urbanSTL

LRA demo applications:
1523 DESOTO
4344 WARNE
4346 WARNE
1955 ALICE
1967 ALICE
4520 PAGE
5965 HIGHLAND
5831 HIGHLAND
2617 HODIAMONT
5976 KENNERLY
5981 LOTUS
5825 LOTUS
5890 LOTUS
5953 THEODOSIA
5916 THEODOSIA
5817 COTE BRILLIANTE
5870 COTE BRILLIANTE
5819 COTE BRILLIANTE
5824 COTE BRILLIANTE
5827 COTE BRILLIANTE
5853 COTE BRILLIANTE
5926 COTE BRILLIANTE
5660 WABADA
5101 COTE BRILLIANTE
5253 COTE BRILLIANTE
1923 HAMILTON
5131 WABADA
5236 WABADA
5821 WABADA
1610 GOODFELLOW

I should not have spent my morning looking through the demo thread and properties…it’s like watching 1940s land clearance in real time…

So the LRA being appointed positions, including by the Mayor, I would assume the mayor has political will and way when it comes to the LRA. The insane increase in demolitions by the LRA under the current admin is concerning to me. This does not even include the massive demos by neglect happening, mainly by northside regeneration, and the easy granting of demo permits to owners. And it’s not like we have cracked down on absent owners or owners failing to keep up their historic properties, ie the Lemp brewery collapsing again yesterday.

The combination of a government led massive land clearance in north city and no change in preventing more properties from getting to such state has led me to being swayed in the upcoming mayor’s race.

Has Spencer presented any plans on this front? Is Jones working to right the ship on preservation and rehabilitation of the history of the city but there are just hurdles to overcome first?

And also as an aside, this has been asked before, but because LRA funds through property taxes and grants, are they upcycling these historic bricks and materials for use in the city? If they are simply selling them off to China or out of state, that needs to change. Can we get some transparency about this from LRA and the admin? We should be keeping these materials at home to at least contribute to the rebuilding our historical context when possible.

I think the companies doing the demos get to keep and sell the materials.

The demolition companies (which are mostly quite shady operations themselves) get to salvage anything they like from the buildings, including the brick, in exchange for lowering the cost of demolition. Is that a good policy? Maybe fiscally, but it doesn't necessarily ensure that anything that could be salvaged for reuse actually is, and it leaves where the salvage material ends up to the whims of the demolition companies. I can assure you the bricks are not going to China, but they are more often than not going to the sunbelt areas.

Nothing ever changes because the Building Division and LRA that are the two departments responsible for most of the demolitions happening just want to do the most possible with the least money, and we have the "we have always done it this way, so why change anything?" going on. Which could be said about plenty of things in government both in and out of the City, but that's a different thread. Not that there haven't been efforts to reform and improve the demolition process, but it's tough to change things, for better or worse.

StlToday - One house down, St. Louis officials say more demolitions are coming

Last year, the city’s land bank, also known as the Land Reutilization Authority, launched a demolition program to remove 1,000 vacant structures by 2026 that have pockmarked neighborhoods across the city, paid for with $15 million from the state of Missouri’s American Rescue Plan Act.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... 5a7b1.html

Sigh. I believe if we would’ve spent money on cleaning up the vacant buildings and vacant properties, roads, sidewalks, mowing on these blocks, instead of letting them sit/rot and practice wholesale demolitions, these 100+ year old homes would have had a chance and there would have been at least some investment in rehab and infill.

The city couldn’t give these away because we didn’t even try to pave sidewalks and prevent grass over growing and vagrants burning the houses.

Ditto the above with regard to SLPS schools - they really are architectural gems but they didn’t even try to keep many of them in a somewhat stable state in order to sell to a redeveloper.

So now we will just have “flat land” all over north city that will probably sit empty in parts and the city will allow suburban type development in parts.

I really hope they market this land right and effectively and work with developers at recreating the urban environment and pushing StL’s form forward while respecting its history.

LRA Demo applications
2210 KEOKUK
4021 OREGON
4938 ALCOTT
5010 ALCOTT
4272 W ALDINE
4205 ALDINE
1926 ANNIE MALONE
6916 PENNSYLVANIA
7907 Pennsylvania
4564 PLOVER

I think it largely depends on if there's a broader plan/vision, but so far there hasn't been. It is unfortunately true though that there comes a point where buildings just need to be torn down due to the risks that vacant, dilapidated buildings have.

Not sure why they couldn’t integrate this into their plan but…

Old stone mansion in Maryland Heights to be torn down for senior homes
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... baa81.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Man, that's crazy. What a beauty; and that porch would be a perfect place for seniors to hang out.

Exactly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Failure of imagination.

StlTiday - St. Louis to demolish nearly 200 LRA properties hit by tornado

ST. LOUIS — The city will demolish nearly 200 tornado-damaged buildings owned by the Land Reutilization Authority and may revive a controversial building stabilization program that was ended just weeks ago by the mayor.
Of the approximately 2,900 LRA properties in the path of the May 16 twister, 373 still had structures on them and 182 of those were severely damaged, said Otis Williams, interim director of the St. Louis Development Corp.
“We just need to be able to clean up, but they will be demolished,” Williams said in an interview Friday.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... c39ee.html

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jun 03, 2025

StlTiday - St. Louis to demolish nearly 200 LRA properties hit by tornado

ST. LOUIS — The city will demolish nearly 200 tornado-damaged buildings owned by the Land Reutilization Authority and may revive a controversial building stabilization program that was ended just weeks ago by the mayor.
Of the approximately 2,900 LRA properties in the path of the May 16 twister, 373 still had structures on them and 182 of those were severely damaged, said Otis Williams, interim director of the St. Louis Development Corp.
“We just need to be able to clean up, but they will be demolished,” Williams said in an interview Friday.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... c39ee.html

A shame, but I'm not terribly surprised.

The city would to well to at least palletize the bricks and make them available for low (or no) cost to those in the affected area who wish to use them to rebuild their properties.

-RBB

rbb wrote: ↑

Jun 04, 2025

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jun 03, 2025

StlTiday - St. Louis to demolish nearly 200 LRA properties hit by tornado

ST. LOUIS — The city will demolish nearly 200 tornado-damaged buildings owned by the Land Reutilization Authority and may revive a controversial building stabilization program that was ended just weeks ago by the mayor.
Of the approximately 2,900 LRA properties in the path of the May 16 twister, 373 still had structures on them and 182 of those were severely damaged, said Otis Williams, interim director of the St. Louis Development Corp.
“We just need to be able to clean up, but they will be demolished,” Williams said in an interview Friday.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/bus ... c39ee.html

A shame, but I'm not terribly surprised.

The city would to well to at least palletize the bricks and make them available for low (or no) cost to those in the affected area who wish to use them to rebuild their properties.

-RBB

Sad, but not surprised either given the extent of the damage.

Hopefully someone is thinking about architectural salvage projects like the above. A small way to preserve our history.

The contractors that do the demos for the city sell the spoils as they please. It makes it cheaper for the city.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Jun 04, 2025

The contractors that do the demos for the city sell the spoils as they please. It makes it cheaper for the city.

And in BAU that's fine. My proposal would be specific to disaster relief efforts to make rebuilding cheaper.

-RBB

Update on our activist win! 

https://kranzbergartsfoundation.org/the-key-prepares-to-make-its-debut/

^ awesome. such a cool space. i saw Sleater-Kinney play there in 2000 when it was The Firehouse:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/sleaterkinney/2000/firehouse-st-louis-mo-bcc2db6.html

quincunx wrote: ↑

Oct 16, 2021

Demo permit issued for 5256 Delmar. Owned by the same folks redoing the retail across the street. Don't see an ownership change for parcels on either side. Should get CRO review.
5256 Delmar.jpg

Gone. 5Th demo permit application was the charm, with an assist from the tornado. Demolition by neglect complete.

With the corner lot, there's now plenty of room for drive-thru coffee or maybe double drive-thru fast food!