West End Town Houses, Inc., a subsidiary of Continental Telephone Co. which was severed by the company following the murder of Philip J. Lucier July 17, is now owned by St. Roch’s Parish and will continue purchasing, rehabilitating, renting, and selling property in the Skinker-DeBaliviere area, according to John Roach, secretary of the housing corporation.
West End Town Houses has certain short-term financial problems which it hopes to solve quickly, Roach said. Its buying activities will probably also be slowed for awhile, until longterm financing can be obtained. either from private, government, or foundation sources.
The housing corporation was set up last fall by Lucier, who was then president of Continental Telephone and a Parkview resident. Continental invested $150,000 in the new company, with the promise of additional funds and help in obtaining bank loans. Lucier was killed when a bomb exploded in his car while parked in a Clayton garage. The killer is still unknown.
According to Roach, Continental’s executive committee decided July 21, the day after Lucier’s funeral, to sever all connections with West End. Two Continental executives were instructed to resign from the West End board, and the telephone company then offered the subsidiary to Washington University. When the University hesitated the offer was made to St. Roch’s which accepted July 23. The West End stock was delivered to St. Roch’s the next day.
St. Roch’s quick acceptance of ownership was necessary to prevent the housing corporation from being dissolved, according to Roach. The donation of the subsidiary to a charitable institution gave Continental certain tax benefits which it would not have derived if the stock had been given to a group of private individuals.
However, to prevent ecclesiastical control of the company, plans are now being explored whereby the stock will be held in trust by a group of individuals independent of the parish or the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
West End is in theory a profitmaking corporation. However, Roach said there is little immediate prospect of a profit and it is the consensus of the present board of directors that all profits should be reinvested in the firm.
The board at present is composed of Roach, Gerald P. Deppe a Parkview resident, Wayne Grandeolas, and Don Lipton, a realtor. There are two open places, and John Fox, retiring board chairman of Mercantile Trust Co. and a Parkview resident, is expected to be elected. There are presently 1500 shares of stock, all owned by St. Roch’s but other investors may be invited as limited partners.
At present the corporation has bought, or has options to buy, 26 buildings in the Skinker-DeBaliviere area, 18 of them multiple-dwelling and eight single-family. Roach commented that the tight money market has severely hampered chances to get immediate additional financing.
Roach said that contrary to some reports he was never an employee of West End Town Houses, although he served as secretary of the board and received some legal fees from the company. He described the atmosphere at Continental Telephone following Lucier’s death as one of confusion and panic and said the executives of the firm obviously felt no interest in or commitment to the West End area.
Originally published in The Paper, September 1970.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1970_09.pdf, printed page(s) 1.
Archive transcription note
The front-page report prints July 17 as Lucier’s death date; the tribute on page 4 prints July 24. The original dates are preserved, and the discrepancy remains unresolved.
