- 2 min read
- Posted on 07.16.05
There is nothing more discouraging — or damaging — to a neighborhood than an abandoned building.
At the beginning of this year, there were 5,504 vacant structures in the City of St. Louis. As daunting as the number sounds, we are making progress for the first time in decades.
Ron Smith, the City’s operations manager, has been tracking the issue and his analysis (which was on my desk this week) is interesting. During the 90s, he found more buildings were being abandoned than were being torn down or reused. So, the number of derelict buildings increased.
Because of a focused effort, we have turned that around. The current roster lists the smallest number of vacant buildings in at least seven years. Even LRA’s inventory of vacant buildings abandoned by their owners has dropped by more than 10 percent.
Ron and the Building Division’s Frank Oswald credit three programs for the improvement.
To Ron and Frank’s analysis, I would add the new pride that City residents are feeling about their unique neighborhoods and their growing confidence in the City’s direction. And, I know that people from throughout the region are fascinated by the creative re-uses being found for our wonderful stock of buildings. As those feelings spread, I expect our vacant building inventory to shrink even further.