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These historic Missouri properties are in 'peril,' preservationists say

Seven of the 14 listings this year are in the St. Louis area.
Credit: Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation

ST. LOUIS — A statewide nonprofit group that promotes historic preservation annually highlights a list of "Places in Peril," historic properties in danger of being lost through lack of upkeep or demolition for redevelopment. Seven of the 14 listings this year are in the St. Louis area.

Bill Hart, executive director of Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation (Missouri Preservation), said the group understands a lot of the properties on the list are going to be lost, but "that's the reason for shining a light on them, kind of a last call for a lot of these resources." This is the nonprofit's 19th year of producing the list, which is chosen by a committee of preservation advocates from submitted nominations.

If historic properties are saved, 90% are kept alive by historic tax credits, he said. "They turn historic preservation into an economic development project," Hart said. Renovation projects can help fill empty buildings as well as create jobs and help stabilize neighborhoods, he said.

But those tax credits are limited and don't fund entire projects. He said he gets calls daily "from people who really think that because they've acquired a historic property that there's some magical pot of gold waiting for them."

With an annual operating budget of about $350,000, Missouri Preservation raises funds through memberships and the occasional grant, to advocate for preservation with state legislators. A small recent grant allowed the organization to help with eligibility assessments for the National Register of Historic Places for some properties, Hart said.

Among the Places in Peril in the St. Louis area are a number of properties owned by the city's Land Reutilization Authority, which has a program to demolish vacant and disintegrating buildings that it doesn't have the funds to market to potential buyers. "These are thousands of buildings that are going to be wholesale demolished," Hart said. "We're leaving the city pock-marked and empty — the return on investment will be abysmal, because unimproved property yields very little potential for real estate tax revenue."

Hart said that buildings that are obviously "too far gone" and dangerous call for demolition, "but it seems to me our money would be better spent stabilizing existing buildings than spending oftentimes a lot more money to demolish."

One local endangered property is the Shanley Building in Clayton, which is in the footprint of a planned $270 million mixed-use development. Hart calls the Harris Armstrong-designed building "a game changer." One iteration of the developer's plan revealed at an early October public meeting in Clayton called for demolishing the Shanley and replacing it "with something a whole lot like it," Hart said.

"Why kill off our ancestors?" he said. "I encouraged them to incorporate the Shanley into their plans. It's distinguished architecture."

Check out the St. Louis Business Journals' report here for a slideshow of the 2019 Places in Peril in the state of Missouri.

The owners of one of St. Louis' two Frank Lloyd Wright homes have taken their property off the market, saying they are "taking a break" in their pursuit of selling the historic home. The home, located at 865 Masonridge Road in Town & Country, is owned by the Pappas family and was built by Ted and Bette Pappas.

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