My thoughts, as Promised

Forgive me for the following post, but it is just me putting my current thoughts on paper and attempting to organize my thoughts on the project:

Political/Civic Structure

One thing that really is intriguing to me right now is how the structure of city government and to a point the state government has a direct impact on my site and other areas of disinvestment throughout the city.

Paul McKee Jr. (Previously Mentioned in this blog) essentially influenced a bill in the legislature called the “Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credits”, which “pays for the purchase, maintenance and demolition of properties in large tracts of poor urban areas in Missouri.”

The interesting thing is that the Northside development area (my site area for the most part) is the only site in the state that currently qualifies for it due to the amount of land that is needed to be owned by a single entity to qualify.
This reeks of corruption if you ask me.

Site Boundaries

The sites boundaries are currently left undefined, and to be honest will probably remain so due to the nature of the thesis investigation on disinvestment and abandonment and how one would go about starting to solve those problems.
Instead, I think I want to examine the existing housing stock and determine whether or not structures in the outlying areas of the ‘epicenter’ of the site will be in a state where they are either in good condition, or in a condition where they could still be repaired should the process of neighborhood revival take upwards of 20 years.

This is important because theoretically as the extremely poor areas start to develop and the residential areas expand, the outlying area’s land value would increase, but not to a point of inaffordability, making it a viable option for renovation and other improvements to a housing stock that while currently structurally fit and aesthetically superior to other areas of the neighborhood, could still use improvement.

The underlying point of that is this: If a structure is still standing on the outskirts of the area, and can still stand in say 20 years, it shouldn’t be what this thesis should actually focus on, rather these structures would see the beneficial effects from the transformation of any design intervention deemed to be fit.


Development

One thing I find fascinating in my brief overview of the McKee plan is that he expects to have this area for the most part revitalized in 15 yrs. I find this difficult to believe that such a large area with over 100 years of disinvestment can be rehabbed into a viable urban neighborhood and not a hodgepodge of suburban type homes, strip malls, and corporate campuses.

This area I am finding has a lot of potential if you look close enough and examine the neighborhood for what is HAS and not what it lacks. The neighborhoods highest density is along the southern portion of the site. It offers affordable housing to the area, while still looking OK in an urban setting. Also, rehabilitation efforts are already underway in area on the eastern edge of the site area.

One area of the site where I was blown away with potential was the area of Madison Street and 20th St. An old brewery has been rehabilitated into apartments, and row houses are still intact. While walking on this street you don’t feel like you are in a dangerous neighborhood, in fact it reminded me of Boston and the beacon hill area, only that its only a block or so long, and a half block off of the street has buildings that are crumbling.

I feel like this is a really good area to start my project, there is a nearby linear park with high density around it, and literally acres of open land to the west, and rehabilitation opportunities to the east and north.

My track of thought to this point is that if one area starts to rehabilitate perhaps a snowball effect could start to occur. In this case at 20th and Madison, I need to find the point at which density would start to breed a small commercial area, at what point would two warehouses located on the next block would become good opportunities for loft apartments, etc. I feel like this area is on the cusp of that first success in a long time for this neighborhood.

Perhaps it is a little premature for me to evaluate yet, but I am already getting a feeling of how I am going to phase this project. The area south of St. Louis Ave. has both the density and proximity to the downtown area that I believe can start such a rehabilitation.

Impediments to Development

I will confess I need to do a lot more research on this subject, but my hunch is that the demographic that would be interested in this neighborhood are young couples without kids that want to take on the challenge of rehabilitating a historic building. Many of these structures can be bought for less than $20,000, probably why McKee was attracted to the investment opportunity. McKee bought several of these properties, kicked out the tenants, and is letting them decay.

The potential problem that I see is that if I am a young couple looking to invest in the area, McKee will not sell these properties for rehabilitation. So at some point we have a man that swears he wants to help out the northside and St. Louis, and on the other he may actually be hindering the very development that may have occurred naturally had he not own all of the properties. Vacant properties generate minimal tax revenue and economic activity, while rehabbed buildings create immediate economic impact.

Economic Impact

I think a huge part of my thesis will be based on the very concept mentioned above: that vacant properties generate minimal tax revenue. In a book called Mapping Decline the author brought up the point that areas like the northside use a disproportionate amount of tax revenues earned by other areas of the city. The goal of this redevelopment would to be at minimum make this area economically self sufficient.

Schools

One of the reasons that I have targeted the demographic of young couples without kids is that with the lack of property taxes earned on vacant lots or lots with substantial disinvestment has a significant impact on the funding of public schools within the area. In fact, at one point in 2007 the district was unaccredited due to poor testing performance.

Check out this website for more information on the area, including a map of McKee's properties:

http://www.eco-absence.org/blairmont