It's fun to watch the city evolve. Turning vacant lots and decades of neglect into new uses is exciting. Table all the lawyers profiting and complicit politicians giving massive tax breaks to these developers for a moment and take it for what it's worth. St. Louis is changing fast.
Forest Park Southeast, or the Grove if you like, is a hotbed of construction.
Another project that caught our attention in 2016 was 4400 Manchester, an empty lot since the 1970's at the corner of Newstead and Manchester across from Urban Chestnut's Grove location, with a 50+ unit, 5-storey mixed use building.
This one seemed to hit the spot, yet a fear I had when reading about this development was that nearby homes would be leveled for a surface parking lot to accommodate the new density. After a recent visit, that does not seem to be the case. The parking seems to be tucked within the property itself. Well done, then.
In fact, equally good news is the multi-unit brick beauty just south of this development on Swan has recently been rehabbed.
Apartment building at Swan and Newstead
This one is starting to look great:
Just west of this property on Manchester, there are still plenty of other opportunities to bring more people back to buildings that have long been neglected. A reminder of what this stretch still looks like with board ups and vacant lots mixed in with occupied homes:
Manchester Avenue
The Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood is seeing lot of new construction of late, I'll soon report on Adam's Grove, the high-quality, affordable housing development that is in full swing.
Cheers to this part of St. Louis becoming more and more populated with decent housing for all.
