“Magnolia Square” To Replace St. Aloysius

Alderman Joe Vollmer on Friday introduced Board Bill 361 for first reading before the St. Louis Board of Alderman. It seems the Planning Commission gave approval to the “sketch plan” on December 7, 2005 with three conditions.

The first condition is a routine easement document. Second is the Planning Commission wants the developer to “explore the possibility of increasing the proposed 10′-long front yard setbacks.” The third items is for them to “explore ways to redesign the site’s Pearl Ave. blockface so as to enhance the vista (view corridor) of the site from Magnolia Ave. looking westward.”

The documents indicate the developer will ask for 10-year property tax abatement but at this time Alderman Vollmer has not yet introduced such legislation. The full bill is available for download which includes drawings and floor plans of the proposed construction. It is a 34 page, 12mb PDF document. Click here to view the full bill as introduced by Alderman Vollmer on Friday.

County-only Reliance Bank is listed as doing the financing for this project. The contact person is Kent Steinbrueck. I’ve already left Mr. Steinbrueck a voice message indicating my disappointment that his bank is financing a project that will destroy a small part of our history and put very suburban looking homes in its place. The bank’s phone number is (314) 842-3979 (you can use the directory to leave a voice mail), their fax number is (314) 842-3974 and finally their street address is 5401 S. Lindbergh Blvd St. Louis, MO 63123.

We can be pro-development and save these great buildings and setting for future generations to enjoy. The elected officials need to wake up and realize this or they may just find themselves joining Tom Bauer as an ex-alderman.

– Steve

Will The New Homes Be Built In 12 Months If St. Aloysius Is Razed?

Yes, another post on St. Aloysius. But this contains new information and a different take on why the Preservation Board should not authorize the demolition on Monday.

One aspect of the criteria used to evaluate demolition permits is that the new construction will be built within 12 months. How do they really determine this? Often they use a developer’s past history and financial means to make a judgement call. Here is where things, in this case, get murky.

The developer is Wohlert Company, LLC which, according to the Secretary of State, was founded earlier this year in July 2005. The builder, DiMartino Homes, LLC, was created in July 2003 (per the Secretary of State). Tax bills for DiMartino Homes are sent to the Wohlert home in Wildwood. From the DiMartino Homes website we learn a bit more about the connection between Wohlert & DiMartino:

DiMartino Homes was founded in 2004 by James and Marie (DiMartino) Wohlert and John and Julie DiMartino. Marie and John, children of the late Charles DiMartino, grew up on The Hill and appreciate the close knit community and the old world spirit that defines the neighborhood.

Okay, we have a brother and sister and their spouses. Before we get into St. Aloysius let’s look at what else they’ve got going on right now.

First is a new home at 2712 January on an adjacent site listed for $264,900 (MLS# 572232). This was built on the site of a smaller home that was razed so that two new homes could be built. The home at 2712 January is shown as being “tenant” occupied. The remainder of the site includes a sign indicating “Will Built to Suit.” This does not indicate to me a strong demand for new single family homes in this area.

At 5358 Southwest a multi-use building is being constructed. The site, which contained a single family house from 1900 and a very small 1950s commercial space, was purchased in August 2004. I do not know how long the building has been under construction. It includes a storefront space and living space above. It has a for sale sign on the front and no information on any future tenant for the storefront.

A few blocks away is an even more complicated development. At the NE corner of Reber Place and Sublette (5449 Reber for tax record search) is another two home development. In addition to DiMartio Homes LLC this development also lists AMR Homes LLC as a developer. The tax records show AMR Homes LLC as the owner of record. I happened to be at the Planning Commission meeting in the Spring when they approved replatting this single plot into what was then a proposal for three homes. LIke the house on January, a small and insignificant frame house was razed. But in the Spring it was not DiMartino that was involved. Digging through the records I found an interesting trail of property flipping. Starting in 9/7/04 Harry M. Fine Realty bought 5449 Reber from HFC Mortgage for $43,000. Two days later SJP Properties Inc bought the property. Western Continental Investments, LLC, the applicant to replat the land, acquired the property on 2/8/05 for $70,000. And finally on 5/12/05 AMR Homes LLC became the owner for a whopping $165,000. One house is under construction at this time, neither are pre-sold.
AMR Homes LLC includes James Wohlpert as an organizer but lists its address in Fenton. Follow all that?

The current ownership of the former St. Aloysius Church has been debated here and on other sites. I can now set the record straight: The City of St. Louis lists the entire city block under one Tax/Parcel Number (4054-11-0010-0) at the address 5608 North Magnolia (the postal address for the 1964 school building). Public tax records show the Archdiocese sold the property to Wohlert Company, LLC on 10/27/2005 with a recording date of 11/1/2005 (document number 51101000229). The sale price was not listed on the online tax records (not that uncommon). This information can be viewed on the Assessor’s Lookup Page (just put in 5608 Magnolia as the address).

So we know the Archdiocese no longer owns or controls the property. We also know the Wohlert/DiMartino/AMR team have built a number of homes in the area and perhaps many more over the years. What we don’t know is if they can pull off a project valued in excess of $4,600,000 (23 homes x $200,000 each = $4.6 million). This is not meant as a slight to them but it just seems to be a big leap. Unlike the Doering Mansion last month, I’ve seen nothing to indicate any attempt being made to pre-sell these homes. I think the Preservation Board should demand to see an irrevocable letter of credit from a lending institution to cover the development cost on the project or the equivalent of pre-sale contracts before giving any authorization to forever remove such wonderful structures.

This developer/builder is also clearly all about building single family homes. That is made clear on their website:

By purchasing homes and businesses in need of repair and transforming them into modern single-family dwellings, they are helping to assure that Southwest Gardens and The Hill are among the most desired areas in the city to live for generations to come.

Simply because a single family home builder purchased the property does not obligate the city to grand a demolition permit. I’ve yet to find anything to show this developer/builder has any experience with adaptive reuse projects in the city. On the surface it seems they proposed what they know — single family houses.

I strongly urge the Preservation Board not to approve the proposed demolition on Monday. I would hope they’d postpone a decision until such time the developer can document (from an engineering, architectural and financial viewpoint) why the properties cannot have some combination of adaptive reuse on the East and new construction on the Western portion, and document they have the financial means to see their project to completion either in the form of a lender commitment or pre-sales. This information should be present for a true public hearing.

The meeting will be held Monday at 4pm at 1015 Locust, 12th Floor. If you wish to speak you will need to sign up prior to the meeting. This item is second on the agenda.

– Steve

City Posts Agenda Regarding St. Aloysius Gonzaga

The City’s Cultural Resources office has posted the agenda for Monday’s Preservation Board meeting. This includes an application to demolish the beautiful former church complex known as St. Aloysius Gonzaga. Click here to see the detailed review of this loved complex and how the applicable Preservation Review Ordinance applies (including drawings of proposed houses and site plan).

Couple of facts to keep in mind:

From the enabling legislation: “Sound structures with apparent potential for adaptive reuse, reuse and or resale shall generally not be approved for demolition unless application of criteria in subsections A, D, F and G, four, six and seven indicates demolition is appropriate.”Subsection “A” & “G” are not applicable in this case. Subsection “D” does not warrant demolition because reuse potential does exist for the structures and the developer has not demonstrated any financial hardship. Subsection “F” also does not make demolition appropriate as the new project does not exceed the quality of the existing structures.
… Continue Reading

What Happened To The Riverfront Plans?

Back in October we got a glimpse at four concepts for the St. Louis riverfront (previous post). Missing from the presentation were designs for the secondary areas in front of Laclede’s & Chouteau’s Landings. Also missing were estimated costs.

At the meeting, held October 11th, we were told the next presentation would be December 3rd on or near the Arch grounds. Well, it is now December 12th and I’ve heard nothing about a next meeting. Have you?

– Steve

Wildwood Should Retain What’s Left Of Its Rural Character

The Post-Dispatch has an interesting story in the paper titled; Suburbia, horse country collide.

It seems the Wildwood City Council is considering a measure to limit the size of outbuildings. This is not uncommon as most municipalities have such ordinances. However, most do not have such large parcels of land. A newly formed group, Wildwood Horse Owners & Acreage Association, or WHOA for short is fighting to maintain the rural rights to barns and stables:

The organization opposes a plan before the City Council tonight to limit the size of unattached “accessory” buildings to 1.5 percent of the square footage of a property parcel. It would set a maximum building size of 6,500 square feet without special City Hall permission.

The proposed legislation, bill #1245, can be read here. I can see how people might not want someone building a barn bigger than the house on a 3 acre lot. But on land of say 20 acres a large barn seems like a basic element. I support keeping the rural character of Wildwood and don’t care for all the new McMansion subdivisions.

Still, I’ve seen some awful new metal barns and indoor riding arenas. It is one thing to argue for the right to keep horses and quite another to put up some enormous boring beige metal box. Wildwood probably needs to do some combination of both, limit size for smaller parcels (under 3 acres) and create some design guidelines for structures on larger sections.

Riding lessons are still on my to-do list. Maybe for 2006…

– Steve