Update: Another building a block away on Jefferson Avenue, seen here, was heavily damaged by fire on December 14, 2025.
It’s the same story as usual; a slumlord sits on a property for years in a desirable neighborhood where it could have easily sold to a rehabber but instead it goes up in flames and now yet another vacant lot shows up on a major artery, in this case South Jefferson Avenue. McKinley Heights is a thriving neighborhood, so don’t tell me that no one would have jumped at the opportunity to buy and fix it up.
See 513 Koeln Ave 63111.
Same thing. Vagrants are even living in burned out building.
Chris,
Despite viewing your posts on a nearly daily basis, I remain largely ignorant of solutions to the issues reflected in this (and many similar) post(s). Can you please elaborate on your commentary, particularly the last sentence? Properties will sell when they are listed at or below accurate market value. Properties not for sale will not be sold, right?
What would be helpful are more details that could minimize these outcomes, rather than wishful thinking or conceptual notions of a less imperfect world. Is STL doing (or not doing) specific things that have proven to work in more progressive/competent administrations in other cities? What laws should be enacted (or enforced) to compel property owners to behave more responsibly? Are there actions that concerned citizens could undertake that might reduce the loss of vacant buildings? I understand you are one person, this is your blog – you post as you see fit, and you may in fact already be taking action outside of this blog to be part of the solution. Thanks in advance for sharing any additional insight.
Great question! Other cities have pioneered and already implemented innovative solutions to combat speculators. One solution that Detroit has put forth is to tax the land, and not the improvements, therefore disincentivizing speculators from sitting on land and not selling it to responsible developers. Also, aggressive citing of building code violations is another strategy that can also help; the law in St. Louis says that this building could have incurred hundreds of more penalties, but it was never cited the maximum number of times. In addition, taxing abandoned buildings at a greater rate than occupied buildings encourages owners to either rehab or sell their non-contributing properties.
We definitely need some sort of legislation that carries heavier consequences/felony charges for the “investors” who knowingly sit on these properties and let them rot to oblivion. It’s a problem citywide but it seems that the greater Dutchtown area has a particularly bad case of absentee-owner syndrome. I’ve been looking at city property records and pretty much every distressed building in the area is privately-owned, nary anything belonging to the LRA. Not to say that city-owned properties are any better, but at least those can, for the most part, be purchased.