Benton Park - West - Neighborhood ? (St. Louis: real estate market, foreclosure, rentals)

[puttersea]

Hey everyone, going to be relocated to St.Louis in the near future. Was wondering what your take is on this neighborhood. Thanks.

[Azalea City Man]

st. louis Benton Park - Google Maps

eh ... it's, uh, "okay".

[aragx6]

up and coming is the phrase folks use.

Depends on your tolerance for crime, I guess.

I'd buy there but I wouldn't rent (What's the use in putting up with it if not for an investment?)

[aragx6]

I remembered the first time I'd read really anything about BPW a year or so ago in the Riverfront Times. A new restaurant opened on Jefferson there and in the article this description of BPW struck me and I remembered it:

Benton Park West may be the next big thing in St. Louis. Or it may not. You probably need three doctoral degrees plus some thousand-dollar software to accurately predict such things, but you might as well ask the savant in your office who hasn't watched a minute of college basketball — ever — but is kicking everyone's butt in the office pool. It's a crapshoot.

[TGS]

Benton Park West is one of those areas where some blocks are fine and others aren't. Look for a block that has a majority of owner-occupied homes. This area was a hotbed of speculation for suburbanites attempting to "flip" homes or build a book of rentals, and now that the real estate market has tanked those suburban owners are letting the properties slide. If there are too many on a block, it goes downhill fast. The neighborhood immediately to the south, Gravois Park, is the epicenter of crime on the South Side. There are numerous shootings there every year (mostly drug dealers fighting, not random shootings). These criminals used to be all over Benton Park West, but have been pushed south by developers, speculators, and hipsters/anarchists. If these homes fall into foreclosure, the criminals could come right back. Benton Park West may be good investment long-term if you want a great brick home but can't afford something in Soulard or around Tower Grove, but it is going to take some time. I do believe that it will eventually be completely cleared up since it has great houseing stock and is surrounded on three sides by areas with a lot of high-end development.

If you go east (on the other side of Jefferson), the Benton Park area south of Arsenal and the Marine Villa area around Cherokee antique row is a much safer and cleaner "up and coming" neighborhood.