Paul McKee, Urban Assets Both on List of May Demolition Permits

Of 10 completed emergency demolition permits in May, 9 were North Side addresses and 1 was a Central Corridor address.

More interestingly, a company controlled by Paul McKee, Jr. of "NorthSide" fame saw the demolition of at least one more property. The firm Urban Assets that has been covered by Michael Allen as another potential Distressed Areas Land Assemblage Tax Credit Act recipient demolished two in May.

Here's the list:

5031 Claxton - Mark Twain Neighborhood
Emergency Demolition of a One-Story Single-Family House
Owner: Bryce Peters Financial Corporation

5052 Kensington - Academy Neighborhood

From Montly Demo Permits

Owner: Urban Assets

Urban Assets owned this lovely St. Louis foursquare that the city says was built in 1896. Located within the Mount Cabanne-Raymond Place National Register District, this demolition should have gone before the Preservation Board, which has jurisdiction over demolition permits in National Register districts. Emergency demo permits bypass this review. This is yet another demonstration that emergency demolition permits should be reviewed by the Preservation Board. Not processing these emergency permits undermines the process of preservation. This block of Kensington has suffered an unusually high level of demolition for its relatively intact host neighborhood. Urban Assets is hopefully not starting the same process of real estate speculation and expedited decline that has earned McKee so much distrust.

4643 San Francisco - Penrose Neighborhood
Owner: Frances May

2507 Slattery - JeffVanderLou Neighborhood
Owner: Babcock Resources, LLC, linked to Paul McKee, Jr.

If you recall one of my earlier posts, McKee's companies have now demolished several buildings on this same block. This site sits several blocks west of one of McKee's proposed job centers (at Jefferson and Cass). Still, could they be clearing anything adjacent to the proposed job center site early on? It's possible.

4335 Evans - Vandeventer Neighborhood

From Montly Demo Permits

In the Bing Maps capture provided above, 4335 Evans is the house just to the left (west) of the multi-family property.

Owner: DHP Investments

Con artist Doug Hartmann incorporated DHP with the stated intention of renovating hundreds of properties across the city. These renovations never materialized for most properties. One high profile DHP holding was the now mostly destroyed Nord St. Louis Turnverein in Hyde Park. For more reading, click here. The future of their current holdings remains up in the air. This one received an emergency demolition permit.

1456 Hamilton - Hamilton Heights Neighborhood

Photograph provided by the City of St. Louis.

Owner: LRA


5900 Kennerly - Wells Goodfellow Neighborhood
Owner: John A. Davis


5858 Lotus - Wells Goodfellow Neighborhood

Photograph provided by the City of St. Louis

Owner: Urban Assets

Yet another Urban Assets property. Hmm...

528-34 North Newstead - Central West End Neighborhood

Photograph provided by the City of St. Louis

It tooks like this spare but attractive CWE multi-family building has been felled for a potential new townhouse development, as seen in the picture below (also from the City):


4216 N. 20th Street in Hyde Park is also on my list, but Michael Allen has already lamented this senseless loss.

I will be tracking demolition permits monthly to see if there is an uptick or a pattern in McKee- or Urban Assets-related demolitions.