So Princeton Heights Nextdoor reports that WAGS is tearing down the FV/Marcos across the street along with homes on HH and Lavernell to build some super fancy new WAGS. FV/Marcos is moving somewhere up the street.

Great, so they're gonna wipe out a bunch of modest but well-maintained shotguns and ranches (the ranch at the NW corner of Holly Hills and Lavernell is particularly nice), build a sprawling box with a long-ass blank cinderblock wall facing Holly Hills, and leave an empty box surrounded by a parking lot across the street. F*ck Wags.

This is crazy. That's an area of very nice homes. Why would they have to tear those down, when there's so much under-utilized property in the neighborhood. Why on earth would the neighborhood allow it to happen? Can anyone post an outline of exactly what is proposed?

From what I've read, the homeowners have been offered to buy out for the teardowns. The existing building will remain across the street, but no word on the new tenant (if there is one. it wasn't clear).

I don't know that it's kosher to repost content, but some people responding seem incredibly for this. I think it's hideous.

Are there plans somewhere? My opinion might be different if this was a nicely built urban design, though I'm not optimistic.

SO, you are telling me that Lavernell Ct. is going to possibly be demolished?????!!! That is absolutely nuts!

Oh, goody. I'm not sure who the alderman is over there, but I'm not sure it matters anyway. Any development is still good development in the eyes of our autopilot aldermen, no matter how many buildings are senselessly demolished in the process, and don't you dare to insist on an urban design for new development. With a few exceptions, our leaders are still stuck in the 1970s when it comes to development, including Mayor Frankie Fourterms.

BTW...hasn't Marco's been in that location less than a year? I guess Walgreens will give them a chunk of money to relocate even as they leave the store across the street vacant. Sheesh.

This is something ANYBODY that cares about preservation, should get involved to block. This cannot and should not happen! There is a Walgreens right down Gravois at Hampton, as well as a CVS. They are everywhere. I have nothing against putting them in places where demo is either not necessary or where a empty lot or building beyond fixing sits. However, this is not the case here. To tear down the homes in that area would be a crime.

Is the Preservation Research Office and Landmarks Assoc. involved in this? I'm not sure how likely this is, but if there is even a remote possibility, this MUST be stopped. This is just ridiculous! Can anyone tell me what is being done, if anything, to stop this from happening? Are the residents against this? What a terrible loss this would be for
St. Louis!!!

Any update on this? I would like to join the fight.

P= parking.
DT= drive thru lane... this is probably the site plan.
I bet the house with the pool got a nice offer

So the City loses another seven perfectly nice, Mid-Century houses, so that Walgreens can move across the street. I just don't understand why the neighborhood would support something like this. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

The Walgreens is probably going to generate way less revenue for the City in the long term than the houses already there will. Why are we even considering this?

^ The 7 houses there paid $11,015 in property taxes in 2013 (combined) the commercial building at the north end paid $13,250
total of $24,265.....the current Walgreens across the street paid $47,000 in 2013.

The post was pulled from Nextdoor. I guess the person who originally posted wasn't supposed to run their mouth about it. Whoops.

What can be done to stop this? I live over by Grand and Holly Hills, so I'm not familiar with how that neighborhood works.

Absolutely a disgrace.

Would contacting Mayor Slay's office do any good? He is a resident of Holly Hills. He should have a stake in this situation.

I can't imagine he'd want this kind of demo. It could lead to more people leaving the City. This would be a travesty!

Also, does anyone know if either the Preservation Research Office or Landmarks Association is on this? Maybe there is something they can do. This needs to get some press, immediately, before it becomes a done deal. Maybe getting a 'Save Our Saucer" type movement could be organized. This is ridiculous. Considering there is a Walgreens and CVS SO CLOSE, makes this even more ridiculous.

I can't believe that the residents would not fight this. If I lived on the untouched streets, I'd be furious. Going from a nice and private court to a street that borders a Walgreens parking lot, would be horrible, likely ruin the rest of the area. Property values will go down, more than likely.

^Am I missing something here? The proposed demos aren't really historic so I'm not sure I see why Preservation Research Office or Landmarks Association should be involved. Honestly, this just seems like a zoning issue. I see two things that could make this project a whole lot more palatable:

1. Build the f**king building up to the corner with the parking field to the side along Holly Hills. Most of the buildings along Gravois are built up close to the street and this would fix the mistake occurred when someone let the Family Video/Marcos building be built with the setback from Gravois.

2. Revise the City zoning code to not require as much surface parking. If less parking was required, then Walgreens wouldn't need the houses on Lavernell Ct (which are worth saving; I have no issues replacing the houses that face Holly Hills). Rezoning the lots on Lavernell Ct to commercial would likely have detrimental effects to all of the remaining homes on the street.

I'm not saying these changes would make me happy about the project (I could care less about a new Walgreens and don't want to see an abandoned strip mall across the street once Walgreens relocates), but I think it's a little bit of faux outrage to claim this is a historical preservation issue.

^ these organizations (to my knowledge) do not put a limit on preservation by date constructed. Obviously, they are not 100 years old, but worth preserving. These homes may not be comparable to those in Lafayette Square or in that category, but this area is a very nice part or Holly Hills and South City. These courts are awesome. I think it would be a terrible loss to the area, especially for a Walgreens. That is like putting a McDonalds there or something that is not necessary. There is a Walgreens and CVS right down the street. Not necessary to continue to destroy perfectly good housing stock for these types of developments.

south compton wrote:^Am I missing something here? The proposed demos aren't really historic so I'm not sure I see why Preservation Research Office or Landmarks Association should be involved. Honestly, this just seems like a zoning issue. I see two things that could make this project a whole lot more palatable:

1. Build the f**king building up to the corner with the parking field to the side along Holly Hills. Most of the buildings along Gravois are built up close to the street and this would fix the mistake occurred when someone let the Family Video/Marcos building be built with the setback from Gravois.

To be fair, the current configuration happened when a gas station was razed in the 1990s to build the Blockbuster that previously occupied it.

If they need a new building and want to stay in the Holly Hills neighborhood, why can't they raze the current building and build new on the same site? The McDonalds a bit west of there did just that a few years back.

Also, as long as they're building on a corner, at least hold them to the same standard as the Lafayette Square Walgreens was held to and build it up to Gravois.

-RBB