Posted May 6, 201015 yr Check out the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group's blog with before and after photos of the Crown Square redevelopment. This strip of buildings was once a thriving business district, then an abandoned pedestrian mall, and now an award winning development with a new street! http://onsl.org/blog/2010/05/crown-square-wins-most-enhanced-award-from-landmarks-association.html and there's more! http://onsl.org/blog/2010/05/more-scenes-from-most-enhanced-award-winning-crown-square.html This is a great organization run by a great group of people with an awesome group of concerned residents that are really creating something special. :mrgreen:
May 6, 201015 yr I saw the restoration occuring last summer, it was exciting to see all the work. The before and after shots really tell you that just about any building can be saved.
May 6, 201015 yr Very nice. I've been wanting to go to STL for a while to document not only their decay, but their revitalization. They have lost so much, but are gaining back a lot because parts of the city (e.g. North STL) didn't have much else to lose. Very nice and it goes to show what you can do with buildings that were so-far-gone. What is interesting about STL, is that they did not demolish buildings all that frequently. Many were just left to collapse into the lot, unless it created a public hazard (e.g. threaten to collapse onto the street). As it is obvious in the pedestrian mall prior to the most recent work, there were buildings with facade collapses that were allowed to stand and remain. That would never happen in Cincinnati, where they would be demolished or stabilized (e.g. Smitty's, the former Kauffman brewery complex).
May 6, 201015 yr Yeah, parts of North St. Louis look like a war zone and it can be painful to redevelop seemingly empty lots because in actuality a collapsed building is just underground. I think in recent years they're more prone to take down a collapsing building and some of the collapses on the pedestrian mall were more recent (if you remember the severe storms in St. Louis a couple years ago) when the redevelopment plans were already taking shape. If you have time, look around ONSLRG's site. They've built architecturally sensitive infill, encouraged new owners that are taking on their own redevelopment projects and (obviously) rehabbed a lot of their own buildings, with a mix of market rate and low income units. All with a staff of 3-4. If you're in St. Louis, South St. Louis (Soulard) was the first to get the redevelopment treatment and it gives you a feel for what Findlay Market could be like (although decidely more French influenced)
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