So what happens to all the houses? What happens to all of those “legacy” properties that Paul McKee was going to incorporate into his gargantuan redevelopment plan, NorthSide Regeneration? Only the most Pollyannish of observers would believe that the complete rebuilding of several square miles of North St. Louis will still happen in the way McKee has described. There’s enough reason to be angry about that failure. But this author is also angry that still surviving out of this debacle is the strongly held belief of many metropolitan St. Louisans that the area within NorthSide’s redevelopment plan was (and is) a complete wasteland. While the area was struggling, without a doubt it can now be shown, with photographic evidence, that McKee’s failed plan has left St. Louis Place and other Near Northside neighborhoods in worse condition than when he found them. Below are some examples, but keep in mind this is nowhere near exhaustive documentation of the damage done:
James Clemens House
The Clemens Mansion was not in terrible condition—until McKee bought the property under one of his shell companies. Since that time, the house has deteriorated substantially, seeing a severe collapse of one of the roof timbers of the accompanying chapel, which knocked a hole in the wall of the second floor in 2008. Since then, McKee put in a half-hearted attempt at renovation, removing much of the upper story of the chapel, exposing the entire structure to the elements. Meanwhile, the original house has suffered theft of valuable cast iron elements from the front porch, as well as important classical cornices from interior doorways. Luckily, some of the front porch has been preserved in storage, but the house itself is now exposed that much more to the ravages of rain and neglect.
1937 Montgomery
Probably no one famous, or even remotely related to someone famous, ever lived in this multi-family on the 1900 of Montgomery. Once kept company by dozens of other housing units just on the one block, 1937 had only four or five other houses left to call neighbors. Occupied as late as the last 10 years, the building was purchased by a McKee shell company and left to rot. But it never got a chance to fall down by its own accord—it was instead savaged by brick thieves, who left the damaged building in a severe and dangerous state of half-collapse for months. On top of that, McKee has not paid property taxes on the now-vacant lot for 2013 and 2014. This author is not claiming this stretch of Montgomery was in perfect condition, but now there is nothing left. At one point, there were the bones of what could have become a revitalized block.
1501 Palm
So out of touch with the reality of real revitalization efforts in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood, McKee bought this house without realizing that rehabbing and other redevelopment were already occurring on the same block, with dozens of other houses being reconstructed or built new in the surrounding area. McKee, when confronted by the fact that wide-scale clearance of Old North was impossible, promised to sell the properties in the neighborhood. To this day, he still has not followed through on that promise. And considering he hasn’t paid taxes on the once-beautiful house that has now almost collapsed under his ownership, one would think he would be interested in raising some money to save the rest of his plan. Apparently not.
Crown Square
Meanwhile, many buildings fortunate enough not to have been purchased by McKee are going the opposite direction in condition. Less than a decade ago, the buildings along the Fourteenth Street Mall sat in similar condition as many of McKee’s properties today. But something else happened. The Old North St. Louis Restoration Group invested millions into the buildings, fixed them up, while simultaneously showing that there’s real hope for North St. Louis. Now if McKee would just do the right thing and get out of everybody else’s way.
Chris Naffziger writes about architecture at St. Louis Patina. Contact him via email at [email protected].
