Did anyone else submit the survey? I think broadly speaking the conceptual districts are good but I suggested they reduce the number somewhat, like merge the 3- and 5-story commercial districts and also relax the setback rules, I know it can be picturesque when all the buildings on a street have the same setback but front yards are so rarely used that I think there ought to be some reform.quincunx wrote: ↑2:24 AM - Feb 07Provide feedback on these new draft "conceptual zoning districts" by March 6th, 2026
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZOUP_Districts
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Month ago GSL launched a strategic initiative plan building. They received over 200 ideas from stakeholders including me and my $1b Northside Housing Initiative. 2 weeks ago they cut the list to 50 and this Friday to 15, mine has survived both cuts. Their goal is to focus on 10 move to implementation.
I have no expectations, it’s really a huge and bold plan that requires $1b from STLs biggest foundations and families. Idea is to building or renovate 4,000 Northside homes in next 5 years and sell them for half of the construction/repair cost and use the $500m in proceeds to building 2,000 more and so on until the fund is at zero. At the end it’s about 8,000 units. Idea is that these home owners will start with a positive net worth on day one, city would offer property tax abatement. X amount would go to families that have a Northside history and everything else is open to anyone to buy these houses.
I have no expectations, it’s really a huge and bold plan that requires $1b from STLs biggest foundations and families. Idea is to building or renovate 4,000 Northside homes in next 5 years and sell them for half of the construction/repair cost and use the $500m in proceeds to building 2,000 more and so on until the fund is at zero. At the end it’s about 8,000 units. Idea is that these home owners will start with a positive net worth on day one, city would offer property tax abatement. X amount would go to families that have a Northside history and everything else is open to anyone to buy these houses.
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Tremendous ideadbInSouthCity wrote: ↑8:14 PM - Mar 14Month ago GSL launched a strategic initiative plan building. They received over 200 ideas from stakeholders including me and my $1b Northside Housing Initiative. 2 weeks ago they cut the list to 50 and this Friday to 15, mine has survived both cuts. Their goal is to focus on 10 move to implementation.
I have no expectations, it’s really a huge and bold plan that requires $1b from STLs biggest foundations and families. Idea is to building or renovate 4,000 Northside homes in next 5 years and sell them for half of the construction/repair cost and use the $500m in proceeds to building 2,000 more and so on until the fund is at zero. At the end it’s about 8,000 units. Idea is that these home owners will start with a positive net worth on day one, city would offer property tax abatement. X amount would go to families that have a Northside history and everything else is open to anyone to buy these houses.
^ I'll 2nd that, tremendous idea. Now that's thinking outside the box! 
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^if we are willing to spend on infrastructure in areas without housing without direct return on investments (transit/roads/etc), we should be equally willing to build housing for our fellow citizens at a loss because there is so much direct return on the backend that housing provides (sales tax, earnings tax, property tax over 50-100 years!)
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Like this article from the StL BJ
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ce=twitter
My favorite is #6. Unleashing the brick and cobblestone streets would create an instant charming, unique, old world feel in StL that we have a good start on compared to other cities. Plus, it would create natural speed deterrents which is a huge issue across the city. There are many great candidates for this in downtown, downtown west, soulard, benton park, lafayette sq, old north and throughout the city. Doing this in and around downtown would have huge, positive effects for feel and urbanism. I’ve long said StL should just go all in on preserving its history and being an “old city” as there are very few cities nowadays that seem to want to be that.
I’d also like them to just go all brick on the riverfront. It makes it look much better than some of the random concrete that’s been poured over the bricks over the years. The brick looks sweet when the river is low
#4 (tapping into french influence and architecture) and #7 (promoting our olympic history) have also been things I’ve long thought are good ways to separate out city
#2 hints at the Chouteau Lake idea. Being at the confluence of the country’s two largest rivers, yes, we can leverage our water more
Really all pretty neat ideas and there are a few things in there that are truly practical. Just about vision
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https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... ce=twitter
My favorite is #6. Unleashing the brick and cobblestone streets would create an instant charming, unique, old world feel in StL that we have a good start on compared to other cities. Plus, it would create natural speed deterrents which is a huge issue across the city. There are many great candidates for this in downtown, downtown west, soulard, benton park, lafayette sq, old north and throughout the city. Doing this in and around downtown would have huge, positive effects for feel and urbanism. I’ve long said StL should just go all in on preserving its history and being an “old city” as there are very few cities nowadays that seem to want to be that.
I’d also like them to just go all brick on the riverfront. It makes it look much better than some of the random concrete that’s been poured over the bricks over the years. The brick looks sweet when the river is low
#4 (tapping into french influence and architecture) and #7 (promoting our olympic history) have also been things I’ve long thought are good ways to separate out city
#2 hints at the Chouteau Lake idea. Being at the confluence of the country’s two largest rivers, yes, we can leverage our water more
Really all pretty neat ideas and there are a few things in there that are truly practical. Just about vision
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Another free idea that is a bit smaller but happens all the time in the ads world... but what if the city helped apartment owners actually get better at marketing. Thinking specifically for digital advertising, listing creation, tips/tricks. Smaller and mid-sized landlords especially aren’t always optimizing listings, running targeted ads, or really positioning their properties in a way that reaches every possible renter... and maybe larger complexes aren't either, but maybe?
The city could host something as simple as a yearly workshop for beginners and advanced operators—pay for a a legit multifamily marketing agency, walk through what’s actually working right now AND specialized options (listing optimization, paid ads, photos, pricing strategy, etc.). I even think they could possibly engage a large group to join together to run ads collectively to save $$ with an agency and the city could help fund the ads to prove the concepts... honestly the city would benefit from STL city being the best at residential advertising in our market.
My main idea for why this is important is that if we care about vacancy, sometimes half the battle is for the "searching" apartment consumer to actually see the apartment (an ad impression) they want to live in... and better/more ads means low vacancy which should translate to more development.
The city could host something as simple as a yearly workshop for beginners and advanced operators—pay for a a legit multifamily marketing agency, walk through what’s actually working right now AND specialized options (listing optimization, paid ads, photos, pricing strategy, etc.). I even think they could possibly engage a large group to join together to run ads collectively to save $$ with an agency and the city could help fund the ads to prove the concepts... honestly the city would benefit from STL city being the best at residential advertising in our market.
My main idea for why this is important is that if we care about vacancy, sometimes half the battle is for the "searching" apartment consumer to actually see the apartment (an ad impression) they want to live in... and better/more ads means low vacancy which should translate to more development.
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Another free idea that is a bit smaller but happens all the time in the ads world... but what if the city helped apartment owners actually get better at marketing. Thinking specifically for digital advertising, listing creation, tips/tricks. Smaller and mid-sized landlords especially aren’t always optimizing listings, running targeted ads, or really positioning their properties in a way that reaches every possible renter... and maybe larger complexes aren't either, but maybe?
Use AI https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/innovation-on-6/man-uses-chatgpt-to-sell-his-cooper-city-home-it-exceeded-our-expectations/3778919/
Use AI https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/innovation-on-6/man-uses-chatgpt-to-sell-his-cooper-city-home-it-exceeded-our-expectations/3778919/
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^most digital ad platforms now have AI imbedded within them, but teaching folks how to use those and which programs are generally accepted as the best is a taught skill. AND now they optimize automatically for you... but again, if no one has been taught how to use them, they will continue to do what they always have... anyway, just a thought. 
Can St. Louis Make a Comeback?
by Jordan Duecker
from "city-journal.org"
Anti-progressive / conservative piece but worth reading.
Not sure how many readers this publications gets...
by Jordan Duecker
from "city-journal.org"
Anti-progressive / conservative piece but worth reading.
Not sure how many readers this publications gets...
Nothing from City Journal is ever "worth reading."
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Sent from my SM-S936U using Tapatalk
St. Louis demos 2 tornado-damaged homes as test case for large-scale action
At what point should the City of St. Louis consider establishing a Department of Demolition. Vacancy isn't a new issue for the City. The tornado created an urgent demand but existing vacancy means a prolonged strategy is needed. Even St. Louis County could benefit, maybe a shared strategy.
Year one could be 20 crews and cost $35M. This includes 100 personnel made up of equipment operators, laborers, crew supervisors, environmental techs, admin/permitting staff, department director at $7M. Capital purchase fleet of equipment at $4M. Additional leased equipment $1M. Operations including asbestos/hazmat abatement, debris, insurance, PPE, legal, IT at $23M.
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At what point should the City of St. Louis consider establishing a Department of Demolition. Vacancy isn't a new issue for the City. The tornado created an urgent demand but existing vacancy means a prolonged strategy is needed. Even St. Louis County could benefit, maybe a shared strategy.
Year one could be 20 crews and cost $35M. This includes 100 personnel made up of equipment operators, laborers, crew supervisors, environmental techs, admin/permitting staff, department director at $7M. Capital purchase fleet of equipment at $4M. Additional leased equipment $1M. Operations including asbestos/hazmat abatement, debris, insurance, PPE, legal, IT at $23M.
Demolition is not rebuilding. Will we ever learn?St. Louis is taking a major step toward rebuilding
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I’d rather not make demo even more efficientaddxb2 wrote:St. Louis demos 2 tornado-damaged homes as test case for large-scale action
At what point should the City of St. Louis consider establishing a Department of Demolition. Vacancy isn't a new issue for the City. The tornado created an urgent demand but existing vacancy means a prolonged strategy is needed. Even St. Louis County could benefit, maybe a shared strategy.
Year one could be 20 crews and cost $35M. This includes 100 personnel made up of equipment operators, laborers, crew supervisors, environmental techs, admin/permitting staff, department director at $7M. Capital purchase fleet of equipment at $4M. Additional leased equipment $1M. Operations including asbestos/hazmat abatement, debris, insurance, PPE, legal, IT at $23M.
It’s about the only thing our permitting office seems to fly through with approvals weekly and the LRA is just an active wrecking ball
McKee has ran his own Demolition Dept the last 20 years
Tired of seeing our bricks in patios in TX. We need to save our historic housing stock and warehouses
I’d rather have a department that solely overlooks neglected properties, absent out of state owners, suspect fires and atrocities like what happened on Broadway in Carondelet with those 1800s Italianate row homes and Quinn Chapel and the rest of the historic churches and community buildings we’ve lost the last few years
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I took a quick look at the draft zoning districts from ZOUP and honestly its kind of a let down? There are several places in the Central West End/Debaliviere Place where the height limit is shorter than the existing building already there
https://www.zoup-stl.com/interactive-zoning-map
https://www.zoup-stl.com/interactive-zoning-map