Land speculation has arrived in the neighborhoods around the new spy agency, and if history has shown us anything in America, land speculators have rarely had the interests of the general public in mind. I first photographed the house above in detail way back in December of 2013; little has changed other than the running water we heard back then has been turned off.

The factory below was not demolished after all, but was cleaned up and stabilized. Again, I can only assume it was in anticipation for all of the STEM jobs that will be flowing into JeffVanderLou once all the spies show up!

If you detect my cynicism, it is because history has shown that all of these silly “pie in the sky” and silver-bullet schemes that St. Louis leaders have bet on over the years have failed. Why would this one be any different?