Fox Manor Apartments: Re-use in Dutchtown

The southern most tip of the  near Spring and Delor is seeing some exciting redevelopment of some formerly problematic properties just north of the Holly Hills neighborhood.  Here's a bird's eye view of the area:

View Larger Map

Several multi-unit apartment buildings between Itaska and Delor on Spring Avenue (built in 1962) are being repurposed with a more modern, contemporary, vibrant look.  I love the fact that they didn't just tear down all the old structures, but are redoing some of them to hopefully make them sustainable, positive properties for the future.

For anyone familiar with this area, you know there have been serious crime and other issues with terrible tenant screening, garbage galore and mis-managed properties.  The area is at best an eye sore and at worst an uncomfortable, violent place along with the Speedway Mart just across Spring Avenue at Delor.  I used to live near here and know firsthand how ugly this part of town had become.  Don't believe me?  Just check out the 120 CSB complaints on the

GEO St. Louis

 website who list the owner as Southtowne Apartments Associates LP at 611 Olive Street, 63103.

Back when I published my Dutchtown neighborhood profile, the properties were looking rough and the tenants had already been evicted in preparation for the renovation:

July, 2011 STL City Talk Photo

July, 2011 STL City Talk Photo

I read of the ongoing work

here

and

here

and decided to check the places out for myself.  From the Post-Dispatch article:

The St. Louis Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance and the Dutchtown South Community Corp. are doing the $9 million project jointly. Some redone apartments will be available this month. When completed, Southtowne will have 40 rehabbed units and 11 new apartments.  RHCDA, a non-profit housing developer, is reconfiguring the site by demolishing 15 buildings, rehabilitating the remaining 10 and constructing six new buildings. The result will be 51 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and a management office.  Renovations include structural enhancements, exterior facelifts, new floor plans, modern amenities and architectural improvements designed to increase market value.

Just from reading the construction sign out front, the former Southtowne Apartments have been rebranded as Fox Manor Apartments and was largely funded by public entities and will be leased out by Vatterott Properties:

Here's what I saw on a beautiful Sunday morning April 7, 2013:

 vibrant colors brighten up the street views along Spring

small decks on the second floors; new construction juts out toward rear parking lots

Southern view down Spring from Beckerle Park

Rear parking lot facing apts on Delor which are also part of the re-development

Parking in back?...check.  Modern amenities and design?...check.  Decent setback from the curb?...check.  Excellent re-use as opposed to 100% demo?...check.  Next major boxes to check off are

tenant screening and property accountability

...and some new urban street trees would be nice along Spring and Delor.

Overall, I love this project and think it's a great potential step forward for the area.

In other positive news for this part of Dutchtown, St. Mary's High School has continued to invest in their campus.  The relative new Divis baseball field is directly across the street and looks absolutely fantastic along with the football and track and field facilities.  They are excellent neighbors and keep an amazingly beautiful property.

Let's hope the former apartment buildings on the northwest corner of Spring and Itaska are part of this project as they are in dreadful condition and have not been maintained in their vacancy...people have been inside of these stripping the valuables and partying/squatting.  Entry has taken place at ground level on nearly every building and dumping and further property destruction has ensued.

come on in!

The overall site design of these 1960's apartment complexes that face inward toward a "courtyard" appear to be recipes for disaster in St. Louis where consolidation of poor tenants and poor property owners in these settings seem to routinely occur and eventual strips the area of dignity.

The apartments on the northeast corner of Spring and Itaska still appear to be occupied.

Another springboard for the area would be to improve the curb appeal of the small Beckerle Park; some new trees have been planted toward the southern edge; this could be a great spot for dog walkers, etc to enjoy with a little TLC.

Southwest corner of Spring and Itaska

Cheers to Dutchtown, keep fighting the good fight Alderman Cohn and others.

Fox Park-The Park

This is a long, long, long winded post.  There is a lot going on in Fox Park, and I have a ~2.5 year story to tell.  If you don't get through this, please let me begin by asking for your support.  If you would like to volunteer for our Park Committee, email me.  We always need help manning our weekend gardening hub, Spring and Fall planting projects, fire hydrant painting, grant writing and getting a dog park going.  If you have skills in these areas and want to be part of an up-and-coming neighborhood, let me know.  This is my pet project so to speak, so I can't be shy when it comes to drumming up potential support.  People always say we need more doers and less talkers in St. Louis.  I concur; but, I say we need both.  This is my "doing" project and the talking, well, you know I just can't shut up when it comes to my favorite city.

For those familiar with Fox Park (the park) you may have noticed some very significant changes.  Starting this spring, you are about to see more substantial changes.  It is an exciting time.

Kind readers, this is your chance to follow the work that's been taking place in Fox Park over the last two years or so.

First a little on Fox Park the neighborhood:

Fox Park is a south city neighborhood located between some of St. Louis' greatest neighborhoods.  With boundaries of I-44 to the north, Nebraska to the west, Jefferson to the east and Gravois on the south, the neighborhood is embedded amongst the swanky Compton Heights and Lafayette Square neighborhoods on the west and northeast and shares borders with the comparable up-and-coming neighborhoods of Tower Grove East, Benton Park West and McKinley Heights.

The 2010 U.S. Census data counted 2,632 in Fox Park, a 17.1% decline compared to 2000 counts.  Racially speaking, the neighborhood is 61% black, 32% white and 5% Hispanic/Latino.  Those numbers are basically unchanged from 2000 to 2010.

This is a key area of the city that must continue to improve to stabilize the southside.  This part of the city has seen a lot of changes in the last 50 years.  In talking to neighbors, it probably hit rock bottom in the crack epidemic years of the late 1990's.  The entire city and nation as a whole really had a rough time when crack hit the streets and the murders spiked:

(source)

However, things have calmed down since the 1990s.  The police deserve a lot of credit here.  Also, renovation really picked up and gentrification started to take hold in the early 2000's.  Now, after living here for over 2 years, I would say this is a bona fide up-and-coming neighborhood with tremendous potential.  I am raising a family here, making friends here and we honestly love it here.  But, it's not Shaw, Benton Park or Tower Grove South just yet...it's rougher around the edges.  There is very little walkable business and nightlife compared to those previously mentioned neighborhoods.  We have some work to do...but there are people here willing to put in the sweat equity to help make it happen.

In many ways the park from which the neighoborhood takes its name is a good representation of the neighborhood and area itself.  Years of deferred maintenance, dis-investment and blind eyes turned/no-snitch societal norms have made the park a not so nice place.  Destructive activity by unsupervised kids and local adults who have been binge drinking, fighting, selling/smoking weed and crack here for years has taken its toll.  It's so obvious, you'd have to be a fool not to notice how unchecked this area has been for years.  With the bad guys doing business right out in the open under the pavilion on Shenadoah.  Long time neighbors and decent residents don't go to the park for this specific reason.  How do I know you might ask?  Well, outside of good old street smarts and conventional wisdom, we have some data as well...our former (excellent) alderwoman Kacie Starr-Triplett organized a door to door canvasing of the residential blocks immediately surrounding the park to get a feel for what people like and don't like about the park, and what they want to see in the future.  The idea here was to attempt to engage the people who live around the part to be part of the solution and not the problem.  We informed people about how to get involved and attend neighborhood meetings (which are advertised publicly with signs throughout the neighborhood).  Sadly, we did not get anyone to volunteer their time as a result of this effort, but we did get some good feedback.  The overwhelming response from residents was that they were scared to go to the park because it's ghetto and the dealers and large groups of people drinking, etc was intimidating and violent.  Fact.  All this is now being addressed head on...full on...there's no quitting this time...this cannot go on in a public place where little kids and decent people should feel welcome and safe.

Shenandoah right by the pavilion is the favorite dealing spot for these guys who seek to "own" the park and did not get asked questions from the decent neighbors and residents for years, in fact many of these guys are neighbors.  All afternoon-long and into the night binge drinking parties took place on the Victor side of the park by the old time residents and visitors, again unchecked by the neighborhood.  This has been going for years if not decades, say the long time residents.  This was not a nice, feel good block party-like scene.  A group of people standing, yelling, fighting, hassling passersby, at times blocking the street is not a healthy public park.

What decent person regardless of race or class or upbringing wants to be subjected to this at a park where little kids are running around and playing?  It was embarrasing and a black eye for the neighborhood.  It had to be addressed.  Now was the time.

Fast forward to a Gateway Greening community garden tour where I met someone from Fox Park (my new neighborhood at the time).  This person I met just so happens to be an urban pioneer with her partner in the Fox Park neighborhood.  Turns out they rehabbed the building next to our house and have done the same to other homes and own some other property in the neighborhood.  To say the least, they are invested and really, really care.

We hit it off fantastically and are now good friends and co-leads of the Fox Park Park Committee.  Her name is Beth Stelmach and she is one of the urban pioneers that has put her unending dedication to this city and specifically, this neighborhood, on display.  She is a super nice person, but a bulldog on issues that need frank discussion and straight talk.  She is a woman of kind and measured action.  She brings people together in ways that inspire me constantly, and I guess I'm just blessed and fortunate to have met her.

Beth has tirelessly led the reincarnated Fox Park Park Committee for over 2 years.    Her accomplishments and no-quit attitude are on display in the park today.  We have ridden this emotional rollercoaster together through the thick and thin.  Making positive change is an uphill battle sometimes.  The best way I can sum up my experience working in Fox Park so far has certainly been "two steps forward and one step back".  I'll share examples in a moment.  Through all the adversity and crime and harassment we've dealt with, it's been Beth and her partner who have given my family and others the resolve and strength and encouragement to never stop.  I'm a very simple man who thinks positivity and love can always flush out negativity and hate.  Given that I'm drafting much of this post on MLK day, I'll share one of my favorite quotes of his:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."   Martin Luther King, Jr.

Back in 2004 the Fox Park Neighborhood Association and then Alderwoman Phyllis Young worked with a local firm (H3) to draft a Masterplan.  The masterplan was developed based on a thorough canvassing of the neighbors around the park to get their input on what the neighborhood wanted the park to be.  Here's the product of that endeavor:

Key elements of this plan included new landscape, trees, a dog park, a new basketball court, playground and spray pool.  There was no money set aside for this work, it was just meant to serve as a template for future improvements.

One key element of the plan was implemented shortly thereafter in 2009.  The open field area along California Avenue on the western edge of the park was graded and seeded at a cost of ~$9,840; the Fox Park Neighborhood Association paid for this.  Longtime residents tell me this part of the park used to be a small grocery store which became a big problem property when it became a spot for the local dealers and thugs to ruin for everyone else.  The building was demo'd and buried in the foundation making planting in this area a struggle.

Another key element of the masterplan that took place during Alderwoman Young's tenure was the installation of new playground equipment:

please forgive my shoddy cell phone camera photos

The original plan was to have the playground extend to the east as well per the Masterplan and the following design:

The area circled in blue and green never happened, and we got a scaled down version of the above design circled in red including the swingset to the north.  The city paid for this nice new playground equipment and swing set out of Aldermanic capital funds.

As I mentioned before, when a neighborhood which has been dominated by negativity and neglect is faced with a new influx of positive activity and investment, the bad guys tend to react immediately as they are scared that their place of business and hang out is threatened.  I will provide proof of this at every step...not in an attempt to be a downer, but to keep it real and let people know that this is the fight that must be waged in order to have decent, safe public spaces for ALL to enjoy.  Haters and thugs are amongst us here and they have tried to fail nearly all attempts at improvement.  I want to tell that side of the story as well.

In this part of town there are some "gangs" of kids, teens and longtime residents known as the 27 Mac and ACG.  Everyone knows they exist and this has been going on for years as my neighbors who have been here for much longer than I have have educated me.  Tagging is one of their favorite pastimes, and here's their immediate contribution to the new playground equipment right after it was installed:

Let it be known that if normal people go to the park with their kids, these knuckleheads will make some noise, denegrate themselves and move on.  They don't like people who will call them out on their behavior and will leave until the decent people leave and then they return.  They also put on display their feelings for women and the "n-word" in the freshly poured concrete.  They also burned holes in the slides and the rubber surface.  Thanks guys, way to go.  2 steps forward, one step back.

Fast forward to the new park committee formed by Beth.  We started by walking the park together and talking about what needed to be done immediately.  We removed graffitti and gang signs.  We picked up trash.  We made a list.  We contacted the alderwoman to introduce ourselves and hopefully get her support.

Our first set of goals were:

Remove the dead and dying trees throughout the park; we identified the ones that needed to be cut down and the city forestry and park's dept did a good job of removing the trees and grinding the stumps.  The Cardinal's 2011world series victory gave the city some extra money and we were told the tree removal was a result of that windfall:

dead pines surrounded the basketball court

dead deciduous trees lined Victor Street

We now needed new trees to provide shade and beauty and replace the ones that were dead or dying.  We were told there were no mature trees available from the city, so we had to get creative.  We wrote a grant to Missouri ReLeaf Communitree and got 40 + trees in 3 gallon pots.  We got a crack group of volunteers to help plant these trees throughout the park.  We rented industrial grade augers and planted 20 tulip poplars, 10 serviceberry and 10 eastern red bud in addition to some extras that we purchased through the neighborhood association.  We put in hours and hours of digging, mulching and watering these trees to have them only survive until the following spring when the unsupervised kids and park partiers pulled them out of the ground and threw them up by the pavilion, or simply snapped them off.  We lost > 75% of the trees we planted.  They didn't stop there, they also destroyed several large trees the city planted that were ~3' in diameter.  We photo documented all destruction and negative behavior so we could build a case to the city and anyone else who would listen that we have a problem on our hands.

We didn't stop there, we wrote another grant in the fall of 2012 for trees that were 3 times larger in an attempt to make it a little harder to destroy.  We planted 3 vernal witchhazel, 3 northern red oak and 3 blackgum.  They still stand as of now, but we'll have to keep an eye out come warmer weather. 

The park goers were littering the park with trash empty beer cans and gin bottles, we needed to get more trash cans.  Drive by the park today, you may notice the cheesy white plastic trash cans.

Kind of ugly, right? All other city parks have the metal ones. We can't have those because our old ones were stolen for scrap. We got new metal ones from the city, those were stolen too. Thanks again assholes, I guess we have to stick with the plastic ones for now until we can quit being the target. Metal trash cans are all over the city, these were targeted by people who are pushing back at the positivity  We got a grant from Gateway Greening for 4 beautiful large plastic trash cans designed for parks. These will have to be installed in concrete requiring more hours, expertise and money from the park committee and neighborhood association.  Here's a photo of the nice new cans to be installed in 2013: 

The old crappy and unsafe basketball court that exists near the right field of the ballpark had to be addressed.  This area had several dead and dying trees surrounding it and the roots eventually destroyed the surface.  The people that have lived here for years have not demanded better conditions, and they proceeded to destroy the rims, backboards etc.  This was one of the former hotspots for intimidation, binge drinking and public weed/crack smoking.  It was insanely prevalent and not a welcoming site...of course, right next to our playground.  Here's what it looked like:

^ notice the grown men drinking Bud-Ice 40's right next to the kids playing

We set up a meeting with our new alderman Kacie Starr-Triplett whose ward now covered the park after redistricting.  We shared with her our ideas about implementing the long-shelfed masterplan and getting a new basketball court was a big part of that.  Moving it to the spot at Victor/Ohio was a key element of the adopted masterplan.  We were able to establish a great relationship with Kacie and one of her advocates, Christine Ingrassia, then Director of Community Outreach - 6th Ward at Jeff Vanderlou Initiative.  This budding relationship turned out to be a game changer for us...more on that later in the post.

Kacie said the basketball court project "spoke to her".  We wanted to set ourselves apart from Lafayette Square and many other neighborhoods surrounding Fox Park that got rid of their public basketball courts when they became havens for thugs and other assholes that make the parks uninviting, loud and violent.

We got funds through Kacie to get the old court removed and a new one built per the masterplan.  We got a seat at the table in City Hall to meet with the capital improvement project liaison who put together the plans and dimensions and asked for our input.  Come spring, 2013 ground will break on the first new basketball court in this part of town in years.  This is extremenly exciting and we invite any and all to join us shooting hoops at the new court.  If you want to set up a league, send me a note.

I know what some of you are thinking, this is not going to turn out well.  Why are you rewarding the same people who have destroyed the current court and shit all over the park every night/weekend?  I've heard that argument, but I disagree.  We may need help from the police and cameras, but we will not let this court go to pot and become a place where kids and others will be intimidated.  We have to continue this fight.  Fox Parkers deserve a court for decent people to enjoy.  We will have that now.

Furthermore, there was a delapidated 8 foot fence that was in disrepair along the right field line along Shenandoah.  This fence was installed to presumably keep people out of the park???  It had to go.

holes in the fence

stay out of this park!

4' silver and 8' green fence didn't match at all...shoddy

The fence was removed by the park's dept and we now have an open view of the beautiful maple trees and this side of the park is much more inviting to the residents of the neighborhood and has much better curb appeal.

The park committee thought we needed more positive activity in the park.  We worked with Gateway Greening to establish Fox Park as a South City garden hub.  A hub garden is basically a "home base" where gardeners throughout the city can come to borrow tools for their gardens/landscape projects, buy inexpensive fruit, vegetable, herb seeds and get good gardening info and advice.  Gateway Greening gave us a lawn mower, weed wacker, rotor tiller, hand tools, etc. to loan out for a small deposit for anyone to use.  We have a dedicated but small set of people who volunteer a couple hours on Saturdays to open the hub up to all.  People come from all over the city to buy seeds, plants and loan out tools.  GG installed all the tools in our pavillion and all this stuff was secured behind locked doors.  Continuing on my two steps forward, one back theme, the assholes who saw us using the pavillion broke in and stole everything except the rotor tiller which was rented out.  They took everything except the seeds.  Thanks again guys.  One morning, someone accidentally left out some sidewalk chaulk and the thugs took to tagging the pavilion with 27 MAC stuff, their calling card.  Thanks again guys.  We got new locks and new tools that were donated to GG from kind folks in their network.  Guess what thugs, we aren't going away.  In fact we got a great sign to establish the pavillion as a garden hub.  Furthermore on the 2 steps forward, 1 back theme, this sign was pulled out of the ground once and torn off the sign post another time.  Thugs hate positivity.  I installed it once more this time with the best hardware I could get.  It stands as of today, and we'll keep putting it back up.  The thugs especially hate this because this is the drive up window for drug sales during warm months.

As part of our grant from GG, we also got 2 brand new picnic tables which we wanted to go between the maple trees along Shenandoah.  We had a very generous neighbor who spent 2 days staining them with 3 coats of varnish.

The picnic tables became a nuisance to the neighbors as they attracted large, loud, rude crowds who didn't pick up and left the areas completely trashed.  We heard a lot of complaints from people who live on Shenandoah and Armand.  It looked bad from the streets as well.  So, we moved them to the California side.  The thugs and haters didn't like the move and splashed cans of paint all over the tables.  Thanks again asshole.  Our now neighborhood prez and vice prez cleaned up the paint.  We aren't going to quit.

We knew we could update and refresh the signage in the park as well.  There was a rather aged shadowbox type sign at California and Shenadoah.  It was meant for people to post notices, park info, etc, but it was never used.  We decided to move this shadow box to the pavilion to post upcoming events and ask for volunteer support and help keeping an eye out for safety and calls to the police to report ghetto behavior.  This was also an attempt to inform those that are destroying our work to help pitch in and have a voice in the park.  That has not materialized to date.

GG lent us the services of a dedicated and skilled employee who drilled into the brick and installed this awesome sign under our pavillion.  Thanks GG!  Of course, the thugs tore down all the flyers we had placed in the sign to talk about the new basketball court and watching out for new trees in the park, etc.  So Beth bought and installed locks to the sign.

When we opened up one of the doors in the pavilion, we discovered 3 unused signs just lying in wait for some TLC.  We worked with an artist who lives in the neighborhood to design a font and make lettering for the signs.  We got bids for installation and went with a local business in Old North St. Louis who did great work.  We got $ from the neighborhood association to execute the job.  And the signs are standing proudly at California/Shenandoah, Victor Street and Shenandoah Avenue.

The areas around the signs will be the site of much landscaping work to be completed in 2013.

We took a look at the tired and beat up fire hydrants around the park.  Something had to change.  We worked with a talented artist, Grace McHammond who has done many of the murals in the Grove.  She was awesome to work with and drafted up a couple designs.  We chose this one and now you'll see these around the park.

We kicked off an "adopt a hydrant" campaign to get all hydrants in the neighborhood painted with this.  Click HERE to be part of that campaign.

More good fortune was upon us.

As mentioned before we struck up a professional relationship with Christine Ingrassia, who tirelessly fought for us and listened to our complaints.  She commisserated with us and a lot more...she went to work grant writing for funds for a children's spray pool as per the Mater Plan.  She got the support of local city leaders all the way up to Senator Claire McKaskill and got us a ~$160,000 grant wiht the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a children's spray pool directly south of the pavilion leading to the playground.  You should see ground breaking on this in 2013.

Christine didn't stop there.  She worked with then alderwoman Triplett, to get us a meeting with the Park's Department, Police and Police Athletic League which "runs" the baseball field.  Thankfully, the alderman and Christine attended the meeting with us.  Let me just say we got some push back on our efforts and not all invited parties could be characterized as professional.  That being said, a lot of good came out of it.  We got access to the ballpark for neighborhood events.  PAL does not "own" the park and we can now use it.  We held a Spring youth t-ball league organized by Ms. Ingrassia.  It was open to all and it was a great time.  Christine also organized a fall festival to get neighbors together in the park.  Good times were had by all.

We also got help from the police.  They got tough, issued some tickets, made some arrests and cracked down on the ghetto behavior.  They got rid of the parties on Victor.  I mean gone...to this day, it's cleaned up.  Also, they made some busts on the playground, basketball court and at the pavilion.  They parked the armored police vehicle with cameras there for over a week.  It was awesome.  The police were ON IT.  And things got better for awhile.  It was a message we could never have given on our own.  Thanks to the SLPD for the dedication and support. The dealers are still around, they are just scared for now, but they will be back in the warmer weather.  We won't quit though.  A new Capt. was assigned to our district, so we are very hopefull that we'll have their full support in protecting our investments in the park.

Thanks to all the great people I've met in Fox Park.  You are the ones on the front lines of St. Louis' streets making this a city we can love as opposed to one we're embarrassed to bring our friends and family to.  These are the grass roots that truly make change on the urban landscape.

This year, we are convening to discuss our plans for 2013.  We hope to start a fundraising campaign for a dog park and walking paths throughout the park to encourage dog walkers, stroller pushers, joggers, etc to use the park for exercise. 

The park has gotten exponentially better.  I have no doubt it will continue to get better, and as goes the park goes the neighborhood.  If I didn't believe we have the right group in place to make this happen, I wouldn't be spending my time on this.  Believe me, we will make Fox Park just like Shaw and Tower Grove.  It just takes time.

Keep up the love yall!  Drop me an email if you want to be part of this action-oriented group.

Cheers, Mark

We Are Putting the Fox back in Fox Park...You Can Help!

Hello readers and friends.  Fox Park is making tremendous progress as an "up-and-coming" neighborhood.  This part of the city is clearly on the rise.  Part of making a vibrant city is to embrace public art.  Someone driving or walking by will notice the creativity and life that artwork brings and think, wow this place is organized and happening.  Think of the many signs and murals along Manchester in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood between Vandeventer and Kingshighway.  The place is eye-catching and alive.

Some in Fox Park have taken notice of the Grove and other like parts of town and contacted the very talented artist that creates many of those beautiful murals.  She came up with a design for Fox Park that was met with much love from the majority in the nabe. 

The park, for which the neighborhood gets its name, is undergoing a major renovation.  I will be posting a comprehensive story on that in the coming days.  The fire hydrants around the park were tired and rusty and faded, so we sanded them down, primed them and dressed them up with the new logo. 

From this:

To this:

This change was met with positive feedback from the park users and neighbors.  So we are taking it to the next level...and you can help.

The neighborhood was walked and we located each and every hydrant in our small neighborhood.  There are a total of 80 hydrants...let's paint them all!

Here are the locations of the hydrants:

You can be a part of the remaking of a small part of our city by "adopting" a hydrant for a mere $50/hydrant.  The cost will go to wire brushes, paint/supplies and paying the artist to paint the fox design...the remainder goes to our dog park fund raising campaign.  The donation is tax deductible and you will get a receipt.  Just click

here

 to learn the details.  So pick your top 3 locations and send in a donation to the following address:

Fox Park Hydrant Campaign

P.O. Box 58718

St. Louis, MO 63158

Help a critical part of St. Louis shine like it should! 

Thanks for your consideration, Mark.

Bellefontaine Cemetery

Staring at a map of St. Louis' 79 neighborhoods, you can't help but notice the large park/cemetery areas throughout the city that in some cases exceeds the area of many of the neighborhoods.  Seven of these in particular are among the largest and ones I hope to explore and blog about.

I'm starting with 

Bellefontaine Cemetery

(BFC), a 314 acre property that dates back to 1816; the oldest graves of the Hempsted family existed here when their former farmland was purchased by 

a group of prominent men in the city, led by banker and former mayor 

William McPherson

and established in 1849.  The first burial was in 1850.  BFC was clearly a revolutionary place in its day.  Up to the early 19th Century, burials were typically on church and private properties.  Paris, France was the 1st city to design a cemetery utilizing the "rural garden" concept which was meant to be a beautiful place of solace and natural beauty open to the public.

BFC was created with the same vision and the timing couldn't have been more appropriately aligned with St. Louis history.  The on-going 19th Century building and population boom in St. Louis coincided with a fire on May 17, 1849 that

destroyed 15 city blocks and 23 riverboats.  Then of course, the cholera epidemic of 1849

that swept the city killing ~6% of the population.  The timing was right and Bellefontaine was St. Louis' forward looking answer to dignified burials for the next generations of citizens.

The founders had the foresight to hire 

Almerin Hotchkiss

as 

landscape architect

 from 

Green-Wood Cemetery

 in 

Brooklyn

 to design and maintain the grounds. He designed most of the roadways and landscaping, and led cemetery operations as Superintendent for many years.

The 

Bellefontaine Cemetery (officially non-denominational, but largely Protestant) at 4947 W Florissant is flanked by the

Mark Twain neighborhood

to the south and west and the

North Riverfront neighborhood

to the north and east.  Calvary Cemetery (Roman Catholic) is to the north and west and O'Fallon Park is to the south and east. 

The property is atop very high ground that slopes down, overlooking the Mississippi River to the east; while the North Riverfront neighborhood today is largely unsightly trucking operations and contemporary metal warehouses, you can imagine what the view must have been when the property was established.  But let me tell you, this does not mean that BFC is not a beautiful setting.  It is.  The perimeter is lined with ornate fencing and entry gates.  

For my first visit to BFC, I was able to connect with the current Landscape Architect for the property, Earen Hummel.  She is a professional landscape architect of 13 years and hails from Colorado.  She is highly qualified, having worked in various National Parks and ranches around the country, in addition to a WWII battle site in the South Pacific where the Enola Gay took off for its bombing over Japan.  Prior to joining BFC, she was part of a consultant team that helped to prepare a 100-year master plan for the cemetery.  At the completion of the master plan, the cemetery hired her to become the in-house landscape architect.  Some key elements of the plan are increased native plantings and habitat, sustainability and the reduction of storm-water runoff, mowing and chemical treatments in the landscape, all while complementing the original Hotchkiss design.  This is a very fitting and sensitive approach as it intelligently adds new trees, planting and other elements to naturally enhance to property for the next 100 years while preserving the historic character and updating the natural landscape and seeking to meet the changing needs of the times including more burial space between two lakes that exist on the property.  Ms. Hummel is working to develop gardens to draw together the two lakes, and to enhance the space that exists in this part of the cemetery.  This is part of a 10-year goal and in underway now.  Sustainability is certainly a catch word of our era, sometimes more often spoken than seen; however, this plan completely embraces the idea and you can SEE the low energy, low maintenance, natural planting concepts that I view as the renaissance of landscape design in play here.  This is not just talk, this is action.  Drive through the park and witness the massive amounts of grading and tree planting that is underway as you read this.  Very impressive...here are some drawings of the design:

Additionally, BFC has become a certified

arboretum

.  Sassafras, persimmon, oaks, black gum, hawthorn and river birch are among the trees being planted.  Out are the sweet gums and yews!

My favorite part of our discussion was knowing the property is in good, caring hands.  And, the cemetery is loved and protected.  The care that Hotchkiss put in is living on in Ms. Hummel's and the cemetery Board's vision.  It will continue to be open to the public and will function as an active burial site for years to come.

Of course, this cemetery is the final resting place of hundreds of American notables and figures including William S. Burroughs, Adolphus Busch, Susan Elizabeth Blow, Thomas Hart Benton, William Clark, Phoebe Wilson Couzins, James Eads, Sara Teasdale and many, many more.  You can still purchase a plot here.  In fact, there is a newer section with Bosnian, Croatian and Roma citizens that recently immigrated to the region as well as an area for under-privileged children whose parents could not afford a plot.

I was lucky enough to be treated to a showing of the famed

Wainwright Tomb

 which is on the U.S. National Registry of Historic Places and is one of only two tombs that can be opened to the public.  Every square inch of this monument is a work of art.  I was lucky enough to hold the key in my hand and enter this important place on a cold and wintry St. Louis day.

Exterior of the tomb:

Interior:

Is St. Louis great or what?  BFC has a large endowment to care for the grounds & landscape and plans to be here for the long run.  They are going nowhere and only seek to enhance the area.  They are partners in the Mark Twain and Walnut Park neighborhoods.  They are a fixture and the cemetery is a full-on landmark.

Bellefontaine Cemetery does tours and if you are interested in history at all, please "like" them on

Facebook

.  They routinely do bios filled with stories and photos of notable citizens buried there.  Total fodder for history lovers, and very well done.  The website is phenomenal and includes an awesome

interactive timeline

to play with.  Go there to check out the full list of famous people buried there.  They have conducted Beer Baron, Civil War and other notable tours, both by bus and walking.  BFC is in good hands and will continue to improve and be a National Treasure for years to come.  Drive up Salisbury Avenue from Downtown to get a good view of the north side and go check out BFC for yourself and let me know what you think! Even if you've been here before, please visit again and witness the landscape as it morphs into a more native, sustainable environment.

On to Calvary!  Stay tuned friends and readers...

Word Of The Day: Gentrification

My latest spiel on words commonly considered as provocative or misunderstood or at a minimum, ambiguous in St. Louis is on the word "gentrification".

I've touched on the word  and ghetto so far, two words most in the region use with a strong local meaning.  Even though these words may carry negatives, they are highly descriptive and continue to be used whether we like it or not.  There's no doubt in my mind that those two words are pretty universally understood and used with accuracy.

Gentrification on the other hand, not so much.  First of all, it is a relatively modern word that was added to the dictionary a mere 48 years ago.  What the word means, especially in the context of St. Louis, is fascinating to me.  Some see gentrification as a good thing, others not.

Let's start with a dictionary definition:

the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents (source)

Simple, right.  Yet, I've been in several conversations where the topic simply gets out of hand and fast.  When I hear anyone speak negative of sensitive investment, infrastructure upgrades or renewal in any neighborhood in St. Louis, a city that has seen staggering population losses and destruction of historic property, I am flummoxed.  How can that be bad regardless of what powers are doing the planning, bank rolling and execution?

Another definition:

the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses. (source)

This one describes the potential negatives of gentrification in a little more detail.  It touches on property values raising and pushing out the same people who may have provided the area with much soul and flavor for decades.  Think Cherokee street mom and pop Hispanic/Latino businesses being pushed out by higher rent and changing demographics.  That would be a bummer.

But is that really going to happen here?  I don't know but I doubt it.

Still, with the current state of affairs in St. Louis, investment of any kind seems pretty good to me.  Every neighborhood in the city could use an influx of people with money willing to invest right here in the city, no?  I'd kill for some more of that medicine in my neck of the woods. 

I think the gentrification as a negative argument just doesn't play well in St. Louis.  The city seems inherently built to not push out poor people; it was built for the huddled masses when the country was in a state of massive immigration from Europe and migration from the South.  Sure there are mansions and swanky residences, but the vast majority of homes are of modest size compared to the national average.  In fact the Midwest has the lowest average new single family home sizes compared to the rest of the country:

(source) 

The average home size in 2010 was 2,265 square feet in 2010, 2,020 in 1992 and 1,445 in 1973.  The vast majority of homes in St. Louis were built prior to 1973.  So, based on these data, you can assume in the heydey of our building boom from the late 19th Century to 1955 or so, the average home was even smaller than 1,445 sq. ft.  The point I'm trying to make is, St. Louis is built smaller and more dense than the new construction areas and trends of bigger is better.  You could argue that our built environment is set up for density and the masses....hence it'll be cheaper to live here based on overall lower square footage and supply & demand keeping costs of living much lower than the national average.

We have rows and rows of houses that are very modest in size from the northern tip to the southern tip of the city.  These are all over, look no further than the concentration of such homes in North Hampton, Walnut Park West and many many other neighborhoods.

the North Hampton neighborhood

the Walnut Park West neighborhood

Furthermore, there are cheap rents all over the city.  There are so many multi-family and multi-unit properties here, I just don't see rents skyrocketing over the next 10-20 years enough to push people out of St. Louis.  Maybe a street or a block, but not an entire neighborhood or city.

If you think gentrification is a bad word you probably have not been around our fair city.  This word having a negative context in Portland, New York or San Francisco makes sense.

Pushing out people who are from somewhere and give that area a certain vibe, history and feel is not good.  But that doesn't seem to be happening here in St. Louis, we just don't have that kind of demand and masses of wealth elevating property values to a level where the folks living in a neighborhood for decades can no longer afford it.  The rich and poor are dispersed all over the city, especially the diverse southside.  Compton Heights, DeBaliviere Place, Central West End, Downtown and Downtown West have some of our richest and most priviledged residents, yet these places I just mentioned are diverse (economically and racially) and no one is getting pushed out of these areas.

Now let's give some thought to a few neighborhoods that are going through a gentrification phase as we speak.  Why not just pick out Old North St. Louis, Forest Park Southeast and Gravois Park as examples.  If you view the activity in the last 10 years in these areas as negative or exclusionary of any particular race or economic level, than please make your points.  I am genuinely interested in your take; but I only see these areas as exciting, inspiring and improving.

Manchester Avenue in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood between Kingshighway and Vandeventer is gentrifying.  This is St. Louis' most obvious gay nightlife part of town, it has a tattoo shop, a skate shop, R&B-heavy music venue (Gramophone), a reality-TV profiled business and many other restaurants and bars...all of which are affordable and you will see people of all kinds in Sanctuaria, Sweetie Pie's, Gramophone, Atomic Cowboy and Everest (the only places I've been).

If you don't like that kind of stuff, and see it as negative then please tell me why.  Or if you think there was some awesome, positive, local, soulful vibe in these areas that is being replaced by milk toast interests by white people, hipsters, gay people or monied people in general, than please point them out to me.

Gentrification to me means more residents, less vacant property, more business, less vacant storefronts, more jobs, more fun, less abandonment and ghetto B.S.  This ain't New York or Boston where rents are prohibitive and exclusive...this is St. Louis, a city that has lost 500,000 people in 50 years.  Our most swanky/happening neighborhoods like CWE are clearly racially and class diverse, check the census data:

In 2010 the neighborhood's population was 58.0% White, 28.0% Black, 0.2% Native American, 11.1% Asian, 2.2% Two or More Races, and 0.5% Some Other Race. 2.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin

I think the gentrification debate would  be more appropriate in other cities that have seen even more investment than St. Louis.  Most of St. Louis investment has occured in the midbelt, from Downtown to Downtown West to Midtown to Grand Center to the Central West End.  Outside of CWE, most of those areas were largely unpopulated.  Remember what Washington Avenue looked like in 1994?  Dead.  No one got displaced, there was no one there.

Here is one of my favorite recent articles on gentrification with Washington D.C. as the focal point of the story.  Some quotes from the piece:

“Gentrification” is like the secret word in Pee-Wee’s Playhouse — say it and everyone freaks out.

“It’s possibly the most charged word in the built environment right now,” says Christopher Leinberger, the well-known urbanist and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The image of mustachioed, trust-fund hipsters displacing poor people of color will do that.  And that’s a shame, because gentrification has some undeniable upsides: reduced crime, better services and a more diverse array of businesses — and not just coffee shops.

“As a Detroit native who has seen this place rot from the inside-out, I’d kill for a little gentrification,” Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson recently tweeted.

It's a complicated story, but in a city like St. Louis, I just don't think it applies.  I say bring on the investors and next St. Louis that has prouder streets and neighborhoods than the last generation could muster up.  There is no shame in wanting that.  Bring on the middle and upper class.  Bring on the hipsters.  Bring on money, bring on highly educated residents.  We can all be good neighbors.

My favorite local blog right now is the St. Louis Neighborhood Development Blog.  It highlights homes/businesses under renovation throughout the city and indicates the $ amounts that the building permits are for.  Nothing...NOTHING...makes me more hopeful for the future of St. Louis than money rolling into our brick beauties to bring them back to life for another generation, or modernizing the old systems to serve citizens for another generation.  A home being rehabbed in the Ville or St. Louis Hills is equal to me...investment...and that is all good.  No exceptions.  No one is being pushed out of anywhere in St. Louis.  I just don't see it.  I think negative perceptions of schools and crime displace more people across the income and race spectrum than property values and walkability scores.

Gentrification means uplifting our neighborhoods...is that wrong?

Thoughts?

Up And Coming Neighborhood Poll

So back in December I shared some thoughts on what an "up and coming" neighborhood means to me.  I posted a reader poll based on personal curiosity to see if my thoughts and gut feeling on the subject compare to the readers of my blog.  Now, I'm fully aware these free polls are entirely subjective and non-scientific and really just for fun.

Here are the results:

We have a winner, Dutchtown by 1 vote over Midtown.  Some thoughts on the responses:

• there are 79 neighborhoods in St. Louis, you can't include them all.  The 11 I chose were based on my experience and thought they would be good candidates.
• Marine Villa:  I was shocked it didn't get more love.  If I wanted to live on Cherokee Street, Marine Villa would be the neighborhood I'd choose.  Benton Park West would be a close second.
• The write in votes
• Dutchtown and Midtown votes came from a couple URLs, so likely the same person voting over and over.  Dutchtown could have easily been grouped in with Benton Park West, Gravois Park and Fox Park...after giving it some more thought, I think they are comparable when it comes to issues both upside and downside.  
• Midtown and Midtown Alley are awesome and continue to blow my mind.  Millions have been invested here and there are restaurants, nightclubs, businesses, housing, etc that are simply awesome and lots of fun.  However, it doesn't strike me as a residential neighborhood (yet) and the census data indicate very low owner ocuupied housing units.  But man, the potential is there and the momentum is awe-inspiring.
• Dogtown in not an official neighborhood, rather a part of town made up of Franz Park, Clayton/Tamm and Hi-Pointe...I love dogtown, but I wouldn't call it up and coming.  I'd call it arrived or "is what it is".  Sure there is a lot going on there, but I don't think of these neighborhoods as up and coming...it's more like Clifton Heights or the Hill...very stable.  
• Cherokee Street is certainly up and coming.  My thoughts exactly, that's why I put the Cherokee neighborhoods of Marine Villa, Benton Park West and Gravois Park up there.  They didn't get many votes, although I don't think most people know what/where those neighborhoods are.  Cherokee Street is exciting and a prime example of grass roots positivity and gentrification. 
• Skinker-Debaliviere and DeBaliviere Place.  OK, but million dollar homes don't qualify for up and coming to me.   Soulard?  No, it's a top 10 neighborhood.
• Tower Grove South is a tale of 2 neighborhoods.  The north side and middle are fully functional, vibrant and alive.  For that reason, I didn't include it.  Yet, the south side around Gravois is a mess.  This is one of those areas where drug dealing is so rampant and obvious it blows my mind why the cops and city don't crack down here.  Park your car at Truc Lam and just watch right around 5-8 pm.  Dudes are dealing right in the street plain as day.

My vote was for Forest Park Southeast.  When my family was looking to move from the far southside to the middle belt of the city, we considered this area.  However, we couldn't find a house that met our needs.  I would live here in a heartbeat.  In fact, I'll be doing a follow up post on Forest Park Southeast in the near future.  So stay tuned. 

I was happy to see Fox Park and Benton Park West get 20 votes apiece.  To me, McKinley Heights, Fox Park, Tower Grove East and Benton Park West are the most important swing neighborhoods in the entire city for the next 10 years.  These neighborhoods are among the few areas that are racially and economically integrated and gentrification, safety, urban living, development, etc will be hot topics for the next 10 years or so.  As go these neighborhoods, so goes the entire city of St. Louis.  This part of town is the barometer of where St. Louis is headed.  The battleground for our future.

I have lived in an area that I would wholly consider an up and coming neighborhood for nearly 3 years and I've learned more about my urban sensibilities, needs, wants, fears, etc.  I feel like I know what is great and exciting about St. Louis and what is frustrating and sad and tough as hell.  

Bottom line:  for now, I feel like I am part of something transformational living close to the action.  I am happy to see building permit stickers all over this part of town.  I am happy to see young people moving in.  I am happy to see people who want to be engaged in their surroundings and the future of St. Louis in larger numbers. 

Cheers to the up and coming neighborhoods of St. Louis.

The Mark C. Steinberg Ice Rink in Forest Park

The Mark C. Steinberg Ice Rink opened on November 11, 1957 in Forest Park right in the shadow of Barnes-Jewish Washington University Medical campus on Kingshighway.

Mr. Steinberg was a native St. Louisan and a self-made man starting out as an office boy in a brokerage firm, eventually starting his own firm, the largest of its kind in St. Louis at the time.

Mark C. Steinberg (source)

His wife Etta Eiseman Steinberg was a big part of the many charitable organizations and philanthropic donations and leadership by the Steinberg's including Steinberg Hall which houses the Washington University College of Architecture, Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, and the College & Graduate School of Art, the Steinberg wing of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and of course the Ice Rink.

Etta Steinberg was impressed by the Central Park skating rink in New York City, so she gave $600,000 toward the $1 million skating rink in Forest Park in St. Louis, known as Steinberg Skating Rink (source).

Mr. Steinberg (1881-1951) grew up in North St. Louis and was buried in New Mount Sinai Cemetery in Affton, Missouri just south of St. Louis.

The skating rink is the largest outdoor rink in the Midwest at 27,600 square foot of ice.  The rink is fully functional and available for skating lessons and all day passes for public use, private parties and corporate/charity events.  It's a mere $6.00 to skate all day and figure or hockey skate rental is $4.00; or, of course, bring your own.

The rink is typically open from mid-November through February.  There is a zamboni machine on the premises, so the surface is safe and smooth for optimal fun for all ages.  The area is used for sand volleyball May through August.  There are two regulation, lighted sand volleyball courts, again available for leagues, private parties and corporate functions.

The park area surrounding the rink is professionally landscaped and is framed by the Barnes-Jewish Medical Complex in the Central West End neighborhood, providing a  big city vibe right among natural Missouri plants and beauty.  

River Birch, Bald Cypress and other trees flank the outer edges providing a wind break and shade.  The "knees" of the cypress are spiking up in the exposed areas at the base of the trees...I love it!

There are plenty of parking spaces in the adjacent surface lot and an ample supply of bike racks for the many cyclists in Forest Park.

Other outdoor features include a large open fire pit to warm up to, lights strung over the rink providing a great scene for skating after dark and a sound system that was swinging with some classic rock deep cuts on my visit.

There are plenty of benches for spectators both inside and outside with great views of the rink on 2 of the 4 sides.

Speaking as a product of the 1970's, mid-century bowling alleys and skating are part of my formative years...so the interior of the rink is nothing short of retro gold (or in this case aqua) for me...feels like home.  When the facility was recently renovated, they kept most of the original touches (including old school time card clock in machine, bathroom fixtures, etc) and man am I glad they didn't throw up dry wall over the glazed brick. 

Here's some stuff that caught my eye on the interior of Steinberg:

beveled aqua bricks frame the windows

even the font and style of the staff jackets look right outta 1975

hey tough guy, don't mess with those lockers

Winter in St. Louis can be lots of fun!