3460 Oak Hill

Click on the title above to read the saga of this building.

Sam Meller (below) spoke at our Block Captain meeting this evening about redeveloping 3460 Oak Hill. CDA still haven't approved his plans or budget. He's planning six 1,200 sq. feet condo's.

What's it going to take?
Here's someone committed to rehabbing a building that's been empty and slowly falling apart for almost 12 years. Four other developers have either been turned away (see the Codd Brothers debacle) or walked away from the building. CDA is spinning its wheels and drawing out the process; Sam has been trying to get approval from CDA for 1.5 years.

Someone at the meeting asked Sam, What will happen to the building if you don't get it?
Sam: Jennifer said it will be torn down.

Oh, really?
J-FLo has been in office since Spring of 2001 and has had 7.5 years to make this building a priority.
She's up for election in 2008. If uncontested, she'll remain the alderwoman but that doesn't mean the 15th ward residents have to vote for her (just leave that box on the ballot blank).

3460 Oak Hill - Swan Song?

Today I went to survey 3460 Oak Hill and while snapping photos I heard from the street, Is this 3460 Oak Hill? (Yes, that's correct, one of the many code violations on this building includes missing address numbers.)
A guy in a pickup wanted to know, I asked him to pull over and we chatted. He told me the LRA owned property was going up for auction tomorrow. I questioned his info while my blood pressure danced. If it's back on the block when Sam Meller supposedly had the green light I will personally resuscitate that recall.

He showed me a print out from CDA and I pointed to Developer typed behind the address.

We were both confused: he had a print out of auctions, I thought I was reading that it was being developed.

I Googled 3460 Oak Hill and found http://stlcin.missouri.org/devprojects/projinfo.cfm?DevProjectID=387 This was last updated in 2001 when the Codd Brothers were attempting to redevelop the building.

I recall Mark Ettling, the former Director of GOHCC announcing on our neighborhood listserv: 'A historic survey of 16 blocks in Ward 15 was completed by Lynn Josse. The next step will be to submit an application for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.'

Ironic? You betcha.

At this point the historic art deco building is destined to be an empty LRA Lot. The concrete pilings now have severe cracks in them which weren't there last fall(pardon my poorly rendered red arrows), bricks have fallen off, rows of bricks have fallen off the parapet, and rows of mortar is missing from the West side of the building.

Why have alderwoman Jennifer Florida, LRA, and CDA allowed this to happen?
A perfectly sound proposal was submitted in 2001 by the Codd Brothers and dismissed when no other proposal was being considered.
http://stlouisbricks.blogspot.com/2007/07/3460-oak-hill-redux.html

Last year I took a photo of this same view. Now there's missing bricks to the parapet along with a row of listing bricks about to fall. This is now a Life Safety issue.


Trees are now growing into the foundation.

These cracks in the concrete pilings weren't there last year. Click on the photos to enlarge.



About 20 feet of the parapet is missing, I suspect it fell in towards the roof. This isn't a visual perspective issue, I checked it from various views; it's gone baby, gone.

Missing mortar.

Bricks are missing along with rows of mortar.



The side parking pad (once a matching garage) is now a pile of bricks.

ONCE AGAIN, 3460 OAK HILL - RESPONSE FROM THE MAYOR'S OFFICE

I recently wrote an open letter to Mayor Slay about one of my favorite buildings, 3460 Oak Hill http://stlouisbricks.blogspot.com/2007/07/3460-oak-hill-redux.htm

I sent the above link via email and received a letter dated August 4 from Barbara Geisman:

Dear Ms. Herman:

Thank you for your email of August 1, 2007, advising Mayor Slay that you had posted a letter to him on your blog. The Mayor asked me to respond to your email in my capacity as his Executive Director of Development. I have accessed your blog and read your letter, and have printed it out as an attachment to this letter...In the future, if you have questions or comments that you wish to direct to Mayor Slay and his staff, it would be helpful if you could send them directly to the Mayor - there are a lot of wonderful communications on the Internet that concern issues in the City but unfortunately we do not have the time to search the web and find them all.

By copy of this letter, I am asking LRA and CDA staff to take the following actions in response to the concerns raised in the letter that was posted on your blog.

Marian, I would appreciate it if you could provide me with a narrative on the actions CDA has taken to date to find a qualified developer for the property.

Laura, I would appreciate it if you could take a close look at this property and arrange for LRA's maintenance staff to secure it to the maximum extent possible, recognizing that we want this building to be saved and restored. I would also appreciate it if you can give me a report on the condition of this property and what LRA has done to restore it.

Ms Herman, once I receive the above-requested responses from Marian and Laura I will share them with you. I believe CDA has been attempting to find a qualified developer for this property for some time. I hope Marian's response will shed some light on why this has been so difficult.

Thank you for taking the time to write and thank you, most of all, for choosing to be a city resident. You and other like you are Mayor Slay's very important partners in his drive to make St. Louis City a great place to work and play once again.

Sincerely yours,

Barbara A. Greisman

Copies: Mayor Francis G. Slay; Honorable Jennifer Florida, Alderwoman 15th ward; Jeff Rainford, Chief of Staff; Jill Claybour and Marian Miller, CDA administration; Rodney Crim, Otis Williams, and Laura Costello, SLDC


It was great to have a quick response from the Mayor's office although I'm puzzled by 'Make St. Louis City a great place to work and play once again.' Yikes! What am I missing?

I do understand that Mayor Slay can't be expected to read every blog. The reason I had emailed him a link to my blog article was to provide text and photo illustrations.

I waited two weeks and stopped by 3460 Oak Hill on Sunday.

The shrubs along the side of the building have been removed! Please go after that tree also, the roots could be infiltrating the building foundation.



Rows of mortar popping out and a section where a group of bricks is about to jettison. I didn't notice this a few months ago....new? Life safety issue?



Holy stinkola! Missing bricks in the parapet, rows of disappearing mortar and new graffiti on the inside of the windows.



Many more broken windows on the second and third floors. I didn't check the back door to see if it was secured since I was off to meet Bad Tim for dinner. The back door board up was hanging open last fall (which was how I took those interior photos and photos from the roof)



One remaining intact window. Will the others be secured from winter storm damage?



The neglected shrubs that have previously obscured the front of the building have been removed, thanks! I've been wanting a photo of the doorway for years.



As of today, I haven't heard back from LRA or CDA. I have heard a rumor that Sam Mellen had submitted a plan to redevelop the building.

Further reading on this building: http://www.15thwardstl.org/taxonomy/term/31

3460 OAK HILL - REDUX

Dear Mayor Slay,

Eleven months ago I wrote about this building http://stlouisbricks.blogspot.com/search?q=3460+oak+hill
at 3460 Oak Hill which is currently owned by LRA.

The condition of the building is rapidly deteriorating; damaged parapet, broken windows and this massive fissure on the facade:




The brick walls of the parking pads have been vandalized and destroyed.

As seen from the street:



From the alley and the side of the parking pads (once a three car garage):





Oops, some of the bricks fell on the neighbors vinyl siding, watch out for that lawsuit!




Sorry for the blurred image, I was experiencing fear as I did a photo of the parapet from the ground. It appears to be listing and I was prepared to launch in the event of falling brick or glass:



This was once an exceptional Art Deco-ish building with 12 efficiency apartments. The city bought it and its been empty (and deteriorating) for the last 11 years. It's a cultural and architectural asset to the neighborhood with an outstanding view from the roof top which is staircase accessible from the interior.









In August of 2004, a proposal was submitted to CDA by two bothers who've done extensive rehabbing in TGS.

They hired an architect, a structural engineer and an environmental engineer to review the building (all part of the CDA process). The reports came back from the environmental engineer that the building was fairly 'clean' no asbestos and the only lead paint was on the stair risers.

The structural engineer disclosed that the roof, floors and pilings are concrete, the exterior is brick. (This is one of the current problem with the building, rain and snow is getting in between the roof and the walls and creating severe cracks. Other poblems: the windows have been destroyed, the interior littered, vitrolite destroyed, walls covered with graffiti and please get an inspector in there to check on the pipes and any other metal that can be salvaged.)

Then, one of the brothers gets a call from Marian Miller at CDA who tells him
they have a week deadline to submit the final plans. He was surprised, had no prior knowledge of this deadline and their architect was busy and unable to render the extensive plans.

During that year no other developer had submitted a proposal to CDA.

I'm perplexed. Why was a sound proposal given a deadline and when that deadline couldn't be met, why was the plan dismissed? So I emailed 15th ward Alderwoman Jennifer Florida with my question and she responded:

"They told me their plans changed..moving to Webster and could not do the project. They had the building I believe from 2002-2004. I love their work. I like them. Had hoped they would do the project. I authorized recordation of the building to allow for interior dem. II was told it would not work out. CDA normally works w/ developers even when they run over 18 monthes. I am certainly interested in getting the building rehabbed asap."
Jennifer

Huh?

* * * * * * *

I'd like to know why the largest property owner in the city (The City itself) isn't held to the same standards that I am as a home owner.

Not that I've ever been cited for a code violation, I diligently maintain my property. I own a two family apartment building with a brick garage and am hyper vigilant about my tenants safety. I'm a responsible landlord.

This last year I've replaced my two back porch decks with reclaimed plastic boards. It was much more expensive than wood but I didn't want to use a natural resource. I installed hand rails in front of my house where none existed before (yet I was never cited for not having them by various inspectors). I had repointing done on the back exterior wall where the storms beat at the mortar. I also had my front storm doors replaced with historically correct wood storm doors (I refuse to use aluminum).

Again, why isn't the City held to the standards I must follow and why isn't this building being maintained?

Yours truly,
Christian Herman
TGS

3460 OAK HILL - TGS

This building has been standing empty for years in TGS. A proposal was recently accepted for its redevelopment. I'm relived since it's a killer art deco building that once housed 12 efficiency apartments. Each apartment had two entrances and a perfect floor plan with plenty of closets and storage space in the kitchens. It will be turned into 6 market rate condos. UPDATE 07/18/07 Still owned by LRA.

It is fronted with 'wormed' brick, the parking garage is no longer standing, only the pads. Parking will be an interesting consideration.

Lots of views from the roof, the building sits at the crest of the hill on the corner of Potomac and Oak Hill.