Condos May Replace ‘Old Town’ Clayton House
Date Posted: April 4, 2024
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A developer plans to demolish one of the oldest homes in Clayton and replace it with four luxury condominiums, dismaying its former inhabitants and some of the home’s neighbors.
The 118-year-old house at 139 N. Bemiston Avenue, sits atop a hill overlooking a handful of stately, tree-lined streets that many call “Old Town Clayton,” just north of downtown between Jackson Avenue and Brentwood Boulevard.
The owners, an aging couple, sold it for $1.7 million. And the new owner, Douglass Properties, is already advertising sleek condos — for at least $2 million each — even before applying to the city for a demolition and construction permit.
Guy Petzall, the couple’s son, wants to see the house preserved.
“It’s part of the history of Clayton, of St. Louis,” said Petzall. “They don’t make houses like it anymore.”
Doug Cohen, owner of Douglass Properties, said demolitions in Old Town are nothing new. This is the fifth house in the neighborhood he’s replacing with new construction, among dozens of others in the area.
“The market is calling for new houses or new condominiums and not renovated 130-year-old houses,” Cohen said. “I’m not looking to redirect the focus of the neighborhood. The precedent has already been set.”