There are always the telltale signs: a giant apartment building, built in the true St. Louis style where it is really just five six-family flats built right next to each other, doesn’t have a single car parked out in front of it and the back parking lot is empty (though many people in the city don’t like parking in the back at night).

Looking at building permits, we also learn an out-of-town owner is spending the bare minimum to bring it up to code, but that looks like that’s all they’re spending. But as we saw yesterday, if someone is willing to drop some serious money and make a real commitment to the building and the neighborhood, they could actually make more money in the long run. These are big apartments, and could be very valuable.

Likewise, heading back west down Cabanne Avenue, there is this U-shaped apartment building that has been abandoned so long that it has been swallowed by the underbrush, even though it is only early spring.

I suspect this building could be easily fixed up if it were cleared of it foliage and freed from its neglect. It is in a very good location, only a couple blocks north of Delmar.

The windows actually look to be in pretty good shape for an abandoned building.