NorthSide Regeneration Project? (St. Louis, Maplewood, Pevely: real estate, townhomes, purchase)

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

What exactly is Paul McKee planning, anyway? I was doing a little research and I read that the project will be suburban in character. That kind of scared me-when I go through St. Louis using Google maps, seeing suburban-style houses in an urban environment makes my blood boil. It doesn't fit and never will, and is the wrong construction in the wrong place-it's just a waste if you ask me. I'm also extremely concerned that he'll tear down buildings with actual historic value, such as the few old brick townhomes, churches, and other various buildings that are still there. So how exactly does he plan to "regenerate" the North Side?

Also, one quick side question-is that bank on Cass Avenue still standing?

[Dawn10am]

McKee's plan is basically jobs jobs jobs. His theory is that the only way the North Side is ever going to turn around is if we fix the poverty up there by getting people off of government checks and into job training and the workforce (with which I tend to agree). It's also going to be mostly urban in character because McKee is aware that interest in suburban living is declining and he wants to make his project viable for the next generation. I think there will be some suburban-style shopping centers here and there (he mentioned something about dropping Maplewood Commons onto Jefferson Ave.), but it's mostly going to be human-scaled and walkable.

As far as tearing down buildings--who knows? He says he wants to save what can be saved, but it doesn't seem like he's interested in helping decayed buildings become salvageable. Basically, any building up there that is in good shape now is probably going to be what stays and anything requiring more than basic refurbishing is going to be what goes.

FYI--I got all of this information directly from him at a private meeting he held for SLU Law students.

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

Alright, that sounds better than the impressions I've had of him. I don't like the idea of suburban style shopping centers, but I think that won't totally ruin the urban landscape, and they could be replaced eventually. I like his idea of bringing well-needed jobs to the area, but what kind of jobs is he bringing?

[Dawn10am]

I think he's focusing on biotech and food sciences primarily, as well as all of the secondary retail and service jobs that will be created when the area is actually livable again.

[flynavyj]

There's definitely the real estate in North City to bring in the businesses, but they have to want to be in the area, as McKee doesn't have the ability to just start new businesses from scratch that serve no market...unless he's actually thinking of branching out, which I doubt.

He had mentioned about training opportunities and trade schools focused on preparing people for these new jobs, which will be great, long as some schools are wanting to come into the area to focus on that. He is addressing the real problem though, which are jobs, poverty, and education.

Unfortunately, education is already available, jobs can be hard to come by depending on your skills and field, but many of the minimum wage jobs keep having "hiring" signs outside (specifically in the fast food sector). The real key here is getting people better trained for jobs that aren't minimum wage, and as such turning the area into a good working class community, i'll be interested to see if this allows things to improve!!!

There will always be people who complain about specifics of any projects. (I have my own complaints about our Northwest Plaza renovation). But truth is, I didn't come up with the plan. Same is true whenever a project comes up here in the City, the property down there is cheap, anyone who had a little bit of money would be able to start making purchases, unfortunately McKee appeared to be the only one who was willing to put his money where his mouth was and take on the risk of this initial investment...same was true with SLU's purchase of the Pevely building, it'd have been great to save the architecture, but it apparently wasn't important enough for anyone else to making the investment.

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

Now that I think about it, McKee will probably put his "Maplewood Commons" thing on the old Pruitt-Igoe site, won't he? After all, that would make the most sense.