Historical December 1983 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
The continued redevelopment of our city is a difficult, costly, and time-consuming process. Issues such as tax abatement, relocation, and the use of eminent domain are always controversial in this context and I am sure they will continue to be in the future.
We have come a long way in the revitalization of our neighborhoods here in the 28th Ward.
Most of our major problems have already been dealt with to the satisfaction of most of our citizens. Operation Impact, spot blighting of vacant buildings, and the use of Obsolete District legislation should provide the catalysts to finish the rehabilitation of most of our blocks in the very near future. Unfortunately, there remains one particular area where successful rehabilitation requires that a major redevelopment corporation be given the necessary tools to complete the project.
The “Nina Place Triangle” has remained a redevelopment enigma for over fifteen years. Those who believe that redevelopment is only a sham hiding large financial profits and “regentrification” at the expense of the poor and minorities have made the future of Nina Place a highly volatile political issue.
As a result, with few exceptions, little has happened in the area for fifteen years except rapidly accelerating blight and disinvestment, resulting in more vacant and burned-out buildings.
When I was first elected to office two years ago, two different neighborhood based groups were seeking approval of their respective plans for Nina Place.
One included the limited use of eminent domain, the other did not. Compromise could not be reached and the former group dissolved its corporation, but the “winning” group has not been able to successfully develop its plan either. Earlier this year, I was approached by the Pantheon Corporation who represented a group of investors who already owned some property in the area. I informed Pantheon that the development of Nina Place was a personal priority and that I welcomed their assistance since all hope of a successful, broad based, neighborhood consensus plan for the area was impossible due to the emotional nature of the issue. I demanded that relocation and the use of eminent domain, particularly where it applied to owner-occupied property, be kept to an absolute minimum. I also informed them that I hoped a reasonable agreement could be reached concerning the three buildings owned by the Cornerstone Corporation, a not-for-profit group working with the Grace and Peace Fellowship to assist large poor families in maintaining decent and safe homes at a price they can afford. Late in September, I met with John Roach, vice president of Pantheon, who informed me that they were ready to begin the project if I were satisfied with their plans. Pantheon wishes to totally renovate their properties for rental use starting next summer, but needs tax abatement and the power of eminent domain over a limited number of properties in order to make the project feasible.
After several weeks of negotiations, I am now ready to share these plans with you and the neighborhood organizations concerned. I propose to blight the entire Nina Place area under the provisions of Chapter 353 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri.
The area contains the 59XX blocks of Kingsbury and McPherson, the 58XX and 59XX blocks of Nina Place, and two buildings of 5803 and 5817 Waterman.
However, the use of eminent domain by any developer will be denied for most of the buildings in the area.
The power of eminent domain will be restricted to a group of designated properties which because of their condition or physical location are necessary to the overall redevelopment plan.
The plan will be submitted in such a fashion that those individual owners who are not affected by eminent domain and who wish to rehabilitate their property may enjoy the benefits of tax abatement provided that their property improvements meet the standards of the plan.
These owners will not be forced to participate or sign any agreement with Pantheon if they do not want tax abatement on their property.
They will only be required to keep the exteriors of their buildings up to city code just like any other area of the city.
There are no single-family residences involved as all fifty-one buildings in the area contain two or more units.
No owner-occupied two-family structure will be threatened by eminent domain. Nor will any property owned by Cornerstone be so threatened.
Most of the buildings that are part of the plan are vacant and already under the control of Pantheon.
The following properties will not be threatened by eminent domain, however, they may receive tax abatement for improvements if the owners desire:
- 400 Des Peres
- 5927 Kingsbury
- 5931-33 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5935-39 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5949-51 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5950 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5954 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5956 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5960 Kingsbury Avenue
- 5911 McPherson Avenue
- 5912 McPherson Avenue
- 5915 McPherson Avenue
- 5919 McPherson Avenue
- 5920 McPherson Avenue
- 5926 McPherson Avenue
- 5929 McPherson Avenue
- 5940 McPherson Avenue
- 5942 McPherson Avenue
- 5946 McPherson Avenue
- 5950 McPherson Avenue
- 5951 McPherson Avenue
- 5956 McPherson Avenue
- 5861 Nina Place
- 5867 Nina Place
- 5877 Nina Place
- 5879 Nina Place
- 5885 Nina Place
I am certain that this plan will not please everyone involved, but I am resolved to proceed with the project. I believe it’s the best we can do.
Most of the people living in the area will not be adversely affected.
To the contrary, their homes will become better places in which to live and raise their families. I plan to meet with the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council and the Washington Heights Neighbors this month to discuss the plan.
There will also be a public hearing for the Board of Aldermen in the near
[The supplied scan ends this article mid-sentence; no ending has been invented.]
Original photograph caption
Original property diagram accompanying Dan McGuire’s Nina Place redevelopment report. The Paper, December 1983, page 1. Drafting credit not given.
Originally published in The Paper, December 1983.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: The final sentence is clipped after in the near in the supplied scan. A displaced paragraph beginning individual owners completes the front-page sentence and is restored there; every supplied passage is retained once. Redevelopment promises, tenant impacts and eminent-domain claims are the alderman’s 1983 account, not independently verified outcomes.
Original source: SD_Times1983_12.pdf, printed page(s) 1, 11; PDF page(s) 1, 11.
