The real progress in that neighborhood is being made by the Lutheran Church with its Better Living Communities group. They have already built 38 new homes for low income families. New development has been already been attracted by its success. I toured it recently and the residents love it. The neighborhood is pristine. Freeman Bosley says crime has pretty much left the neighborhood. It goes to show what faith based groups can do when profit isn’t the motive.

While we are delighted by the success of the Better Living Communities project, it should be noted that it is in Hyde Park, the neighborhood directly to the north of Old North St. Louis.

Better Living has taken a different approach to revitalization, choosing to demolish existing housing and start over, while the Old North neighborhood has taken the approach of rebuilding and reusing what is there while adding to it in historically sensitive ways. In many cases, the results are nothing short of astounding in the improvements made to buildings and streetscapes. We believe it results in a more sustainable neighborhood in the long run, as well as using fewer resources in the short term.

Dave

Sorry, we countians aren’t familiar with all the neighborhood names, it is very near you. On our tour, we did learn they are rebabbing houses that can be saved, most of what they demolished were beyond salvation, if you will excuse the pun. Hard to argue with their success and good luck to you.

This sounds like good news. Maybe finally some of the St.Louis county commuters will begin to move that drive the highways everyday to and from work from west to east and back or from north to south and back. People need to start moving closer to their jobs if they can.

One man knows this success well: Paul J. McKee, Jr. He’s banking on it, in a big way.

Congrats to ONSL and the Restoration Group!

It amazes me that more city neighborhoods, both on the north and south sides, haven’t followed the ONSL model of community revitalization. Whenever I hear about people wanting to demolish buildings that are supposedly “beyond saving,” I think of the buildings that the ONSL Restoration Group has renovated, many of which were in incredibly bad shape. The solution for most other neighborhoods would be to knock them down, but ONSL has opted to not take the easy way out, placing an emphasis on preservation (along with thoughtfully planned infill construction), and it’s really paying dividends. Hyde Park, The Ville, JeffVanderLou, St. Louis Place, Academy, etc. would be wise to shamelessly copy what ONSL is doing.

The more I read and learn, the more my impressions are confirmed. St. Louis is setting a great example for the rest of the country.

While more truly excellent housing is needed for low-income individuals, rehabilitation of the existing buildings in Hyde Park and ONSL would better preserve the character, historic quality, and grow real estate value of the neighborhood for all residents - low and high. The nature of many of the older buildings was for working families - compact, multiple units built into one larger structure. There is nothing wrong with that building style working for today’s low-income families.

There are few buildings that are truly beyond saving. Its just a matter of work and financing. Unfortunately it seems many construction companies would rather bid on, promote, and work on new buildings than rehab. It can be tricky to really “get it right” in an older building and they need to have a sensitivity for historic methods, especially if they are applying for tax credits. Just ask our electrician who did about twice as much work to thread electrical wires through old plaster than he’d have had to do in a new construction building. Was it worth it? Yes, because there was nothing wrong with our plaster. It would have been tremendously wasteful to tear it all out instead of just patching holes.

I would rather have a vacant 100 year old building that might potentially still be rehabbed than a vinyl siding construction that will last maybe 40 years before needing to be torn down and be rebuilt again. A few examples of poor modern construction are already decrepit and vacant on 11th street facing highway 70. Their only hope is to be torn down. Without unique architecture they are just abandoned that much quicker.