagazine.com/blog/?p=34879

Athlete Eats is now open - I was curious about this place, food in house and to go pick up and heat at home - what I had was really good - Evidently they have been catering to local athletes for a while

https://www.facebook.com/athleteeats

Cherokee is so damn great. It's just reasonable people trying to do reasonable business and have some fun at a reasonable cost. It's so great and the best microcosmic example of what regular people do if given a fair chance. There ain't no American Reinvestment and Recovery Act signs. It's just people doing sh*t. It's a beautiful piece of Americana. A few things along the strip have bitten the dust pretty quick which sucks but people keep on going.

Check the STL city lookup. If you see a rotting house and the owners address is in Redondo Beach or Hawaii call them and tell em the party is over. We want our city back and we ain't ***** around. It works.

^ tell 'em the party is over, we want our city back, we ain't f***ing around, and we'd like to make them an offer on their property? or tell 'em the party is over, we want our city back, we ain't f***ing around, and we're illegally taking their property? i'm not sure the latter would work, and the former will only work if they're willing to sell, unfortunately. what we need is city charter reform that allows derelict properties to be confiscated from absentee owners.

I'm impressed with all this activity on Cherokee and can't wait to see it with my own eyes! This area has always been one of my favorites, so this is great to see all this activity bringing vitality back to the area.

How are the streets around in the neighborhoods doing? This is one area we are looking at to potentially buy, but I'm still a bit cautious about crime in the area.

I hope you buy in the Cherokee. In fact, I hope you buy three or four. I love Cherokee but the fact is the streets directly off Cherokee especially west of Jefferson can be a little hit and miss (at the present).

There's probably no chance of walking out the door in the morning with a suit, briefcase and a latte and hopping into your brand new Hyundai and not kinda sorta stick out like a sore thumb. Bringing that type of diversity to the neighborhood might get your crib ransacked or worse.

Anybody disagree with that assessment?

^ That's exactly what I'm concerned about. If the local development continues and rents remain affordable enough at the moment, we could yet see a lot of move-ins by hipster types, which really would be a continued driving force to, how shall I say, displace some of the current problem.

Are there a relatively high percentage of slum lords, who own in the area?

As far slumlords, my gut says yes, yes, there are a few slumlords to be found around Cherokee. But I imagine some of the slumlords are being replaced slowly by speculative real estate types and rehab flippers and people who are flat out buying to live. But make no mistake, it ain't at no Echo Park fever pitch. Things are way different here.

Eastward wrote:I'm impressed with all this activity on Cherokee and can't wait to see it with my own eyes! This area has always been one of my favorites, so this is great to see all this activity bringing vitality back to the area.

How are the streets around in the neighborhoods doing? This is one area we are looking at to potentially buy, but I'm still a bit cautious about crime in the area.

Some friends of mine moved from Fresno to St. Louis last year and ended up renting a unit over a storefront right on Cherokee a bit east of Jefferson. They absolutely love the place; I haven't heard a negative word from them yet. In fact a family member is moving to town too and they're working to procure an apartment across the street.

I don't doubt there are crime issues as you get away from Cherokee, but they've seen none of it as far as I'm aware.

-RBB

^ Sounds very positive. I'm going to look into it for sure.

If you peruse the rental ads being on or adjacent to Cherokee Street seems to be in demand these days.

And there are only so many addresses that fall on Cherokee proper.

The blocks north and south of the strip will see the benefits of that.

I think back to ten plus years ago when South Grand was getting hot but a lot of people still said "don't buy/rent east of Grand".

Can't recall the last time I heard anyone say that. Even if there are still blocks in TGE that are a bit sketch.

In similar fashion I think the idea that you have to be ON Cherokee will fade in time.