The school board is an incompetent steward and now we all pay the price 

From the PD - https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/edu ... -top-story

• Gundlach School at 2931 Arlington Ave. in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. Opened in 1931 and closed in 2009, the school is listed for just under $350,000.
• Hempstead School at 5872 Minerva Ave. in Hamilton Heights. Hempstead, designed by Ittner, opened in 1907 and closed in 2004.
• Scullin at 4160 Kingshighway Blvd. in Penrose was built in 1928 and closed in 2003. The school just off Interstate 70 has been repeatedly vandalized, with graffiti covering much of the brick. The school is for sale at $324,700.
• Walnut Park is another Ittner school at 5314 Riverview Blvd. in Walnut Park East. It opened in 1909 and closed in 2003. The school's $460,000 real estate listing states that Mother's Way Child Care currently is using the building, but a chain link fence surrounds the school where multiple windows are broken out and the roof has collapsed in several areas. 
• Stowe School at 5750 Lotus Ave. in Wells-Goodfellow is the youngest school on the list and for sale at $450,000. Stowe sits in an empowerment zone targeted by the city for redevelopment along Martin Luther King Drive. The school built during the post-World War II baby boom opened in 1967 and closed in 2009.
• Euclid School at 1131 N. Euclid Ave. in Fountain Park suffered additional damage from the tornado last May. It is across the street from Washington Montessori Elementary, which reopened earlier this month following tornado-related repairs. Euclid opened in 1890 and was designed by architect August Kirchner in a Romanesque style with three arches at the entrance. It closed in 2007.

Why they won't sell them to SLDC is a head scratcher.

quincunx wrote:Why they won't sell them to SLDC is a head scratcher.

SLDC probably can't afford them.

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At some point we have to admit the district is asking too much. They clearly need a lot of investment. Scrappers have hit them and stolen copper flashing, leaving the rooves compromised. They've suffered water damage. Some have had fires. Others were hit by the tornado. Yes, we need to preserve them to the extent possible. We also need to salvage what we can. Maybe seriously damaged schools that are beyond saving can at least serve as a source of building materials to save other damaged structures of similar vintage that are still repairable. I don't know what the right answer is here, but continuing to list them at prices where they aren't selling without additional incentives isn't doing anyone any good at all. Something has to give.

The total price tag of all 6 buildings is around $2M.  

SLDC doesn't want these specifically because they will be difficult to turn around, and SLDC is inept and can't do difficult things--these buildings would be failures to add to their long list.

SLPS probably thinks they can get more for the vacant land minus the buildings + demo cost - materials salvage.  They might be right.  

None of these fools understand how historically important these buildings are: Maybe a few folks in city government, maybe a few folks at Landmarks.  

Landmarks could find 2M donor money.  The city could allocate 2M.  --Simply to protect them from demo. Will they? Probably not.  

The city is constantly asking itself "why can't we turn the corner?".  Here is your answer.