St. Louis's Rich Brick Architecture is Being Given a Second Life on the North and South Sides

Chris Stritzel
Sep 15
4 min read

*North 14th in Old North St. Louis and Meramec Street in Dutchtown are two premier neighborhood commercial corridors.*

While naysayers continue to talk down the City of St. Louis and any progress being made, good work continues. When you pass through the City, especially North St. Louis, you can see the result of nearly 600,000 people leaving the City for other locations over the course of the last 75 years. But within these neighborhoods, and those on the South Side that have suffered in recent years, you can find signs of hope in the future.

This month's Planning Commission agenda included two items consisting of 36 buildings, most of them being multi-family, spread out across multiple parcels in the Old North and Tiffany neighborhoods. Some of the properties are vacant and some are occupied.

*These buildings at Wright and Hadley are just a few of the many being renovated in the Old North St. Louis area.*

In the Old North St. Louis area, 15 buildings will be renovated into 58 affordable housing units by Amberstones LLC. Some of these buildings are already undergoing renovation with dumpsters at the curbs, new windows installed, framing for unit walls visible through those new windows, and fencing up around the properties. The buildings are prime examples of old rowhomes and multi-family buildings that once populated a vast majority of the North City. This project received a low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and will receive a 15-year tax abatement from the City worth 90% for 10 years and 50% for the remaining 5.

In the shadow of St. Louis University Hospital, the Tiffany Neighborhood's plans include renovating 21 buildings into 60 affordable housing units. Not every building is vacant, but some are. The Planning Commissioon document does not describe what'll happen to existing residents in these buildings during renovations. This project will receive a 5-year tax abatement with 10 years at 90% and 5 years at 50%. The developer will also seek low income housing tax credits (LIHTC).

*These 4-family buildings on Blaine Avenue are on the larger size of the Tiffany Neighborhood renovation lineup.*

Outside of these projects, the Dutchtown area is seeing steady progress on Lutheran Development Group and RiseSTL's "Marquette Homes" project. This project involves the long-awaited redevelopment of the Grandview Arcade/Melba Theater building at 3600 South Grand as well as the redevelopment of the 3-story structure at 3305 Meramec Street. Marquette Homes also includes the renovations of several other multi-family buildings across the Dutchtown and Gravois Park neighborhoods. I observed a 4-family building being worked on along Louisiana Avenue near Alberta as well as a single-story, single-family home immediately next door being renovated.

Louisiana Avenue recently received an overhaul in the form of extensive traffic calming. Curb bump outs, rainwater gardens, roundabouts, speed humps and signage all work together to make Louisiana safer for pedestrians, bicyclists and even drivers.

*The Grandview Arcade and 3305 Meramec are "Marquette Homes's" most prominent redevelopments.*

As part of the Marquette Homes project, the Grandview Arcade will become home to 16 apartments and 5 commercial spaces while the building at 3305 Meramec will become home to 10 apartments and a commercial space. The other 26 apartments will be in the smaller multi-family buildings that LDG and Rise are renovating across Dutchtown and Gravois Park.

Seperate from Marquette Homes, it was nice seeing another familiar sight, the renovation of another building. The building at 3409 Meramec has scaffolding covering the front facade with building permits indicate the building is a "3-family". Even if its just a masonry repair project, it helps build a stronger neighborhood by renewing a structure for years to come.

Jumping down to the deep South Side and into the Carondelet neigborhood, I want to share the improvements done to the "Ivory Triangle" area recently. New traffic calming measures have been implemented that narrow the width of Ivory Street and close a smal portion of Schirmer Street and Virginia Avenue. The Ivory Triangle is a "neighborhood meeting place" and is anchored by Stacked Burgers and Mama's Breakfast Table. The closure of Schirmer could allow Stacked to have outdoor seating for customers and the overall improvements could lead to the Triangle playing host to block parties and similar events that bring neighbors together.

*Ivory Triangle after the traffic calming measures were implemented.*

Together, the projects mentioned here are going to directly benefit their respective neighborhoods by attracting and retaining residents, fixing up properties that are in various stages of disrepair and/or decay, and even increase tax revenue. Projects like this can also change the perception of neighborhoods by making them feel safer thanks to the elimination of shadowy/dark spaces, putting more eyes on the street, and slowing wreckless drivers down.

It's projects like these that'll help "rebuild" the backbone of the City of St. Louis - its residential neighborhoods. Lots of work remains to be done with the mentioned projects and in neighborhoods themselves, but I fully expect the trend will continue. Neighborhoods where few looked to invest in will slowly start to see upticks in investments. The City's population loss is slowing and thanks to every big and small project across the City, the first increase in population is likely on the horizon.

The gallery below includes additional building photos. Click on each one to see a caption.