Daily Dose of Blairmont 42

• 2946 Montgomery Street (Sheridan Place LLC, December 2006)
  
• 2948 Montgomery Street (VHS Partners LLC, April 2005)
  
• 2950 Montgomery Street (Sheridan Place LLC, February 2007)
  
• 2952 Montgomery Street (vacant - MLK 3000 LLC, July 2007)

February 2008

This block lost two similar houses within the last couple of years (they're present in the Bird's Eye Aerial view linked below, but not in the standard Aerial view, taken within the last year or two.) Blairmont owns the land that one of them stood on.

The remaining trio were already a pretty raggedy looking bunch, and now under Blairmont's stewardship, brick rustling has taken off the side wall of 2946.

Links:

• 2946 Montgomery at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont:
  Built St. Louis || Ecology of Absence || What Can I Do?

Daily Dose of Blairmont 41

• 2226 Hebert Street (VHS Partners LLC, January 2006)

November 2007

Blairmont owns the second house from the left, next to the three-story one.

I can't hammer it home enough. This is not just fussy preservationists getting their gander up over "some old buildings". This is not just a matter of one man's property rights. This is not some abstract problem.

Real people live in these houses. Of the five houses shown here, three are owner occupied, and the fourth is owned by a neighbor. But then there's the Blairmont house, which is now a wildcard. Is it occupied? Will it remain so? Or will it be left vacant and open, dragging down property values, presenting a danger and a nuisance to the neighborhood?

So far, Blairmont hasn't pulled any of their usual tricks -- the windows are still intact and present; there's been no brick rustling. Maybe it's because the owners of all the buildings around it live on the block. I'd wager nobody from Blairmont lives anywhere close to here.

Links:

• 2226 Hebert at the City Assessor's database
  
• More on Blairmont:
  Built St. Louis || Ecology of Absence || What Can I Do?

Daily Dose of Blairmont 40

• 2517 North Market Street, built 1883 (MLK 3000 LLC, June 2007)
  
• 2519-2525 North Market Street, built 1893 (N & G Ventures, January 2006)

November 2007

Blairmont owns this little two-story house on North Market.



Some strange business in the city database has it owned by "Kep-Co Redevelopment Corp.", a business which dissolved years ago, "care of N & G Properties". This is mostly likely just a record keeping error.

This massive, grand block is a beautiful piece of work, with a forceful scale and detailing to match. It'd be painful to watch it fall as so many Blairmont properties have.

Another Blairmont property on the same block was destroyed in 2006.

Links:

• 2517 North Market at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont:
  Built St. Louis || Ecology of Absence || What Can I Do?

Daily Dose of Blairmont 39

• 2507 North Market Street (Sheridan Place LLC, January 2007)

November 2007

It's an urban house, but it seems comfortable surrounded by the trees that have grown up on the empty lots around it. Much of this western St. Louis Place block survives, but is similarly threatened by Blairmont ownership.

It sports a beautiful cornice, with corbeled brick brackets and a crenelated roofline.

The house was sufficiently modernized to have a DirectTV satellite dish mounted out front.

Links:

• 2507 North Market at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view at Maps.Live.com.
  
• More on Blairmont:
  Built St. Louis || Ecology of Absence || What Can I Do?

Daily Dose of Blairmont 38

• 2331 Maiden Lane (MLK 3000 LLC, September 2006)

March 2007


November 2007

Blairmont. Brick rustlers. Clockwork.

Links:

• 2331 Maiden at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com, showing the house while intact.
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 37

• 2523 Warren Street (N & G Ventures LLC, February 2006)

First comes Blairmont.


March 2007

Then come the brick rustlers.


November 2007

Like clockwork.

Links:

• 2523 Warren at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 36

• 2829 St. Louis Avenue (N & G Ventures LLC, March 2007)

November 2007 - center-left

It's nothing special by itself, just another red brick St. Louis cottage. It's cute, but not outstanding.

But it's another Blairmont victim, another property held hostage by a company that refuses to sell, maintain, rent or renovate. It's a nuisance to its neighbors and the neighborhood, needlessly so (the houses immediately left and right are both owner-occupied.) And it threatens to become a hole in the historic fabric, a missing tooth in a run of buildings that so far has none.

The destroyed intersection of St. Louis Avenue and Glasgow is just west of here.

Links:

• 2829 St Louis at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 35

• 2318 Dodier Street (MLK 3000 LLC, November 2006)

March 2007

I mean, really.

Blairmont is so helpless they can't stop this from happening? They have no control over it? Yeah, yeah, sure, I bet.


January 2003 -- 2318 is second from the left.

The place was fine just a couple of years ago!

Links:

• 2318 Dodier at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 34

• 2507 University Street (MLK 3000 LLC, October 2006)

November 2007

Blairmont will get its foot in the door any way it can. Most of its holdings are either vacant lots or historic brick buildings, but this time they've got a circa-1960s frame cottage, the second house from the right.

These little buildings came with modern amenities, and their simple construction makes them a lot cheaper to maintain and renovate than the typical 1880s brick home. A lot of them persist in the area, clashing with the historic housing on the superficial level of style, but frequently owner-occupied, and therefore valuable contributors to the neighborhood.

This one, however, is now vacant and boarded up -- the old familiar Blairmont story, now in a new Modernist style.

Links:

• 2507 University at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 33

• 2223-2225 Mullanphy Street (MLK 3000 LLC, June 2007)

November 2007

Believe it or not, the Blairmont house is the one on the right.

That's right. The tattered, decrepit, long-abandoned house on the left, while long a subject of interest to me, is not a Blairmont property. Heck, why buy it up when it's falling apart?

No, Blairmont went for the house that's in excellent shape, the house that was occupied until very recently.

Links:

• 2225 Mullanphy at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 32

• 1700 25th Street (Sheridan Place LC, January 2007)

November 2007
A lonely storefront building with an apartment above, another survivor in the fringes of the 22nd Street prairie -- another mute reminder of what this area once was.

It was occupied as recently as 2005, maybe later. It's still in perfectly good shape -- it could be re-occupied, renovated, rehabbed, returned to good use.

Links:

• 1700 25th at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 31

• 2715 Cass Street (MLK 3000 LLC, August 2007)
  
• 2709 Cass Street (MLK 3000 LLC, August 2007)

November 2007

What's the story of these two houses?

They've outlasted everything around them, and are mostly surrounded by a automobile salvage/scrap yard.

They also are a visual oddity. They're constructed incredibly close together, almost impossibly so. The right hand house is not parallel to the street, instead turning away slightly as if the street once headed off on a different angle. What was once there to cause its unusual placement?

And why does Blairmont need them?

Links:

• 2711 Cass at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Blairmont - What Can I Do?

The Daily Dose will resume tomorrow. Here at the one month mark, I wanted to share some ways that readers can take action on the Blairmont situation. With hundreds of properties lying fallow in the hands of Blairmont and its sister shell companies, the average citizen may feel pretty powerless to do anything about it. But ordinary citizens have already made a difference in the situation, first by bringing it to light, then focusing media attention on the matter, and by keeping the issue in the spotlight.

But it's still not bringing back the houses or the residents; it's still not stopping the brick rustlers. So what can you do?

• Keep eyes on Blairmont's properties.
  If you're a St. Louis resident, you can visit these areas yourself. Most importantly, you can keep an eye out for brick rustlers at work. Brick rustlers often work irregular hours -- the ones I saw in 2007 were attacking houses on a late Sunday afternoon, a time when no legitimate contractor is going to be out doing work.
  
  And if you see them, CALL 911 TO REPORT THE CRIME. There is heavy suspicion among the locals that brick rustlers are being actively encouraged to attack Blairmont properties. If arrests can be made, further light may be shed on the issue. And it IS a crime -- it's theft, vandalism, destruction of property, demolition without a permit, often desecration of historic districts, and creation of a danger to the public.
  
  
• Work with the residents.
  * Contact the Neighbors for Justice - justice@ststb.org, 314-371-1190 or e-mail Sheila Rendon at srendon@yahoo.com.
  * Contact the Develop With Dignity coalition.
  
  
• Write or call Paul McKee's office.
  Let them know that abandonment and demolition are not acceptable, and that they are doing a disservice to the city. Let them know that St. Louis's north side deserves to be redeveloped as a city, as an urban environment, a dense, pedestrian-friendly place with links to its past and physical connections to the rest of the city.
  
  Don't just focus on the negative; let them know what things are needed: new development, preservation, urban diversity, density, walkable environments, mixed uses, mixed incomes.
  
  Heck, send 'em a copy of Death and Life of Great American Cities or Suburban Nation. They have shown interest in doing a project in lower north St. Louis, an area that needs new development. The idea is not to drive them away, but to make sure their current destructive tactics are ended, and to help guide the project in the right directions for a city neighborhood.
  
  McEagle Realty
  1001 Boardwalk Springs Place
  O'Fallon, Missouri 63368
  636-561-9300
  
  
• Contact local politicians.
  Most of Blairmont's holdings are in the city's 5th Ward and 19th Ward; a few are in Ward 3. You can contact the Aldermen for these districts, and the mayor's office, and let them know the same things as McEagle.
  
  President of the Board of Aldermen: Lewis Reed
  Email contact
  
  Ward 5: April Ford-Griffin
  Email contact
  Also: griffinapril@sbcglobal.net
  
  Ward 19: Marlene Davis
  Email contact
  
  Ward 3: Freeman M. Bosley Sr.
  Email contact
  
  Mayor Francis Slay
  Email contact
  
  City Hall, Room 230
  1200 Market Street
  St. Louis, MO 63103
  (314) 622-3287
  
  
  
• Contact State politicians.
  At the State of Missouri level, the following districts are involved:
  58th Missouri Legislative District - Rodney R. Hubbard
  60th Missouri Legislative District - Jamilah Nasheed
  
  5th Missouri Senatorial District - Maida Coleman
  
  
• Keep the media focused on the issue.
  Write letters to the local newspapers:
  - The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
  - The Riverfront Times
  - St. Louis Business Journal
  - St. Louis American
  - St. Louis Magazine
  - St. Louis Commerce Magazine
  
  TV stations too!
  - KMOV-4 (CBS)
  - KSDK-5 (NBC)
  - KETC (PBS)
  - Fox-St. Louis (okay, yes, I'm being optimistic here, but what's it gonna hurt?)
  
  And radio:
  - KMOX
  - KDHX
  - KWMU
  

Daily Dose of Blairmont 30

• 2600-2604 Hebert Street (VHS Partners LLC, January 2006)

March 2007

This old corner store building, with its attention-getting turret, needs a bit of loving care. Somehow, under Blairmont's ownership, it seems unlikely to get it.


March 2007

Links:

• 2600 Hebert at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont

Daily Dose of Blairmont 29

• 2534-2536 W. Dodier Street (VHS Partners LLC, November 2005)

August 2003 - Photograph by Kevin Keiffer.


March 2007

This mid-block storefront building, long since converted to full residential use, is a reminder of the diversity once inherent to the city. Someone once ran a business here -- perhaps a small grocer or other store, giving local residents an easy place to shop. Corner stores and mid-block businesses were once common throughout the city; now they have all but vanished in many neighborhoods.

And now, with Blairmont having bought the building, even the reminder that such diversity can exist may be destroyed.

Update: Note the 3-story mansard roofed building in the background. That's 2546 Dodier, owned by Blairmont, and destroyed by fire over the first weekend of May 2008.

May 2008


June 2002 - Photograph by Kevin Keiffer.

Links:

• 2534 Dodier at the City Assessor's database
  
• Aerial view from Maps.Live.com
  
• More on Blairmont