Benton Park neighbors target slumlord’s nuisance property

For years, a two-story building has sat empty and crumbling in the middle of one of St. Louis’ liveliest arts districts. Now, Cherokee Street neighbors are asking a judge to force its negligent owner, the notorious slumlord Dara Daugherty, to either fix the property or have it turned over to someone who will. 

The city of St. Louis has aggressively gone after Daugherty’s empire, which spans dozens of properties where she illegally rented out rooms to down-on-their luck tenants in the Patch, Carondelet, Tower Grove, and many other South City neighborhoods. But whereas that sprawling case was filed by the City Counselor’s office, this suit comes from the nonprofit Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, which is teaming up with several different neighborhood associations to target about a dozen Daugherty properties throughout the city, including ones in the Patch, Carondelet, and Marine Villa. 

The building in question is right in the middle of Antique Row, on the same block as Elder’s Antiques and the Mud House coffee shop. The neat businesses and brisk foot traffic are in stark contrast to Daugherty’s building, which has blown-out windows in front and a collapsed staircase in back. “We’ve told the judge this isn’t a block full of vacant properties,” says Peter Hoffman, the attorney for the neighborhood association. “This is a single vacant property on an otherwise vibrant block. It really does affect more people, rather than if it was on an island by itself.”

The city condemned the property in May 2021. It has only deteriorated further in the three years since. Hoffman says Daugherty owes $3,324 in what he terms “potentially collectible fines” on the property. (Daugherty’s attorney, Elkin Kistner, has declined comment on the cases against her, pointing reporters to court filings.) 

“Even just one building can set the tone whether the street is welcoming for folks to window shop and hang out, or if the block feels sketchy,” says Emily Thenhaus, executive director of the nearby Cherokee Street Community Improvement District.

In October, the Benton Park Neighborhood Association filed their lawsuit against the Daugherty-controlled LLC that owns the building. After a hearing last week, they asked a judge to deem the property a nuisance and give Daugherty a deadline to fix it up. Depending on how things shake out, it’s also possible Daugherty could lose the property to a receiver.

In a separate case, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser threw the book at Daugherty on August 15 in relation to a Tower Grove East property. Sengheiser fined her more than $25,000 in addition to $1,000 for every day that house remains in squalor—even as Daugherty claims she’s sold it. The judge also wrote in his order that if she did not clean up the property in 30 days, she risked being held in criminal contempt of court, which could mean jail time. The clock ran out on the 30 days this past weekend. 

SLM reached out to a neighbor of Daugherty’s Tower Grove East property to ask if any improvements were underway.

The neighbor texted back: “None. Same old BS.”