Old North St. Louis Infill and Rehab

bastiat · PostAug 07, 2007#1012007-08-07T14:51+00:00

Expat wrote:I can't believe everything that is going on in ONSL. Keep us up to date, please!

You should drive around ONSL north of Crown Candy. The density seems to be mainly intact there and there seems to be at least one scaffold on every block. You can see people working on their houses if you go on a weekend.

mattonarsenal · PostAug 08, 2007#1022007-08-08T14:17+00:00

Bastiat,

I am glad you are impressed by progress in and around the mall. But you said this in another forum...

With government subsidies and housing however, this system gets entirely screwed up.

Do you have an issue with the fact that a large portion of the units are being rehabbed as affordable housing using tax credits?

According to your logic wouldn't this hold the neighborhood back? Yet you are excited about the progress in ONSL... I am confused.

bastiat · PostAug 08, 2007#1032007-08-08T15:43+00:00

MattonArsenal wrote:Bastiat,

I am glad you are impressed by progress in and around the mall. But you said this in another forum...

With government subsidies and housing however, this system gets entirely screwed up.

Do you have an issue with the fact that a large portion of the units are being rehabbed as affordable housing using tax credits?

According to your logic wouldn't this hold the neighborhood back? Yet you are excited about the progress in ONSL... I am confused.

I stand by both my enthusiasm and my original statement.

My statement was mainly regarding upscale neighborhoods. ONSL is still largely vacant lots and abandoned buildings. I'm fine with the affordable housing for the time being so long as it saves buildings from demolition and the tenants are screened. I'm willing to compromise to save the original architecture. However, I would also argue that more developers would be willing to rebuild at market rate if there wasn't as much subsidized housing in the area.

What if this entire area from Hyde Park to downtown had no "affordable housing"? No projects to the north of the Dome to cut the area off, etc. What if alderman like Bosley Sr. could not buy votes from the lower class by building them housing or prevent gentrification (or the loss of their political power) by preventing development?

We could do the poor a much bigger favor by abolishing property taxes. Property taxes are one of the reasons so many of these buildings are abandoned. The taxes exceed the rent that can be collected. Landlords found themselves renting at a loss. Also, without property taxes, poor people could not be "pushed out" by gentrification.

Alex Ihnen · PostAug 08, 2007#1042007-08-08T15:45+00:00

^^ I hope no one ever looks through my comments for consistency!

I'm excited about many things in the city, but I still harbor concerns - and even through some things out there for the sake of argument at times . . . hopefully we don't get too caught up in accountability here - not that we are, I'm just sayin'.

MattnSTL · PostAug 15, 2007#1052007-08-15T16:01+00:00

First round of closings will take place tomorrow. This is for about half of the buildings. Work will get started soon after, but I'm not sure if an actual day has been set for that.

stellar · PostAug 16, 2007#1062007-08-16T00:13+00:00

I went to Crown Candy for lunch yesterday. I am continually amazed at the number of people that are clearly driving out of their way to go to that place. There were families with multiple generations, business women that looked like models or something, groups of teenagers. If they can get that Mall up and running all those people should be used to going there already. It bodes well for the success of this area that many consider out of the way at the moment.

I just hope that something can be done about the drive to get there. I usually take Gravois which turns into Tucker which turns into Florissant and right on St. Louis Ave. It's not exactly a scenic drive. That will scare people off. It should be the job of the City to improve the drive since Old North Restoration Group is putting in so much effort.

Alex Ihnen · PostAug 16, 2007#1072007-08-16T01:47+00:00

I think developers should concentrate on developing 13th St. The "entrance" to ONSL could be 13th where it goes straight and it becomes Florissant going left.

MattnSTL · PostAug 16, 2007#1082007-08-16T02:07+00:00

See the Mullanphy thread for the vision for that area, but there are a lot of Blairmont issues down in those parts, as well as industry. I was taking pics of Blairmont properties today, and they look really bad. There are also Blairmont properties along N. Florissant. Even with these issues, the area is no doubt on it's way up.

jcity · PostAug 16, 2007#1092007-08-16T03:36+00:00

we should have a forum tour of these properties. I'm down for Sunday!

MattnSTL · PostAug 16, 2007#1102007-08-16T03:44+00:00

I'll be working at non-ONSL. Come up tomorrow afternoon for a tour.

PostAug 18, 2007#1112007-08-18T06:16+00:00

Financing for the residential portion closed on Thursday. Construction is now starting. The commercial portion will close very soon.

I can also now announce that the development will be branded as Crown Village. We have some nice marketing materials in the office, and the website will be launching as soon as some of the details are taken care of.

bastiat · PostAug 18, 2007#1122007-08-18T14:14+00:00

MattnSTL wrote:Financing for the residential portion closed on Thursday. Construction is now starting. The commercial portion will close very soon.

I can also now announce that the development will be branded as Crown Village. We have some nice marketing materials in the office, and the website will be launching as soon as some of the details are taken care of.

Crown Village is a strip mall or lifestyle center in the suburbs. You guys should have gone with Crown Center.

suburban lou · PostAug 18, 2007#1132007-08-18T14:16+00:00

How about just calling it 14th street.

bastiat · PostAug 18, 2007#1142007-08-18T14:26+00:00

Suburban Lou wrote:How about just calling it 14th street.

Most people don't know where the 14th street mall is unless you say "Crown Candy". Crown Candy is the main draw for the neighborhood and it makes sense to play off of that.

Alex Ihnen · PostAug 18, 2007#1152007-08-18T15:17+00:00

Why not Crown Village Bluff Plaza? Kidding - yes, "14th Street" would certainly seem to make the most sense.

shimmy · PostAug 18, 2007#1162007-08-18T15:43+00:00

I could careless about the name, I'm just glad its getting started.

marmar · PostAug 18, 2007#1172007-08-18T16:48+00:00

I second that!!!

framer · PostAug 19, 2007#1182007-08-19T04:04+00:00

Er, with all due respect, I find the name "Crown Village" to be, uh, disappointing.

trent · PostAug 19, 2007#1192007-08-19T18:34+00:00

I promise everyone here that I will never refer to it as Crown Village.

The Grande Plaza Shoppes at Old North St. Louis, maybe...but never Crown Village.

MattnSTL · PostAug 19, 2007#1202007-08-19T20:16+00:00

It's marketing. Just like North Market Place is marketing for the new homes. No one says they live in North Market Place, unless they live on North Market, of course. The Crown Village name will be used for promotion of the retail space, as well as apartments and the North Market Homes.

I believe there were also posts earlier in this thread saying the area should be renamed to play off Crown Candy. Apparently the development team aren't the only ones that think this.

ONSL Blog post announcing the start of work.

jcity · PostAug 20, 2007#1212007-08-20T01:24+00:00

I like 14th Street.

shadrach · PostAug 20, 2007#1222007-08-20T01:37+00:00

Awesome!! Can't wait to see it come to life. Good job and kudos to everyone for sticking with it.

MattnSTL · PostAug 20, 2007#1232007-08-20T15:21+00:00

Work has definitely started. Dumpsters in front of several of the buildings that are not actually on the mall. Not sure what day buildings on the actual mall will get started, and about half the buildings there still need the commercial financing to close. It's been a long time coming, but now it's time to watch an incredible transformation.

framer · PostAug 21, 2007#1242007-08-21T03:26+00:00

Is the commercial work being done on spec, or do they have potential tenants lined up already?

MattnSTL · PostAug 21, 2007#1252007-08-21T03:32+00:00

There is a total of 26,000 sq. ft. of commercial, being built on spec. A commercial broker will be hired to handle the leasing.

Old North St. Louis Infill and Rehab

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