Lets All Thank and Praise Biondi for Turning Midtown into West Co. (St. Louis: condo, credit)

[masterwood89]

From NextSTL's twitter. Slu's new slogan "Be Urban...Well not that urban, Be a Biliken".

[Old Trafford]

very sad, Biondi has turned into the bully of midtown, threaten to move to west co indeed. This might come back to haunt him.

[MUTGR]

Originally Posted by aragx6

Everything trailblazer.

The plans are moronic, the buildings already there are perfectly salvegable (and will cost a fortune to tear down) and are on the Natonal Register of Historic Places.

Apparently their main argument appears to be that because they're moving the law school downtown and showing such a fine commitment to the city, that we have to let them do whatever they want.

As usual Next STL has some of the best round up of the issue.





-- Because you've destoyed it all Biondi!

Hey, we agree on something!

Biondi is about money - pure and simple.

[kshe95girl]

I am so sad about this.

[mike0421]

Not knowing much about the subject, I would think that moving the college to West County would more negatively impact tuition costs than infilling existing infrastructure.

[masterwood89]

Here is another great article by NextSTL on Father Biondi's character. Link (http://nextstl.com/historic-preservation/father-biondi-is-a-liar - broken link)

[flynavyj]

Oh dear god he wants to bulldoze some old buildings, it's going to destroy the character of south city! While we can all get angry about SLU destroying the old Camp Jackson site and turning it into a sprawling university campus, you can't deny that much of the life that midtown has is as a direct result of SLU. Numerous restaurants, local businesses and the like are a result of SLU's progression further into essentially defunct areas. The relative safety of that area is has improved significantly since my mother graduated from there during the 1970's, and it will likely continue to come around. The tax base created by the university being in St. Louis City is also of large financial benefit to the city, and last I recalled, if Fr. Biondi is attempting to run a private institution he has to consider finances as a key component of his operations...this school isn't going to pay for itself, and I'm sure he doesn't want to watch it go Tango Uniform on his watch either...if the building was in a good location with proximity to the university, and the price was right for the purchase then let them purchase it and use it as they see fit...even if that means demolishing the building, they own it! I'm sure if renovations were and modernization was going to be as simple as running some romex wiring, adding oxygen hookups, and some fiberoptics that it would have seemed more feasible. But if you have a structure that hasn't been occupied in a significant period of time, doesn't fit your current plans of use, and isn't going to be a "quick flip" in terms of converting it to your intended use...then you bulldoze, and move on.

By the way, if the building was of such significant importance to city dwellers, why didn't they form a "salvage" organization to purchase the building prior to the SLU debacle? Then the city promoters could have done whatever they chose to with the building, turned it into condos, lofts, or a gigantic crack house...If no one else was purchasing the building, then you can't be mad when someone else buys it and does what they want with it.

[pdm_ad]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Oh dear god he wants to bulldoze some old buildings, it's going to destroy the character of south city! While we can all get angry about SLU destroying the old Camp Jackson site and turning it into a sprawling university campus, you can't deny that much of the life that midtown has is as a direct result of SLU. Numerous restaurants, local businesses and the like are a result of SLU's progression further into essentially defunct areas. The relative safety of that area is has improved significantly since my mother graduated from there during the 1970's, and it will likely continue to come around. The tax base created by the university being in St. Louis City is also of large financial benefit to the city, and last I recalled, if Fr. Biondi is attempting to run a private institution he has to consider finances as a key component of his operations...this school isn't going to pay for itself, and I'm sure he doesn't want to watch it go Tango Uniform on his watch either...if the building was in a good location with proximity to the university, and the price was right for the purchase then let them purchase it and use it as they see fit...even if that means demolishing the building, they own it! I'm sure if renovations were and modernization was going to be as simple as running some romex wiring, adding oxygen hookups, and some fiberoptics that it would have seemed more feasible. But if you have a structure that hasn't been occupied in a significant period of time, doesn't fit your current plans of use, and isn't going to be a "quick flip" in terms of converting it to your intended use...then you bulldoze, and move on.

By the way, if the building was of such significant importance to city dwellers, why didn't they form a "salvage" organization to purchase the building prior to the SLU debacle? Then the city promoters could have done whatever they chose to with the building, turned it into condos, lofts, or a gigantic crack house...If no one else was purchasing the building, then you can't be mad when someone else buys it and does what they want with it.

+1. This mentality that we have to save EVERYTHING doesn't make sense to me.

[kshe95girl]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

Oh dear god he wants to bulldoze some old buildings, it's going to destroy the character of south city! While we can all get angry about SLU destroying the old Camp Jackson site and turning it into a sprawling university campus, you can't deny that much of the life that midtown has is as a direct result of SLU. Numerous restaurants, local businesses and the like are a result of SLU's progression further into essentially defunct areas. The relative safety of that area is has improved significantly since my mother graduated from there during the 1970's, and it will likely continue to come around. The tax base created by the university being in St. Louis City is also of large financial benefit to the city, and last I recalled, if Fr. Biondi is attempting to run a private institution he has to consider finances as a key component of his operations...this school isn't going to pay for itself, and I'm sure he doesn't want to watch it go Tango Uniform on his watch either...if the building was in a good location with proximity to the university, and the price was right for the purchase then let them purchase it and use it as they see fit...even if that means demolishing the building, they own it! I'm sure if renovations were and modernization was going to be as simple as running some romex wiring, adding oxygen hookups, and some fiberoptics that it would have seemed more feasible. But if you have a structure that hasn't been occupied in a significant period of time, doesn't fit your current plans of use, and isn't going to be a "quick flip" in terms of converting it to your intended use...then you bulldoze, and move on.

By the way, if the building was of such significant importance to city dwellers, why didn't they form a "salvage" organization to purchase the building prior to the SLU debacle? Then the city promoters could have done whatever they chose to with the building, turned it into condos, lofts, or a gigantic crack house...If no one else was purchasing the building, then you can't be mad when someone else buys it and does what they want with it.

Originally Posted by pdm_ad

+1. This mentality that we have to save EVERYTHING doesn't make sense to me.

You guys do realize that the Pevely complex is on the National Register of Historic Places, right?
This has the potential to set a dangerous precedent.
" But some oppose because the four-story building that was Pevely's main office building is nearly 100 years old, and the building and others on the eight-acre site are on the National Register of Historic Places."
Read more: Commission Oks demolition of Pevely Dairy complex (http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/commission-oks-demolition-of-pevely-dairy-complex/article_8e793469-880d-5b36-bc20-d6131d336aae.html#ixzz1nJ0uLlB7 - broken link)

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by kshe95girl

You guys do realize that the Pevely complex is on the National Register of Historic Places, right?
This has the potential to set a dangerous precedent.
" But some oppose because the four-story building that was Pevely's main office building is nearly 100 years old, and the building and others on the eight-acre site are on the National Register of Historic Places."
Read more: Commission Oks demolition of Pevely Dairy complex (http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-and-regional/missouri/commission-oks-demolition-of-pevely-dairy-complex/article_8e793469-880d-5b36-bc20-d6131d336aae.html#ixzz1nJ0uLlB7 - broken link)

This.

Just because you own something absolutely doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want with it.

I will say that I think Biondi is a ... Ok a lot of words I can't say on this forum, but my anger truly lies with the Planning Commission who so flippantly and without any explanation overturned the initial Preservation Board's decision.

And again, there is a giant empty lot across the freaking street. They're spending more than 3/4 of a million dollars to tear down a building that they don't even need to tear down to do what they want to do. This doesn't have anything to do with economics.