The wife and I want to rehab a home in Fox Park for our primary residence and haven't been able to find one yet. It is extremely frustrating driving down streets and seeing a house that you want to rehab boarded up and unused and you can't purchase it. Nothing happens and it just sits there but there is no way of purchasing it.
Maybe write to the Alderman. If it's a vacant or boarded up property they will likely be just as motivated to get it into the right hands.newstl2020 wrote: ↑Feb 04, 2018The wife and I want to rehab a home in Fox Park for our primary residence and haven't been able to find one yet. It is extremely frustrating driving down streets and seeing a house that you want to rehab boarded up and unused and you can't purchase it. Nothing happens and it just sits there but there is no way of purchasing it.
Also, while not the most fun have you tried pulling the tax records to get the owner and trying to track them down? Cold-calling is a pain but that is where the best deals are made on places like that.newstl2020 wrote: ↑Feb 04, 2018The wife and I want to rehab a home in Fox Park for our primary residence and haven't been able to find one yet. It is extremely frustrating driving down streets and seeing a house that you want to rehab boarded up and unused and you can't purchase it. Nothing happens and it just sits there but there is no way of purchasing it.
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St. Louis needs some kind of vacant property receivership program. In layman's terms a vacant house would be could be purchased under a irresponsible owner for fair market value by a private or nonprofit entity. It incentivises owners to maintain their properties. I know a few cities on the east coast such as Baltimore use this pretty effectively. Paul McKee would be sad but that sucks for him.
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Cleveland also has or at least had powers to get derelict vacant homes into the hands of a qualified CDC/n'hood development entity more easily than a lot of places but I believe Missouri property laws make that sort of thing much more difficult here. (If I also recall correctly, STL voters themselves just a few years back defeated a ballot question that in part would have raised the very modest fine amounts on owners of cited property.)GoHarvOrGoHome wrote: ↑Feb 05, 2018St. Louis needs some kind of vacant property receivership program. In layman's terms a vacant house would be could be purchased under a irresponsible owner for fair market value by a private or nonprofit entity. It incentivises owners to maintain their properties. I know a few cities on the east coast such as Baltimore use this pretty effectively. Paul McKee would be sad but that sucks for him.
Looks like the reason that LRA-owned residential building isn't for sale is that someone put an offer on it -- $500. So hopefully something good comes of it. Really interesting how few LRA homes are available in South City.STLrainbow wrote: ↑Feb 04, 2018Definitely a good read. The most frustrating things to me are...SouthCityJR wrote: ↑Jan 22, 2018This is a must read:
http://www.stlouiscitytalk.com/posts/20 ... ghborhoods
I haven't read something that made my blood boil like this in a long time! Our Alderman and Mayor need to do something about this problem immediately.
1) the condition/lack of securing the LRA home (which also isn't appearing for sale on their website)
2) the former LRA home that was sold a few years ago but no redevelopment proceeding (though it looks like a permit was issued in 2016) I seem to recall LRA is enabled to take those back if no rehab is done by x amount of months. Anyone know?
3) the one across from Fox Park owned by a nearby business
4) city's general lack of ability to quickly and effectively secure privately-owned buildings, which I think to some extent is due to state laws and to some extent lack of having act together.
But I would say from my admittedly outside look Fox Park seems definitely to be on the up as a whole and what's examined here is atypical (and a number of which do appear to have redevelopment in the works) and different from a more dominant and destructive dynamic that's continuing to depress large swaths of North City. There, properties continue to be abandoned and added to LRA's holdings while in this case it appears to be more of a slower housing market than we might like getting properties out of ownership of absentee owners/speculators and over to those who will return them to use.
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A few years ago when I was looking at houses, my realtor showed me a few really nice rehabs in Fox Park. At the time, she said she thought Fox Park still needed 5 years or so to fully improve, but she thought its location was better than Benton Park West and would come back faster than that neighborhood. I'm wondering if she was right.
Which neighborhood do folks think will improve faster, Fox Park or Benton Park West?
Which neighborhood do folks think will improve faster, Fox Park or Benton Park West?
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My major belief about most of South City is that Jefferson, Gravois, and Broadway/7th are major (literal) roadblocks to development as they stand right now. I know N/S Metro is planned for Jefferson which will be HUGE, but in their current states these thoroughfares are impediments to investment. The city needs to development a major plan to overhaul both of these streets to:
1 - Make them more pedestrian/bike friendly.
2 - Decrease lanes/traveled speeds.
3 - Beautification projects to attract development.
Therefore, I vote Fox Park as it deals with only Jefferson on the far East end of the neighborhood, whereas BPW is sandwiched between Jefferson and Gravois.
1 - Make them more pedestrian/bike friendly.
2 - Decrease lanes/traveled speeds.
3 - Beautification projects to attract development.
Therefore, I vote Fox Park as it deals with only Jefferson on the far East end of the neighborhood, whereas BPW is sandwiched between Jefferson and Gravois.
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100%newstl2020 wrote: My major belief about most of South City is that Jefferson, Gravois, and Broadway/7th are major (literal) roadblocks to development as they stand right now.
The city needs plans for all these streets, especially at major intersections. If the city addressed the Gravois-Jefferson-Sidney intersection, it would go a long way in harnessing momentum in all the surrounding neighborhoods. The city just cannot have a major intersection anchored by gas stations and fast food chains.
N/S should help to narrow Jefferson as a whole, but a well manicured (and maintained -- Tucker is a joke IMO) median would be good too. My only complaint with landscaped medians is that it can be hard to see over them -- Jefferson at Fitness Factory/Save A Lot is a nightmare -- I have seen numerous accidents there because drivers turning left from northbound Jefferson can't see over the tall grasses, etc. I think just trees would be huge to a) beautify it, b) discourage jaywalking and c) narrow the road. Perhaps even have the Link ROW run in the middle with both sides flanked by nice medians. This would also preserve sight lines for drivers needing to make left turns from Jefferson.
Fox Park is well ahead of Benton Park West. But there is a lot more appreciation to be had if you're to purchase a newly renovated home in BPW vs FP.SouthCityJR wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2018A few years ago when I was looking at houses, my realtor showed me a few really nice rehabs in Fox Park. At the time, she said she thought Fox Park still needed 5 years or so to fully improve, but she thought its location was better than Benton Park West and would come back faster than that neighborhood. I'm wondering if she was right.
Which neighborhood do folks think will improve faster, Fox Park or Benton Park West?
FYI,
In the DeSales Feb Newsletter they stated that Brick City Makes is moving forward with their project at Texas Ave.
In the DeSales Feb Newsletter they stated that Brick City Makes is moving forward with their project at Texas Ave.
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^ great to hear. I was wondering where that stood as well as the UIC plan for a portion of the Liggett-Meyers complex in McRee Town. Gotta re-use what's remaining of our industrial heritage as much as we can,
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Is that UIC plan even active at this point with them focusing on the warehouse at Vandeventer and Tower Grove instead?STLrainbow wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2018^ great to hear. I was wondering where that stood as well as the UIC plan for a portion of the Liggett-Meyers complex in McRee Town. Gotta re-use what's remaining of our industrial heritage as much as we can,
That isn't UIC, another developer is doing that.chaifetz10 wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2018Is that UIC plan even active at this point with them focusing on the warehouse at Vandeventer and Tower Grove instead?STLrainbow wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2018^ great to hear. I was wondering where that stood as well as the UIC plan for a portion of the Liggett-Meyers complex in McRee Town. Gotta re-use what's remaining of our industrial heritage as much as we can,
https://www.pierpropertygroup.com/ImprovSTL wrote: ↑Mar 08, 2018That isn't UIC, another developer is doing that.chaifetz10 wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2018Is that UIC plan even active at this point with them focusing on the warehouse at Vandeventer and Tower Grove instead?STLrainbow wrote: ↑Mar 07, 2018^ great to hear. I was wondering where that stood as well as the UIC plan for a portion of the Liggett-Meyers complex in McRee Town. Gotta re-use what's remaining of our industrial heritage as much as we can,
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Restaurant opening in Fox Park at Ohio and Ann:
https://www.stlmag.com/dining/savage-re ... is-summer/Logan Ely is opening a restaurant at 2655 Ann in the Fox Park neighborhood. This week, they'll likely start drilling and sledgehammering, as well as bringing in lumber and drywall. Ely is aiming for a June opening.
Stltoday - Extensive rehab turns Fox Park building into a home
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/hom ... b577b.html
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/hom ... b577b.html
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Do folks on this board consider this gentrification? Reason I ask is I'm weighing the term in the context of Fox Park and wonder if this is what most call gentrification.quincunx wrote: ↑May 30, 2021Stltoday - Extensive rehab turns Fox Park building into a home
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/hom ... b577b.html
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I would say no, because it isn’t forcing out any existing residents. Per a textbook definition it may technically be, but St. Louis needs hundreds, if not thousands of these types of projects.
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I would say negative Gentrification results in displacement but a lot of people use the term willy nilly
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Indirectly it may displace low income residents. It will presumably raise property values in the surrounding area, and anything that raises property values can potentially displace those with lower incomes. This is an objective fact, not judging whether it is good or bad.Laife Fulk wrote: ↑May 31, 2021I would say no, because it isn’t forcing out any existing residents. Per a textbook definition it may technically be, but St. Louis needs hundreds, if not thousands of these types of projects.
I wouldn't. I think gentrification needs to be considered at the neighborhood level as opposed to project-by-project, especially when talking about an individual single-family home (a large apartment project could move the needle more). There's just not the critical mass of investment in Fox Park (yet) to - (a) rapidly transform the identity of the neighborhood and/or (b) disproportionately push up property prices. Investment, renovation and reinvention should be natural for any neighborhood, without it being slapped with the gentrification label. Once those start happening at the pace of a FPSE, Botanical Heights or Shaw it might be more appropriate.MarkGroth2020 wrote: ↑May 30, 2021Do folks on this board consider this gentrification? Reason I ask is I'm weighing the term in the context of Fox Park and wonder if this is what most call gentrification.quincunx wrote: ↑May 30, 2021Stltoday - Extensive rehab turns Fox Park building into a home
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/hom ... b577b.html
Maybe unpopular opinion but I'd say this is gentrification. It was a four family flat, presumably with low rents, and now 2/4 of those apartments are a single family home. It's a bit unclear from the article what the building was like before, but it doesn't seem that it was vacant. So didn't the owner evict the tenants living in the two apartments to build a nice home in their stead? Isn't that forcing out residents?MarkGroth2020 wrote: ↑May 30, 2021Do folks on this board consider this gentrification? Reason I ask is I'm weighing the term in the context of Fox Park and wonder if this is what most call gentrification.quincunx wrote: ↑May 30, 2021Stltoday - Extensive rehab turns Fox Park building into a home
https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/hom ... b577b.html