TheWayoftheArch_V2.0 wrote: ↑Nov 05, 2021
Look, the point is that you can't blame crime downtown on a few hundred affordable housing units. That is myopic at best and ignorant at worst. Most major cities have low income housing and/or rent control in their urban area. Blaming these 3 mid rises for downtown's crime - both real and perceived - is not based on facts or numbers.
The facts are that most bad actors come from outside of downtown. Period.
Downtown & Downtown West do not have just “a few hundred” low income housing units.
Multiple projects used Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC): Arcade Building, one of the Cupples buildings & Leather Trades to name a few. And multiple buildings cater to a lower income crowd: Arcade, Leather Trades, Downtowner, Lofts @ 1000 (Merchandise Mart), & City View to name a few.
Downtown & Downtown West are also surrounded by very low income housing, much of it built by McCormack Baron — Preservation Square to the north, the old “projects” to the south of Chouteau, and obviously East St. Louis. There are also very low income housing units in Marlene Davis’ ward to the west.
I think the point of the original post is we have plenty of low income housing options in or near Downtown & Downtown West. But outside of One Cardinal Way, what “luxury” options do we have? Both for rent & for sale. We also need more new product period. Different kinds. Not just luxury and not just highrise luxury and not just for rent.
Downtown is full of old product. Besides Hupp Lofts & Monogram — and those themselves are old product (loft product), most loft renovations are now about 10+ years old.
There is also so much loft rental product that competition is fierce and many of the older buildings like Lofts @ 1000 have taken on B & C credit tenants.
Additionally, a lot of the loft product just wasn’t built that well. And a lot of it is really similar. Loft Works product is pretty nice (eg., Syndicate). McGowan Bros product is just “ok” if you ask me. Very few loft products are “high end” — and much of it is a very middle class SQ FT and cookie cutter build out. You don’t go to an NYC loft in SoHo and expect to see a 1,500 SQ FT condo that is basically a condo you could find anywhere. Sure, we need that product — but we also need some true loft style product for higher end buyers, with better finishes. Less cookie cutter stuff.
Most importantly: we need more new construction product in Downtown & Downtown West. We don’t need more loft product and more low income product. We need new construction that has a strong amenity package, like One Cardinal Way. We also need new construction midrise, new construction townhomes/row homes, new construction 4-families, … we need a diversity of housing product. Less surface parking lots. More housing options where the window locations and amenities were not predetermined by an existing historic building.
The only two proposed new product buildings aren’t even in the ground yet — and both are rental buildings.
Downtown & Downtown West need some new construction condo, townhome etc projects to bring more highly educated people in.
You can also see Downtown’s & Downtown West’s lack of higher income demographics, and just lack of a bigger population period, by the shape its retail environment is in. Mom & Pop’s are great, but look at some of the storefronts: burner cellular phone stores; cellular phone shops; no name boutiques; tons of salons & “beauty” shops; amateur hour restaurants & clubs like Reign was; fast food joints like KFC (Park Pacific) and a proposed Domino’s (Tucker & Locust) (both with s$&tty drive thrus); …
If Downtown & Downtown West could grow their demographics & population size they’d attract more neighborhood services (Walgreens; more grocery options; urban Target or like kind store; etc). A bigger, diversified population would beget more development.
We need more new housing product, better safety initiatives, and good infrastructure including bike/ped connections to reduce racing/cruising (good infrastructure that promotes connections & walking/biking around is a safety initiative that doesn’t rely on just cops) to grow Downtown.
We definitely do not need more low income & cookie cutter loft product. At least right now. I heard Railway was poised to use LIHTC. That would be a nightmare. Hopefully Butler Bros is all market rate.
