The city's Preservation Board put the kibosh on a proposed apartment building development along Morgan Ford Avenue in the Tower Grove South neighborhood yesterday, denying the developer's request to demolish three buildings deemed historic.
The developer behind the property is AHM Group, the group behind the MOFO building at Morgan Ford Road and Connecticut Street, a block away, as well as another apartment and retail project a few blocks south. AHM partner Robert Maltby told the Preservation Board yesterday that the MOFO had been a success and that currently there was a waitlist for tenants.
"The precedent for us has always been to get more people back into the city of St. Louis," Maltby told the board.
He called two of the three buildings AHM hoped to demolish "sparsely used." The middle building is currently the home of Homegrown Hair. AHM Group currently owns the three properties, which sit in the Oak Hill National Register District.
The building at the corner of Morgan Ford Road and Juniata Street currently has a wall of gray plywood lining the property along Juniata. The back of the building is a mix of plywood and vinyl siding. The structure has a damaged roof and a boarded up side door. The city's Cultural Resources Office says it and the other two buildings "contribute" to the historic district.
According to Jan Cameron, a preservation administrator with the Cultural Resources Office, many letters in support of the project were submitted to the board. There was only one in opposition to it, from someone who didn't live in the historic district. Ward 6 Alderwoman Daniela Velazquez offered her approval so long as the developers meet certain conditions.
AHM's Kyle Howerton tells the RFT the project had support from 13 businesses along Morgan Ford as well as from the Tower Grove South Neighborhood Association.
However, one Tower Grove South resident spoke at the meeting, describing herself as an "urban pioneer," saying that she’s lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and felt that the proposed building’s rendering looks like something that belongs in O’Fallon or Creve Coeur. Another resident of nearby Shaw also spoke against the development, worried it would raise rents in the area.
The Cultural Resources Office advised the Preservation Board to deny the developer's request to demolish the three buildings. The office cited concerns about the height of the proposed project, which would be one story higher than the MOFO building, as well as the aesthetics of its exterior not blending in with the current streetscape. Cameron called the difference between three and four stories a "breaking point."
Maltby said that the building had to be four stories because the rents would be market rate and they were not seeking tax incentives from the city.
Three of the Preservation Board's eight members were absent from the meeting. The vote to deny AHM's request to demolish the buildings passed 3-1, with board chair Richard Callow abstaining.
"This is essentially the end of the line for the development," Catherine Hamacher, the board's lone vote for the demolition, tells the RFT. Though she added that, "An applicant can always apply again with a different proposal."
At yesterday's meeting, Maltby said that building something similar to AHM's previous projects made sense because, “The path of least resistance was obviously to do what we know works and has been successful.”
“You can probably consider us the resistance,” Callow replied.
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