The public housing down by the river, which I first spotted way back in December of 2008, are finally being demolished. I had discovered they were built when Peoria demolished the red light district where Richard Pryor had grown up.
The new buildings going up are nice, and they even feature the latest navy blue and board and batten styling of the middle class, but I can’t help but think if I live long enough, that St. Louis Patina might be featuring their demolition in fifty years…
Meanwhile, in those diagonal streets northwest of downtown that I’ve studied for the last decade, things seem to be largely the same.
The last time I’d been by, apparently, was back in 2021.
For the most part, the houses range from abandoned to trashed to well-kept to lavishly rehabbed. It is such an interesting cross section of society.
There is still industry between the neighborhood and the river.
Let’s head over to the South Side, which I’ve discovered recently and have been examining as an example of a neighborhood under economic stress in the Twenty-First Century.
I was trying to figure out what they’re doing to the house above.
There are many nice houses.
But then there are many houses that are abandoned, with evidence that they have been boarded up recently.
Storefronts are boarded up and vacant, as well.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church sits on the edge of the neighborhood, near where urban renewal cleared away much of the original streets.
Hello St. Louis Patina,
Welcome Back to Peoria!….. Understand that not everything may be as it currently appears. Several of the featured neighborhood properties shown are in various stages of removal or transformation. The dilapidated and vacant homes shown are longtime tax delinquent properties mired under years of stakeholder property liens and financial disincentives that couldn’t be resolved until various civic jurisdictions could legally obtain their ownership by default.
Sound Familiar?…., Peoria’s older neighborhood revitalization happens much slower than in many larger regions partly because our city doesn’t have the ‘ big city ’ resources and population like that of larger metros but mainly due to the lack of middle-class interest and substantial (re)investment from the so-called ‘ market driven ‘ private development and real estate sectors. The featured properties shown largely reside within steadily declining and underserved sections of town still overwhelmingly inhabited by a multigenerational, low-income, minority population long suffering from civic and private sector under-investment. Decades of socioeconomic woes in such impoverished areas had resulted in the loss scores of historic and residential treasures.
However, gradual improvements are gaining momentum. How? Much like in St. Louis and other former industrial urban metropolises, blighted areas with numerous deteriorating structures are not only receiving much greater attention than in the past from the public and private sectors but financial collaborations too. Just within the past five years alone, our city and county formed a Land Bank that with combined federal, state, municipal, and even some private funding is demolishing blighted houses and other abandoned structures well beyond restoration that are often both structurally unsafe and fall victim to elusive arsonists .
Meanwhile, * the ‘ Churchview Gardens ‘ mix of townhouses and duplexes development will soon rise within the vacant lot neighboring St. Ann’s Catholic Church and much sorely-needed urban infrastructure rebuilding is not only slated but also receiving funding. That being said, despite many longtime residents desires and hopes for a neighborhood renaissance , I don’t expect that to occur without a massive wave of gentrification. Why? Simply because that’s just following the same pattern in which blighted urban areas have been revitalized Elsewhere. Stay Tuned!
* https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2022-11-23/two-major-new-affordable-housing-developments-are-planned-for-peorias-south-side-here-are-the-details
Interesting! Thanks for the information.
“ MY PLEASURE!…. Thank Heaven, our city’s overall revitalization momentum came ‘ roaring back ‘ after the pandemic shutdowns ended. Peoria’s development is more spread out, citywide, than in just one particular area for different reasons and relative circumstances .
That being said,, our growing Warehouse District is still unquestionably experiencing the most dramatic transformation in regards to Downtown. Rumor has It that more pending development(s) will soon begin expanding northward into our Central Business District and Riverfront areas. Stay Tuned! ”
I found all the cool things happening in the warehouses downtown, but it was a cloudy day so the photos didn’t come out great. I will probably go back and take new pictures.