urbanSTL

quincunx wrote:Does he just want to get rid of the buildings and speculate on the land?

The buildings on 4th Street he wanted gone for parking. The one on Chouteau’s Landing, not really sure what he wanted to do there. That would probably be speculative

The City of St. Louis has boarded up 750 (aka The Garage) and back at the end of August, they did the same with 744. This is something I've been working on with some other people for a while. Terry McDonald refused to comply and work with us on securing and cleaning up his properties as well as stabilize them. So, we got the city involved using ordinances previously passed by the Board of Aldermen (nuisance and graffiti ordinances mostly). The City boarded up the properties and issued a letter to Terry McDonald stating that they were going to do that. 

This means that if all goes well, there will stabilization and graffiti clean up work done soon. This buys time for us to acquire the buildings from Terry, who is refusing to work with us. 
 
The team I work with is committed to getting these buildings re-activated and beautiful again along with new sidewalks and a welcoming backdoor. I proposed a beer garden and spots for food trucks to the team I work with and they seem to be in favor. One hurdle that we have to get over is the highway, so we will see if MODOT would be willing to work with us to put sound walls up to try and reduce the overall noise produced by the highway.

Here are some pictures from today...





As I have said on the 754 South 4th thread, we have a building permit approved for that, but have yet to pick it up. So work should begin on that one very soon. We also have a Letter of Intent on the space in that building already, which means that we are ready to go on all fronts and just need the permit. When complete, I assure you that the building will look like new.

I must make it clear that we aren't in this to make any enemies or circumvent the full process, but we had to take the necessary steps to attempt to save these buildings and give some more hope to the neighborhood. Chouteau's Landing is a huge piece of the puzzle, but you can't do the huge section if you don't focus on the small section. So we're focused on getting the 700 Block cleaned up and activated, BP forced out, and permanent road improvements in place to slow cars down. If we can get this taken care of, the outlook on the area will be much better, and everyone knows that. Just look at how good the 900 Block looks. The sidewalks are in great shape, buildings are clean, parking lot is nicely lit with some landscaping (no pictures of that, but it's there if you walk around). It's cared for and that's what we, and other developers, are going for in this area. 

This area is visible to thousands of people every say who pass by on 44 and 55 and come across on the Poplar Street Bridge. This is one of the first, if not the first, things people see of the City and we need it to change. We will change it.


We are hopeful that a separate development team can manage to redevelop Beale on Broadway. I've seen the renderings and floor plans for that and I personally believe that the concept that's planned over there would work out well in the quest to connect Downtown to Soulard. At this point though, the building is starting to show it's age. It needs help but is not in near as bad of shape as 744.


There's a lot of work left to do, as everyone can see, but once we get these smaller dominos to fall, the bigger ones will follow. The gaps on 4th and Broadway will fill in. Chouteau's Landing will be dealt with. And hopefully the Ice House South of Chouteau can join in with the new neighborhood. 

So to end this, hopefully this will be a renewed block at the front door to Chouteau's Landing by sometime next year.