urbanSTL

‘It’s a hellhole:’ Missouri AG targets Mark Twain building over alleged drug trafficking, vows to shut it down
https://www.firstalert4.com/2026/07/06/its-hellhole-missouri-ag-targets-mark-twain-hotel-over-alleged-drug-trafficking-vows-shut-it-down/

Should be worth reminding that actual real humans live here and their lives will be made even more difficult so the AG can get some political points.

There's a genuine scenario where they shut it down, and then it just sits vacant while homelessness goes up and crime just moves somewhere else, like a park downtown. All so the AG could get a gold TV 1-liner.

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StlAlex wrote: ↑

12:11 AM - 15 days ago

Should be worth reminding that actual real humans live here and their lives will be made even more difficult so the AG can get some political points.

There's a genuine scenario where they shut it down, and then it just sits vacant while homelessness goes up and crime just moves somewhere else, like a park downtown. All so the AG could get a gold TV 1-liner.

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???? The people who live here sound like their lives are being upended by some people who want to sell drugs. I feel bad for people who are trying to live their lives and are calling the police but clearly nothing major has been done to correct a few peoples behavior in the building.  
Would it be better to continue to let those renters suffer and let people keep selling drugs?  Who does that help? I guess the drug dealers?

I used to live across the street from this building, and I assure you it was a hellhole. The conditions and behaviors often spread to adjacent blocks, including the Schnucks next door. 

mjbais1489 wrote:

StlAlex wrote: ↑

12:11 AM - 15 days ago

Should be worth reminding that actual real humans live here and their lives will be made even more difficult so the AG can get some political points.

There's a genuine scenario where they shut it down, and then it just sits vacant while homelessness goes up and crime just moves somewhere else, like a park downtown. All so the AG could get a gold TV 1-liner.

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???? The people who live here sound like their lives are being upended by some people who want to sell drugs. I feel bad for people who are trying to live their lives and are calling the police but clearly nothing major has been done to correct a few peoples behavior in the building.  
Would it be better to continue to let those renters suffer and let people keep selling drugs?  Who does that help? I guess the drug dealers?

So the solution to "help" the people calling the police is to take their home away?? Gee what a helpful government lmao.

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It would be nice if the federal government made homelessness and drug addiction a priority.

I had always heard the hotel was popular with registered sex offenders, drug/alcohol, prostitution. How we support the people and not the behavior is a problem far above the City of St. Louis’s capacity and I don’t believe its downtown residents responsibility to accommodate them.

Ultimately, these people go where they can be unbothered. Sad issue all around.

I used to deliver pizzas here in college circa early 2000s, and it was rough then.  I can understand why one of the tenets of sociology and urban planning is to avoid concentrating poverty populations, as we learned from our failed housing projects over the decades.   

I get the real human part but Mark Twain has really got to go for the betterment of downtown. Sex offenders child molesters alike don’t belong in a downtown that’s geared more towards families. This place feeds into the very perception of what’s wrong with downtown & I personal have seen enough of the rift raft that comes with it. If this places goes it becomes an instant net positive for that entire block & even the surrounding area If the AT&T building in fact gets redeveloped you don’t want a Mark Twain place near it & I hope a revitalizing downtown doesn’t keep this place around much longer….


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I thought this was being redeveloped into a name brand hotel? Is that a different building?


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did not the news 4 report point out that the supposed luxury hotel does not even have start up money?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umxb34t7wns

There's plans for a redevelopment into a Hilton Tapestry and a restaurant but it would have already moved forward if it was a serious plan. A hotel would be great here though.

So shutting it down probably will just result in another vacant building for who knows how long.

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Work is well underway on the conversion of the Last Hotel into a Hyatt. Also the fencing around the Jefferson Arms building has been taken down