Desco is seeking more buildings to raze in the city
Desco, the development arm of Schnuck’s grocery stores (you know the stores that are allegedly the friendliest in town), wasn’t happy enough razing the historic 1896 Century Building downtown. Now they want to tear down 20 homes at Grand & Loughborough.
The Post-Dispatch said of Alderman Matt Villa, “Villa has said it wouldn’t be right to allow a small group of homeowners to stop something that would have an overwhelmingly beneficial effect on the city. Eminent domain could be justified in that case, he has said.” Alderman Villa could hardly be more arrogant or wrong. First, it is an assumption that attracting big box development to an area while squeezing out home owners is beneficial.
Instead of using eminent domain to raze people’s homes we should be planning a new multi-use development that plans for the future MetroLink stop once the south line is built. An integrated multi-use development could increase the number of residents in the to serve local businesses. Instead, Villa & Desco are seeking a big box development that draws customers by car. This is a suburbanization of the city that we don’t need.
Tell Alderman Villa to leave the homes and build an urban development -Â click here to send him an email.