Courtesy of St. Louis Streetcar
If all goes as planned, the St. Louis Streetcar project will connect downtown with the near North Side in 2016. But there are plenty of other projects happening in the neighborhood in the meantime, says Sean Thomas, executive director of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group. The organization has acquired the property at 1227 St. Louis, formerly a printing company. “It’s the highest-profile property in the neighborhood—literally, it’s the tallest property,” Thomas says, adding that plans for redevelopment are still in the works and could include turning the building into loft-style apartments. “That’s one of the cool things about Old North: It offers a variety of styles and options, from small apartments to larger, new-construction homes. This could be yet another piece of that puzzle.”
Like other neighborhoods, Old North has seen greatly increased activity in terms of buying, selling, and investing in recent years. It also experienced a 22 percent drop in crime between 2012 and 2013, says Thomas. Shakespeare in the Streets has selected Old North as its featured neighborhood in 2015—appropriate, considering the arts initiatives based there, including Firecracker Press’ second location, the 14th Street Artist Community Gallery, St. Louis ArtWorks, and soon a poetry-and-spoken word space in a historic church on Warren Street.
