Infill continues on Dolman and other formerly vacant lots. When the red buds, dogwoods and other showy flowering trees are in bloom, it’s easy to love this part of our great city.
Revisiting the former City Hospital site in the Peabody Darst Webbe Neighborhood
Lafayette Preparatory Academy Expansion - Lafayette Square Neighborhood
Former Mop Factory Sees new Ownership, Potential Residential Redevelopment - St. Louis City Talk Favorite from 2017
After multiple changes in ownership, the handsome brick building at Dolman and Park Avenue has not been rehabbed. Another transfer in ownership announced in January, 2017 may be the one that gets this project done. What an important building to showcase the preservation bent of the Lafayette Square Neighborhood.
October, 2017 Cultural Resources Office - Preservation Board Meeting
There continues to be a lot of infill development being proposed all over the city. October's proposals caught my eye because they are in my neck of the woods. I visited each site in Benton Park, Compton Heights, Lafayette Square and McKinley Heights to check out the scene and hopefully get some final photos of empty lots that will soon have foundations being dug.
Dolman Street Returning to Residential Vs. Vacant Lots
Charleville Brewing Company Opens First St. Louis Location
Yeah, we are the Brick City. We are also becoming the Beer City of the Midwest. The history is certainly there, but the influx of microbreweries since Schlafly broke the mold in 1991 has been amazing to witness.
1991, the year STL malt broke!
Usually we look back at our past and pine for the good old days (World's Fair and Riverboats, I'm looking at you). Fact is, when it comes to beer, the past was indeed great...but the present and future is better.
St. Louis' beer scene is on the rise and getting more and more diverse. I thought we could only sustain maybe five breweries in St. Louis (a city of ~310,000). Boy was I wrong.
Former Praxair Site in Lafayette Square - 2016 St. Louis City Talk Favorite
Continuing with my top twenty announced or under-construction projects from 2016, we move to Lafayette Square with a development announcement for the former Praxair site along Chouteau Avenue.
I'm amazed at how long this property has sat vacant in such a desirable neighborhood (2005).
We've seen plans floated before
as far back as 2007. But, maybe the economy is back on its feet and the time is right to make the development work.
I'm confident the people in Lafayette Square will demand quality and will be very involved in the process. They have worked so hard in this neighborhood, and I expect that will continue here.
So what are we talking?
NextSTL reported in November that a developer has plans for 64 townhomes
:
Now Pulte Homes has a plan to build 64 townhomes on the Praxair site bounded by Chouteau, Missouri Avenue, MacKay Place and a separate parcel fronting Hickory Street to the south. The developer is planning to meet next week with neighborhood residents living adjacent to the site. A larger Lafayette Square community meeting is planned to follow before the end of the year. No images or site plans have been made available.
Pulte Homes? Not a name I've heard before,
they've never done a project in St. Louis, but they've done many in the suburbs
. And it shows, but this site is unique. I don't think the suburban stuff will work here and I don't think the neighbors will let it. Pulte have done some decent work in other parts of the country including the following:
Pulte project in Alexandria, Virginia
Pulte project in Washington State
This is a dead stretch of Chouteau that needs some love. The south side of the property abuts the fully intact part of the neighborhood and the northern edge has much room for improvement. People have been living around this vacant site for over ten years and they (and people who live near here) are ready for positive change.
This will be a fun one to watch in 2017.
