Marti Frumhoff

Last night St. Louis lost a great friend in Marti Frumhoff. Marti was a true believer and inspiration for many.

Marti was a marketing and public relations powerhouse and she was a huge factor in building the momentum for the city's rebirth. Her annual Big BIG Tour project was a major positive force, promoting the entire city.

She was a doer until the end. On the day of her passing, she was announced as a co-sponsor for the concert to raise funds for the preservation of the Mullanphy.

When they write the story about the revitalization of St. Louis, they will need a whole chapter just for Marti.

Thank you Marti for your friendship, your vision, your passion, and the pathways you have created for the rest of us.

STL Rising Welcomes Your Anonymous, Unfiltered Comments

In the last thread, "STL Rising: In Search of the $100,000 Neighborhoods", I nearly succumbed to the temptation of deleting an anonymous comment. Someone anonymously suggested that the reason for affordability in a neighborhood is crime, by making a link to an STL Today article from this weekend which told the story of a 90 year-old South City man mugged in his alley back in March.

If you read the article, you probably felt sorry for the man, but also might have been scratching your head as well. We don't see too many personalized news stories about crime victims, written weeks after the incident, with a major angle of the story connecting the crime to the neighborhood. So, I nearly deleted it.

However, given that the story was front-paged in the Post Dispatch, and widely available online, what would be the point of deleting it here? The link remains, as do all of your uncensored, anonymous, non "blog-owner approved" comments.

At STL Rising, we welcome your unfiltered comments. If they should be challenged, challenge away! Anonymous or not, it's up to you.

STL Rising: In Search Of The $100,000 Neighborhoods...

With property values on the rise in St. Louis, it's getting harder to match first time homebuyers with quality affordable housing.

There are still homes for sale in the $90,000-$120,000 range, but the choices are getting fewer and competition for starter homes is getting tough. First time homebuyers often wind up competing with real estate investors buying homes for use as rental property.

If you were making recommendations to someone starting out in the St. Louis housing market, what would be your advice?

Ballpark Village Groundbreaking?

Based on previous news reports, it should be starting any day now. Any word on the official start date?

One possible use - a baseball-themed hotel for the area - has not been mentioned. Doesn't that seem like a perfect fit, replete with player or team themed rooms and baseball decor? How about a rooftop party area with bleachers overlooking Busch stadium, similar to Wrigley Town?

Does Ballpark Village "complete" downtown's comeback? Or are we already there?

.012346

Do you know the significance of the number .012346 to St. Louis? It's a tiny number, but it represents something very important to the City. Do you know what it is?

If you think you do, post your answer in the comment section. The first correct answer wins an STL Rising prize package!

ESL Old Man River Plan

Originally conceived over 20 years ago by architect Buckminster Fuller, the Old Man River plan proposes a new paradigm for American cities and land ownership, to be located along the bank of the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Proponents of the concept are still pursuing the effort, with features of the project including shared land ownership, an environmentally friendly power plant, an "Aquatron" (comparable to MoBot's Climatron - except based on fresh water science), affordable housing, and a cultural center building on the legacy of East St. Louisan Katherine Dunham.

The original concept featured a lightweight umbrella-type cover over roughly a 1 mile diameter crater-shaped area. The design would allow free flow of fresh air and water, while becoming a symbol of social progress around the world.

State Representative Yvetter Young is currently proposing Illinois House Bill 2352 in support of the project and draft organizational documents for the sponsoring entity are in legal review.

The Opposite

Yesterday we featured an aerial image of a part of north city where most of the original building stock is intact. Today we will examine the opposite situation. Many of the neighborhoods on the north side are well preserved. However, there is no question that parts have seen significant building loss.

The aerial above provides a good example. In this area there are multiple blocks entirely devoid of any buildings, and some with only a few remaining. Of those still standing, frequently they are vacant and substantially deteriorated. In these areas, other than the original street grid, the rest of the historic neighborhood context is lost.

What is unseen is the reality on the ground. Or better put, under the ground. People refer to greenfield and brownfield developments. These areas meet the definition of brownfield.

As described in the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association Roadmap report on Brownfield redevelopment, in the broadest sense, a brownfield is defined as "real estate that has been rendered either underutilized or completely unusable due to the existence - or mere threat - of environmental contamination".

For years, when demolished, abandoned buildings were collapsed into their basements and covered with a thin layer of soil. To redevelop these sites requires thousands of dollars in site excavation and possible environmental remediation. The high cost to return these parcels into buildable sites often results in net negative land value.

However, despite the real costs of redevelopment, landowners aren't likely to pay developers to purchase their lands. As a result, this unworkable economic reality has removed the bottom from the real estate market, leaving, as we have seen, brownfield sites in the heart of our city vacant for years.

Not unlike the historic tax credit for rehabilitating historic buildings, a tax credit program for land assembly, designed to offset some of the upfront costs of returning abandoned properties to productive reuse, has the potential to be one part of an overall community redevelopment program.

Northside Preservation

Last week there was discussion about providing incentives for land assembly for redevelopment in distressed communities. The above is an aerial view of the neighborhood around St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church on Shreve in North City.

St. Elizabeth church is in the middle of a beautiful northside neighborhood with nearly all of its original buildings intact. We made a point of returning to the neighborhood again soon to attend church services at St. Elizabeth's.

The idea of land assembly for major redevelopment here is probably a low priority compared to preserving the historic character of the area. Lots of the north side is similarly intact in terms of its original building stock.

If you're interested in learning more about community based organizations working to strengthen the northside of the city, be sure to include the long term efforts of Erma Lawrence and the Northside Preservation Commission in your research.

Challenges in Community Revitalization

For years, urban planners, developers, architects, elected officials, neighborhood residents, community organizations, and a huge array of other interested parties have worked together addressing the difficult challenges of community revitalization. While the challenges differ from neighborhood to neighborhood and town to town, some issues are common in the most troubled situations.

Low property values, high development costs, weak real estate markets, poor public perception, and aging infrastructure are frequently part of the mix. There's another major issue challenging community developers: the difficulty in site assembly.

Site assembly is not a sexy issue. In fact, it can be downright dull. While it's going on, there's usually not a shovel in the ground, and lots of money being spent. It gets further clouded when viewed in discussions involving the use of eminent domain. Nonetheless, for any development to occur, it's an absolute necessity. The lack of site assembly can hold back redevelopment efforts for decades.

Bring together a group of experienced community developers from across the country, and they will usually agree that the ability to assemble large, contiguous sites for redevelopment is critical. Why is this important?

Successful redevelopment projects create positive visual impact and critical mass. They establish economy of scale in the installation of public and private improvements. They are connected.

For our local redevelopment efforts to be successful, where property ownership has become a dizzying patchwork of mostly tiny, often vacant, publicly and privately owned parcels, we must overcome the upfront challenge of site assembly to create opportunities to build quality planned developments.

For macro challenges we need solutions of scale.

STL Most Enhanced: Pre-Nomination

At the southwest corner of Devonshire and Macklind, just across from Manzo's (best salsiccia in St. Louis) grocery and deli, Raineri Construction, a general contractor actively working on historic rehab in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood, has acquired and is performing the first true gut rehab in the Southampton neighborhood,

The building is a typical city corner storefront, solid brick construction, featuring a cast iron column on the front corner entrance, and an apartment upstairs. The new rehab will restore the original large-sized windows of the commercial space.

At one time, the building was home to "Buckets Lounge". Back around 1994, the building sold for about $38,000. Shortly thereafter it was badly remuddled, and sold again in the $150,000 range. Now, in 2007, it's getting the royal treatment.

If you haven't visited Macklind Avenue in a while, it's taking off in the way neighborhood leaders envisioned ten years ago.

Chicken or Steak?

This morning I was waiting in line for a cup of coffee, when two people behind me were discussing their dinner choices at a recent banquet: chicken or steak. They had a long talk about it. I'm thinking, hmm, I think I'd be happy with either one. However, for the two of them, it mattered. Chicken or steak was an issue.

The conversation made me think about our town. Some issues mean a great deal to one group of people and very little to others. Other issues have large groups of supporters, while some have very few. In our urban world, we read lots of articles ranging from things like pedestrian friendly design, historic preservation, "urban scale", public shools, charter reform, and so on.

But how many people really pay attention to these things? Last night, our son Matt and I attended an orientation for Matt's new high school. He'll be a freshman next year, and attending a Catholic high school in the middle of St. Louis County. During one part of the orientation, they had the incoming class take turns standing up based on their place of residence.

We were in the group that lives "east of the school". Then there were those from St. Charles County, North County, and West County. The kids were from all over. I'm wondering how many of the people there would get excited about pedestrian access or urban scale? They were probably more concerned about their jobs and their kid's educations. And who will get to do all that driving to their kid's new friend's houses all across the metro area...

We all have different priorities in our lives. Does St. Louis bring a passion out of you? What kind? Is it a luxury or a sacrifice to follow a passion? A little of both maybe? Does where you live make a difference?

Cherokee Now

Things seem to have quieted down along Cherokee since the 20th ward primary. There was buzz on the blogs for a while about getting more neighborhood involvement, especially for residents interested in the future of Cherokee. But that seems to have faded, at least by what you can gauge from local blogs.

Does anyone know a place online to keep up with the continuing revitalization of Cherokee, especially the section between Jefferson and Gravois? Please post if you know of any links. Or is it time to start a new free blog...just for Cherokee?

The St. Louis Paradox

The anonymous comment made in this post raises a question that must have an answer: If St. Louis has so many problems (as noted by the anonymous poster), how is it possible she is attracting so many new residents?

"College Town" Atmosphere Rising in STL?

Even though we have many fine universities in the St. Louis area, most people don't think of us as a "college town". And while we don't have an NCAA Division One football team, we do have Division One men's and women's basketball teams in the St. Louis University Billikens.

And soon, St. Louis will have Division One men's and women's sports played at an on-campus facility. Do you think that will change the atomsphere of college sports in St. Louis?

Downtown STL Reaching Critical Mass?

I've lost count. How many housing options are available in downtown STL? Yesterday, I saw the old Ford Apartments on 14th being gutted in preparation for a high-end condo development.

The transformation in the last ten years has been remarkable, and in the next five years we will have a downtown core that will be a model for urban revitalization.

Ballpark Village will be complete and thousands of new residents will be calling downtown St. Louis home. Revitalization of the Gateway Mall will likely be complete or in full swing.

City living has many advantages. Will St. Louis be the mecca for those seeking a hip, affordable, exciting, environmentally-friendly, downtown lifestyle? The groundwork has been laid, and now we are seeing the results of years of planned progress.

Supporters Raise Over $12,000 at Mullanphy Fundraiser

We attended the fundraiser for the Mullanphy on Saturday held at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. It was our first time visiting this not-so-microbrewery, and it's good knowing there's one more reason to spend time in our city-friendly neighbor to the west.

When we arrived, the parking lot was jammed, and a goodly number of the visitors were there for the Mullanphy event. In total, there were close to 150 people in attendance for Mullanphy, and over $12,000 was raised, with more contributions arriving by mail. People in attendance could not remember any event in St. Louis history where more funds were raised so quickly to help preserve a local landmark.

We made a big dent in accomplishing our fundraising goal. There's a long way to go; however, this event was successful in expanding awareness, building momentum, and growing the financial base it will take to preserve the Mullanphy building.

Watch for more opportunities to get involved. If you couldn't attend, but want to help, the most important thing needed right now is financial support. How about hosting a coffee in your home to raise funds for Mullanphy? No matter what amount you an afford, every dollar raised in this appeal will go towards the preservation of this St. Louis landmark and Old North St. Louis neighborhood anchor.

The best part of the Mullanphy event at the Bottleworks was the bottom line fun and fellowship of St. Louisans from a variety of backgrounds all gathered together for the purpose of building up St. Louis.

A Dedicated Fund For Historic Preservation In STL?

How's that old saying go? "Better to have and not need than need and not have?"

Well, at the present time, we've got more of the latter than the former when it comes to dedicated historic preservation funding in St. Louis.

So, this Saturday, from 5:00 - 7:30 PM at the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood, supporters of historic preservation are gathering to raise emergency stabilization funds for the Mullanphy Emigrant Home.

Maybe the conversation will include establishing a dedicated source of funding to support historic preservation around St.Louis?

If you're interested in promoting the cause of historic preservation, please join us this Saturday in Maplewood and be a part of the effort.

Neighborhoods Pulling Together on Mullanphy Effort

Organizers of the effort to preserve the Mullanphy Emigrant Home are reaching out across the St. Louis area to expand the base of support for the project by forming the "Historic Mullanphy Alliance".

Neighborhood organizations, professional associations, historic preservation groups and individuals are all joining the Alliance to become part of this collaborative effort.

Look for the launching of a new website which will provide links to all of the organizations signed on to the Alliance.

If your organization is interesting in becoming part of this pro-St. Louis, pro-neighborhood effort, please contact me at rbonasch@sbcglobal.net or the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group directly at 314-241-5031 for more information. Thanks.

For Sale Or Rent?

One of the debates in establishing housing priorities for neighborhoods on the mend is finding the right mix of rental and for sale housing. Given a choice, there is usually a preference for home ownership over rental.

However, at the present time, especially in areas with lower housing prices, financing programs to rehabilitate housing in historically designated areas often make rental developments more feasible.

If you were on the housing committee of your local community development organization, would you prefer a historically accurate, professionally managed, rehab of a 1-4 family building for rent, or a code compliant, non-historic, vinyl clad rehab of the same building for owner occupancy?

April 14 Mullanphy Fundraiser - See You There!

Let's Save This Landmark! (Click on the image for a larger view)