Headquarters Project Stalls Over Demolition of Historic Building
Date Posted: July 12, 2019
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Business Journal: A nonprofit says the completion of its $15 million headquarters is on pause until it can work out an agreement with a city panel.
Missouri Foundation for Health last year got financing, including New Markets Tax Credits from the city, for the project, including redevelopment of the Columbia Iron Works building, at 4240 Vista Ave. in Forest Park Southeast. The organization, which already has begun work on the project, is moving from its former location at The Annex at Union Station in downtown St. Louis.
In June, the organization went before the Preservation Board, seeking the demolition of a corner commercial building at 1400 Tower Grove Ave. for the project. The property is in a Preservation Review District.
In 2017, it had gotten permission to demolish a four-family apartment building and shed at 1408-10 Tower Grove Ave. In exchange, the nonprofit was to secure a building permit for the rehab of 1400 Tower Grove.
But an engineer for the foundation said at the June 24 hearing that the back wall of the structure had collapsed “after we took possession of the site.” Dan Krasnoff, director of the city’s Cultural Resources Office, recommended approving demolition of 1400 Tower Grove, in part because Missouri Foundation for Health said it would build a replica structure at the site.
An activist, Imran Hanafi, responded that the nonprofit’s move “seems like a bait and switch.”
He questioned whether it “failed to assess the building before agreeing” to the 2017 demolition request. “The onus is on them to make this right, not you to go back and help this situation,” Hanafi said.