Historical April 1988 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
At the last meeting of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council, Mr. Martin Jaffe outlined a plan to develop the 5700 block of McPherson.
A significant part of the plan will be a request for public money in the form of Community Development Agency grants. What these funds would be used for makes one wonder to what depths our public policy has descended. Consider a partial list:
1. Placing 50-60 new residential units among the twenty original buildings is called “infill” housing. CDA funds would be used to cover the cost of making the new architecture compatible with the old.
2.
With the new buildings in place, the appearance of the original buildings will no longer be good enough. CDA would provide each owner up to $4,000 for exterior repairs and improvements ($80,000 total).
3. Presumably potential buyers must be able to locate the street. CDA would pay for the construction of an entrance monument.
4.
While Jaffe calls the area “desirable and marketable,” his buyers must still be “encouraged.” CDA would pay loan origination fees and possibly other closing costs. (The ubiquitous property tax abatements would also apply, but that is not CDA’s perview.)
5.
The initial selling price of $85,000 to $90,000 still won’t buy much of a house it seems.
In fact, Jaffe considers these prices to extend from the high end of low-cost housing to the low end of the moderate-cost housing. (The median price of a new house in the metro area is about $87,000.) So that a buyer need not go without life’s essentials, CDA would fund an “amenities package” to provide a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and the like for each unit. That these are considered appropriate uses of public money suggests both an ethical insincerity and a distorted vision of what the government’s role in community development should be.
I feel it safe to say that a current homeowner on 5700 McPherson would have waited an eternity to receive $4,000 from the City or CDA if Jaffe had not chosen to extend his interests beyond Kingsbury Square.
Even at that, the money is aimed at fulfilling the expressed needs of the developer, not the homeowner. Did anyone think about the inside of the building?
As for development strategy, the City of St. Louis, CDA, et al. should not be in the business of paying points and buying dishwashers to attract buyers whose interest in the city may extend only as far as the monetary incentives. Imagine if the city could boast of a physically and academically sound school system, a police department staffed to needed levels, dumpsters that weren’t falling apart, curbs and sidewalks in good repair, etc. I suspect people would gladly pay their own points and buy their own dishwashers just to live here, and stay here.
I know that others don’t see it this way. Alderman Dan McGuire spoke in support of Jaffe’s proposed use of CDA money.
After thirty minutes of discussion, the Council did what Jaffe asked it to do, and voted its endorsement. —Bob Dowgwillo 6100 Pershing
(Editor’s Note: Even though Bob Dowgwillo is a member of The Times’ Board of Directors, this letter states a point of view that is neither condemned nor condoned by the Board.
For further information about the proposed development, please read the minutes from the March meeting of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council.
There will undoubtedly be follow-up information in the months to come.)
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, April 1988.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1988_04.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
