Boy that bridge is really paying off!
Imagine the higher returns made possible by $700M in transit and walkability spending.
Imagine the higher returns made possible by $700M in transit and walkability spending.
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I don't even know what to say. How can St. Louis win when this is the type of sh*t that comes out of the mouths of our "movers"?
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2016/03/23/ ... orth-side/Millennials are coming back to the city,” McKee asserted. “And among the top 10 things they want — the No. 1 thing is a gas station that serves good food...
You can kind of make out the site plan and aerial rendering here: https://cbsstlouis.files.wordpress.com/ ... mckee2.jpg
What a mess.
What a mess.
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Ya know... I had no idea how popular gas station restaurants were until I went to KC a few weeks ago... not that its an excuse, but it definitely surprised me.
^ How much in back property taxes does McKee still owe? What plans does he have to stabilize the Clemson Mansion and other historic properties?
I can't see any sane person giving him one penny until the two aforementioned questions are resolved.
I can't see any sane person giving him one penny until the two aforementioned questions are resolved.
^Exactly. We can't give a another dime to the guy responsible for allowing our built environment on the Northside to rot away. He may have started with good intentions but he has failed, he is broke, and he is a hindrance to progress. Time to move on.
Please no skinny houses on wide lots, or wide houses on wide lots. And no stupid cul-de-sacs like they did in McRee Town
StL Public Radio - McKee announces new partnership and housing near NGA
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mck ... g-near-nga
StLToday - McKee plans 500-unit housing project near NGA site
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... d41ea.html
One of the partners Telesis. Looks like they've done some good stuff
http://www.telesiscorp.com/
StL Public Radio - McKee announces new partnership and housing near NGA
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mck ... g-near-nga
StLToday - McKee plans 500-unit housing project near NGA site
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... d41ea.html
One of the partners Telesis. Looks like they've done some good stuff
http://www.telesiscorp.com/
The article does suggest walkability would be a priority. Not that McKee's words mean much.
He actually has Calthorpe working on this according to the business journal - they are pretty much the best in the US in designing for transit and walk-abilityjsbru wrote:The article does suggest walkability would be a priority. Not that McKee's words mean much.
http://www.calthorpe.com/
The Calthorpe design in Oakland (construction completed) is pretty impressive...
2,350 DUs (1,100 mid-rise apartments, 900 high-rise condominiums, 350 off-campus dorms) | 150k sq ft (14k sq m) retail/ commercial
http://www.calthorpe.com/uptown
Of course, McKee wants to build about the same amount of DUs (3,000 total over all phases, 500 in first phase), but spread out over a much larger swath of land.
2,350 DUs (1,100 mid-rise apartments, 900 high-rise condominiums, 350 off-campus dorms) | 150k sq ft (14k sq m) retail/ commercial
http://www.calthorpe.com/uptown
Of course, McKee wants to build about the same amount of DUs (3,000 total over all phases, 500 in first phase), but spread out over a much larger swath of land.
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McKee's worked with some great firms in the past. Civitas did a lot of planning/visioning years ago. Civitas and Calthorpe were responsible for Stapleton, a New Urbanism development on the site of the old Denver airport: http://www.terrain.org/articles/17/leccese.htm
You could put 30-40 houses just on 1900 Montgomery. I realize it's not all completely empty, but 500 dwelling units across 50 blocks sound too sparse.
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^ I think it would be quite an achievement if they do 500 market-rate units this first go round before NGA is up and running.... looks like long-term plan is for 3,000.
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In the footprint of his Phase 1 area, I count about 320 parcels that do not have any current structure. If he plans 500 total units in that area, and if some of those are in existing structures, then a lot will depend on how many of those.units are in multi-family buildings.
But 500 units sounds about right for a neighborhood of attached and single family homes with some multi-family.
But 500 units sounds about right for a neighborhood of attached and single family homes with some multi-family.
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Can someone explain why McKee needs a TIF to build a gas station/convenience store near Old North? Isn't it something like a $2.5 million TIF? Aren't other people building gas station/convenience stores on the north side without TIF (I'm thinking of the new Crown Marts going up, including one at MLK and Vandeventer). Why do you need TIF for this?
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If that's true, then why would the city approve it? Doesn't SLDC have a mandate to only grant incentives when they pass a "but for" test?^ No. No one can explain that.
The people opposing this legislation should not be southside aldermen or millenialls, but rather northside business owners operating gas station/convenience stores without the benefit of taxpayer subsidy.
This is insane to the point of being unconstitutional. Something about an "equal protection" clause....
Or, maybe McKee is just more "equal" than the rest of us.
^ Agree on the opposition, truly needs to be from north side businesses to aldermen. However, every business plays this game so don't really see any change in the status quo out of the business community.
I'm really surprised that community school groups, PTAs haven't really built campaigns against or been effective in fighting the amount of TIF's and tax abatements out there. It seems like an easier argument to make against on this one - another gas station with no tax dollars to help educate and keep kids in schools.
I'm really surprised that community school groups, PTAs haven't really built campaigns against or been effective in fighting the amount of TIF's and tax abatements out there. It seems like an easier argument to make against on this one - another gas station with no tax dollars to help educate and keep kids in schools.
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I don't know this to be the case. There's a new gas station convenience store at Jefferson/MLK and another at Vandeventer/MLK. I don't think either of these received TIF (maybe tax abatment).However, every business plays this game so don't really see any change in the status quo out of the business community.
I have no problem incentivizing development that wouldn't happen without public assistance.
But TIF for a Walmart in Shrewsbury; TIF for West County Mall retrofits; TIF for floodplain development in Maryland Heights, TIF for gas stations, these things don't measure up.
Is the gas station and grocery store outside of the $390M already approved? Or is it under that umbrella, but every specific thing done needs another approval?
I think the politics in this is that they just want to see anything happen. Regrettably this is of the auto-oriented development pattern that we can't afford.
I think the politics in this is that they just want to see anything happen. Regrettably this is of the auto-oriented development pattern that we can't afford.
I realized that after posting the comment that friends of ours are going to build new house in the city and also expecting to see a 10-yr tax abatement come through for new construction if it wasn't approved already. So everyone is on the deal if they can be.
The other thought, the county self inflicts with multiple muni's where as the city should be able to put together a more comprehensive approach that looks to the long term. The downside and realization for the city is the number of aldermen and wards doesn't help. The sooner that number comes down the better it will be for the city.
The other thought, the county self inflicts with multiple muni's where as the city should be able to put together a more comprehensive approach that looks to the long term. The downside and realization for the city is the number of aldermen and wards doesn't help. The sooner that number comes down the better it will be for the city.
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This all depends.I realized that after posting the comment that friends of ours are going to build new house in the city and also expecting to see a 10-yr tax abatement come through for new construction if it wasn't approved already. So everyone is on the deal if they can be.
Tax abatement to build a new home in St. Louis Hills, The Hill, Southwest Garden, CWE, etc, should be verboten. Frankly, it's not fair to their neighbors paying upwards of $2500-$3000 per year RE taxes on an average home.
OTOH, by all means, blight and abate away in neighborhoods like the Ville, Northside Regeneration, College Hill, etc. Those neighborhoods need the investment, the people, the help.
STL Today - Alderman approve key component of Northside Regeneration plan
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... e99af.htmlDeveloper Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration project won a major victory Friday after the Board of Aldermen voted to extend $2.8 million in tax relief for the project as part of a plan to build a grocery store and gas station at North 13th Street and North Tucker Boulevard.
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^ SLDC also awarded $5M in New Markets credits today so look for this to begin before too long. So this questionable development got at least $7.8M in subsidies.