One Last Invite to Join Us TOMORROW (Sat., May 18) for Old North House & Community Tour… AND Announcing Another Crown Square Commercial Tenant

We’re down to the last few hours before the big day, so we’ll issue one last invitation to all friends of Old North, former residents, current residents, fans of urban revitalization, advocates for sustainable development, historic preservationists, arts enthusiasts, and anyone who just happens to like Crown Candy Kitchen: please join us on Saturday between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for our annual Old North House & Community Tour. The forecast shows beautiful weather for tomorrow.  Come on out to enjoy a pleasant stroll though the walkable, architecturally rich, historic neighborhood of Old North St. Louis.

It'll be a gorgeous day in Old North on Saturday, according to the hour by hour forecast from the experts at Weather.com.

For those who are new to St. Louis or just aren’t familiar with how neighborhood house tours work, here’s what you can expect from the Old North House & Community Tour:

The Old North House & Community Tour is a self-guided tour, so you’ll be able to use our tour booklet to decide which stops to visit and in what order - or you can visit all of the sites on the tour in the order presented in the booklet.  And, you’ll be able to go at your own pace, whether that means enjoying the nice, summery weather as you walk leisurely between stops or as you catch a free ride from one of the roving, environmentally- friendly bicycle rickshaws from St. Louis 3Wheel Taxi.

For more on what will be featured on the tour, take a look at our posts from Thursday (click HERE) and Tuesday (click HERE).

Registration for the tour - where you can buy tickets, trade in your already-bought tickets for the tour booklet or pick up tickets you purchased online - will be at the new and improved Crown Square corner plaza at the southwest corner of St. Louis Avenue and N. 14th Street, pictured below.

The first official performances on the plaza’s stage will take place immediately following a brief dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m.   Scheduled to perform are local musician, poet, and spoken-word artist, Chris Ware, and later by Old North’s own favorite steel drum musician, Jamaica Ray.

We also want to share the reminder that the public is invited to celebrate the official start of work at the 5 Sustainable Land Lab projects in Old North, with a ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m. at 1318 Warren (just east of 14th Street at the south end of Crown Square).  Mayor Slay will be on hand to congratulate the winners of the competition, and representatives from all 5 of the projects will be present to show off their sites and discuss their projects.

Although the “day-of” ticket prices of $12 should go into effect after midnight, the advance ticket price of $10 can still be obtained by purchasing online up until about 6 a.m.  So act now!

And, now for some other big news we’re thrilled to share…

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FIRECRACKER PRESS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SET UP SHOP AT CROWN SQUARE

Earlier today, Firecracker Press issued the following press release:

The Firecracker Press is excited to announce, in addition to its location at 2838 Cherokee Street, the expansion of a second location at 2612 North 14th Street, in Crown Square. The expansion will take place over the Summer of 2013 with a Grand Opening to be announced later this year.

Founded in St. Louis in 2002, The Firecracker Press has become a cultural institution for printmaking. With a gang of antique printing presses (some dating back to the 1800s), a rich collection of St. Louis printing history, and a talented group of designers and printers, The Firecracker Press has made its mark regionally and nationally. Handmade, letterpress posters for music and art shows, custom business cards, stationery, wedding invitations, and books are just a few of the things that The Firecracker Press crafts. Using printing presses that are found and restored, The Firecracker Press prints from hand-set wood/lead type and uses hand-carved woodblocks to create imagery that’s rooted in history yet freshly modern. Its Southside, Cherokee Street location will remain while The Firecracker Press plans to expand a rotating list of events, classes and demonstrations at the new Crown Square location.

The Firecracker Press location in Old North will be in the former Sobel Department Store building at 2612-24 N. 14th Street.

Their announcement further describes their plans for the space in the heart of Old North, just across Montgomery from Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s office:

The new space, nearly 8000 sq. ft., will host a large collection of printing presses and tools, a retail storefront with a variety of posters and design-related home-goods, and a 100 person capacity venue for music, readings, and events. The Firecracker Press will continue to offer the same high quality, unique, independently minded services that have made them well-known. The expansion will also bring the opportunity to collaborate with other organizations including Old North Restoration Group and its affiliates, and with Studio STL, which will be sharing a portion of the space for its non-profit, children’s writing programs. The publishing arm of The Firecracker Press dovetails in exciting ways with the mission of Studio STL. An arts center for writers, thinkers, and makers will grow where The Firecracker Press and Studio STL overlap, with more to come.

For more details about The Firecracker Press and their plans for the space at Crown Square, click HERE to read the full news release.

The leasing of 2612-24 N. 14th Street follows the recent leasing of 2606-08 N. 14th to Blackmun Footcare, which opened just last month, and the leasing of 2601 N. 14th to Kennedy’s Pet Shop, which is now in the midst of interior build-out.  Both Blackmun Footcare and Kennedy’s Pet Shop will be open for tours on Saturday.

With just a few spaces left, anyone interested in leasing commercial space at Crown Square should contact leasing agent Susan Sauer of Duffe-Nuernberger Realty by phone at 314-571-7654 or by email at ssauer@ndconsulting.com.

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Old North House & Community Tour: 2 Days Away to Sat., May 18

We’re down to counting the hours now until our biggest event of the year - so any help you can offer in spreading the word about the Old North House & Community Tour would be greatly appreciated, and you still have time to let us know if you can volunteer to help out on the day of the tour.

If you still aren’t subscribed to receive our e-Newsletter, then you probably missed our most recent edition.  Click on the image below or click HERE to view the web version.  Once you’re there, be sure to click on the Facebook “Like” image and/or the Twitter “tweet” image to share via these social media tools.

We also have some updates on what else will be going on here on Saturday.

At 9:00 a.m., Mayor Slay and the organizers responsible for the Sustainable Land Lab competition will lead the official kick-off ceremonies marking the start of work at the 5 Land Lab projects in Old North.  This ceremony will start at 1318 Warren (as seen in the photo above, courtesy of Washington University’s Office of Sustainable Development), the site where the Sunflower + project is underway, and will then travel to the other 3 Land Lab lots.  Please join us for this celebration just prior to the start of the Old North House & Community Tour.

At 10 a.m., the House & Community Tour officially begins, with registration table at N. 14th & St. Louis Avenue (see photo below) opening to distribute tour booklets to those who’ve registered in advance or to sell tour tickets (at the day-of price of $12) and the environmentally-friendly, bicycle rickshaw shuttle service will start up for those who don’t want to walk between the stops.

At 10:30 a.m., we’ll celebrate the ceremonial, unveiling / ribbon-cutting of the recently improved Crown Square corner plaza, followed by performances on the new stage by local musician, poet, and spoken-word artist, Chris Ware, and later by Old North’s own favorite steel drum musician, Jamaica Ray.

The tour activities will continue until 4 p.m., featuring 20 stops, 4 of which are located in historically rehabbed buildings at Crown Square, including a residential apartment incorporating a portion of the mezzanine level of the former J.C. Penney building (originally built for the Peters Dry Goods & Clothing Co. in 1881), the recently-opened Blackmun Footcare in that same building, and the soon-to-open Kennedy’s Pet Shop at 2601 N. 14th (in the photo above).

Other stops include:

• the 4 empty lots where 5 Sustainable Land Lab demonstration projects are being implemented;
• 2 other businesses offering free treats to tour-goers, La Mancha Coffeehouse, which is offering free cups of coffee, and City Bar & Grill, which is offering free toasted ravioli;
• 2 historically-rehabbed homes, which have won Landmarks Association “Most Enhanced” Awards in previous years (in addition to the Crown Square project, which also received one of these awards in 2010);
• a “loft-style” conversion of a warehouse building into a living space and a separate sculpture studio;
• a couple of historic houses that are still in the midst of major re-construction and rehabilitation after massive damage, from a fire at one and two-different storms at the other, that would have led to demolition in other neighborhoods;
• the future home in Old North for the Episcopal Service Corps community later this year;
• the Old North Grocery Co-op and 13th Street Community Garden;
• the home of Northside Workshop, a community art space that opened last year; and
• the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group office and Gallery, where a new photography exhibit will have its opening on Saturday; this exhibit, titled “Revitalizing,” features photos from 6 neighborhoods (including Old North), where UMSL’s PPRC Photography Project worked with community residents.

As noted in Tuesday’s post, another tradition of this event is the treat of some ice cream from Crown Candy Kitchen (celebrating 100 years of service to Old North).  All tour-goers will receive a coupon for a free ice cream cup, redeemable at the Old North Gallery.

If you haven’t already clicked on the link above, click below to get your tickets while you can still take advantage of the advance ticket price of $10.

And, if for whatever reason, you’re still not convinced that something special is going on in Old North St. Louis, take another look at the YouTube video we prepared before last year’s tour to highlight the dramatic transformations in progress throughout Old North.

We look forward to seeing you again in Old North on Saturday!

[One last appeal: if you've got some time available and are willing to help out, we still could use a few more volunteers.  Give us a call at the ONSLRG office at 314-241-5031 or send an email to Claire Wolff: claire@onsl.org]

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How can YOU help Old North Continue Revitalization & Defy the Odds?

It’s not easy to turn a neighborhood around after more than a half-century-long downward spiral.  The little, historic neighborhood of Old North Saint Louis, however, is defying the odds and confounding the skeptics. Old North’s success with attracting new residents and businesses has demonstrated that reversing the pattern of abandonment and decay is possible.  And the dramatic 28% population gain from 2000-2010 shows how incredibly effective community-based development can be, especially when it involves strategic and coordinated investments in historic preservation, mixed income housing development, and other public improvements.

But the job is far from over.  The loss of historic buildings that reflect the neighborhood’s unique character and architectural integrity can undermine Old North’s positive momentum.  The devastating fire that consumed 1415 Benton yesterday provides a disturbing illustration of the continuing danger to the health, safety, reputation, and overall viability of the community posed by abandonment and neglect.

Old North Saint Louis Restoration Group has shown over and over again how vacant, historic, and even severely deteriorated buildings can be transformed into attractive and productive community assets.  For examples of some of these developments, click on the photo below to see a short YouTube video.

None of that would have been possible without an engaged and determined community and a neighborhood-based community development organization with the charge of preserving Old North’s history and unique sense of place.

Although the comprehensive, neighborhood-wide revitalization of Old North requires major investments in the physical dimension of the neighborhood (through historic preservation, new home construction, neighborhood clean-ups, and community gardens), a viable and sustainable community also requires a healthy social dimension.  Consequently, ONSLRG’s work also involves addressing the needs of the community’s residents - as defined by the community - and efforts to nurture strong and supportive relationships among residents.  One of the best vehicles for achieving both of these goals has been the North City Farmers’ Market.  The open-air market in the heart of the neighborhood (every Saturday from June through October) brings healthy and affordable foods to the neighborhood and serves as a weekly platform for informal community building.  As an event that is open to all residents, as well as visitors, the market  celebrates the diversity of the community, shows off the vibrancy of the neighborhood, and draws customers to the new businesses setting up shop at Crown Square.  Click on the image below to see a short, high quality video that captures the spirit and atmosphere of the North City Farmers’ Market.

ONSLRG’s ambitious mission to revitalize the physical and social dimensions of Old North in a manner that respects the community’s historic, cultural, and urban character requires a lot of time and effort from both volunteers and professional staff.  If you’d like to contribute some of your time, click HERE to learn more about the various opportunities to volunteer with ONSLRG.

Because Old North Saint Louis Restoration Group relies on residents, friends, and other supportive individuals to cover a significant chunk of our costs for maintaining an office, employing a professional staff, and implementing a broad variety of community improvement initiatives, your financial contribution can help us continue our work.  Nearly 3/4 of ONSLRG’s $338,709 operating budget for 2013 will need to come from foundations, corporate grants, individual contributions, and memberships.  Since corporate and foundation grants require a good deal of staff time to research and prepare applications, direct contributions from individuals and businesses represent the best way to allow our staff to dedicate more of their time and focus to the work of revitalizing Old North. Please show your support by clicking on the Donate Now! button below.

If you know of others who may be interested in our work, please pass this information along to them via personal contact, postings on Facebook, or tweets on Twitter.  Thank you to all who have helped ONSLRG do so much over the past 32 years.

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Scenes from another successful Old North House & Community Tour and Homegrown Festival

Thanks to all who made this year’s Old North House & Community Tour and Homegrown Festival such a great success, especially tour committee chair, Maria Falconer (who somehow managed to evade all photographers, and, therefore, is not seen in any of our photos of the big day).  If you’d like to thank Maria, though, one option for consideration is to just stop in and buy something at Maria’s Rambles Gift Gallery & Boutique at 2611 N. 14th Street or from her online shop, Rambles.com.

The Homegrown Festival, the street party portion of the event, brought all sorts of fun to Crown Square, including live music, dance performances, refreshing beverages and snacks, arts and crafts booths, information from a variety sponsors and community partners, and exhibits inside Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s Gallery.

It wouldn’t be a “House” and Community Tour without houses to show, and Old North specializes in a variety home sizes and styles.

One of the Habitat for Humanity Houses under construction at Clinton & N. 13th was on the tour.

Since Old North is also known for its gardens, of the private and community variety, we put those on tour, as well.

Tom Bratkowski had a chance to show the picnic table and benches he constructed for the 13th Street Community Garden.

In addition to the music and dance in the streets, the day provided opportunities to demonstrate various other arts initiatives.

The Old North Gallery featured photography of Benjamin Evans, as well as ONSLRG's before and after photos of historic buildings brought back to life from the brink of demolition.

Neighbors and visitors had a chance to see inside Northside Workshop, the soon to open art center at 1306 St. Louis Avenue.

Nancy & Ken Kranzberg (center) were present to view the progress they made possible at Northside Workshop, with Juan William Chavez (left), the artist who will run NSWS, and Sean Thomas of ONSLRG.

Contemporary Art Museum helped out with the opening of Northside Workshop, with Old North Grocery Co-op visible just across N. 13th Street from the new art center.

La Mancha Coffeehouse provided free cups of coffee to visitors to the tour.

Always a favorite part of the day, free ice cream courtesy of Crown Candy Kitchen (with Norah Ryan handling the scooping duties).

Perpetua Iron, a recently opened neighborhood business owned and operated by Old North resident Janet Sanders, was also on the tour.

An example of the ornamental iron items produced in Old North by Perpetua Iron.

The best part of the tour, however, is the chance to share with the world the warmth, friendliness, and community spirit of the people who live and work in Old North.

For more photos of the big day, take a look at our album on ONSLRG’s Facebook page by clicking HERE.

In addition to Maria, the list of others to thank could go on and on, but we should acknowledge the following:

• ONSLRG’s staff, Matt Fernandez, Jane Smith, and Sean Thomas;
• practicum students Michelle Wiegand, Becky Bitzer, Sheila Galvez, and Jennifer Gray;
• other planning committee members Vela Hermann & Thom Fletcher;
• Nevels Nevels for huge investment of time in laying out the tour booklet;
• Aida Rodriguez for bringing in the Lindy Hop and other social dancers;
• Urban Chestnut Brewing Co. and Ryan from UCBC;
• Officer Moran & other officers from the 4th & 5th police districts;
• Crown Candy Kitchen, especially Andy Karandzieff, for providing ice cream for all tour-goers and lunch fixings for the volunteers;
• numerous volunteers from within Old North, or friends of Old North, including Keith Marquard, John Thro, Curtis Berry, Kate Feit, Norah Ryan, Tino Ochoa, Nico Leone and Dave Eisenbraun;
• volunteer crews from Bank of America, FUEL for the City, and Step Up St. Louis!
• the generous residents who opened their homes and business owners who opened their spaces for visitors to see all that Old North has to offer, including: Janet Sanders of Perpetua Iron, Vela Vm Hermann & Chris Goetsch, Ben & Heidi Sever, Ernie & Jeannie Stanley, Doug & Marg Corey, Barbara Davis, Habitat for Humanity, Matt Fernandez, Tom & Susan Tschetter, James & Luz Maria Cox, Claire Wolff, Camille Clingan, Juan William Chávez & Kiersten Torrez of NSWS, Old North Grocery Co-op, including Sarah Kate Buckles and Melissa Breed, and the 13th Street Community Garden;
• La Mancha Coffeehouse for providing a free cup of coffee to tour visitors;
• Event sponsors:
• including Bank of America, Commerce Bank, Regions Bank, USBank, Reliance Bank, First National Bank, Duffe-Nuernberger Real Estate, M & I Bank (or BMO Harris), and Missouri Dept. of Agriculture;
• And, finally, thanks go to St. Louis 3Wheel Taxi for stepping up at the last minute to provide shuttle service when our previous shuttle commitment fell through!

Thank you again to all who put in so much time and effort to make the day possible and all who attended.

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1 Week to Go: Old North House & Community Tour and Homegrown Street Festival on Sat., May 19

We’ve come a long way in the past 30 years.  In May of 1982 Old North St. Louis Restoration Group held its first house tour, featuring 3 occupied homes and 2 vacant city-owned buildings available for purchase.

This year, the Old North House & Community Tour will feature 8 historically rehabbed homes, 1 historically-sensitive relatively new home, 1 historic home in the midst of a complete rehab, 1 LEED-certified new Habitat for Humanity home, a neighborhood business that produces wrought iron fencing & other ornamental iron, a Crown Square commercial space, the neighborhood grocery co-op, a produce-growing community garden, and a soon-to-open neighborhood art center in a rehabbed 19th century building. Among the stops on the tour are 7 properties that previously have been recognized by Landmarks Association with “Most Enhanced” Awards.  And, back by popular demand, one of the stops on this year’s tour will be one of the three homes featured on the very first tour in 1982.  Come on out to find out which one.

Tickets are available for purchase online by clicking HERE or they can be purchased in person at Rambles Gift Gallery & Boutique (2611 N. 14th), Crown Candy Kitchen (1401 St. Louis Avenue), Old North Grocery Co-op (2718 N. 13th) or Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s office (2700 N. 14th Street).

Because Old North is a community that embraces and celebrates diversity, we have two different flyers for this year’s tour.  Feel free to right-click and save the flyer below for forwarding as an invitation to all of your friends, family, and colleagues.

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International Media Coverage of Old North in Cities Today

What do Toronto, Zurich, Budapest, and Old North St. Louis have in common? All are mentioned in an article on walkability and urban economic development published in Cities Today, a London-based magazine focused on urban sustainable development initiatives around the world.  Click HERE to read the online version of the article.

The article includes a photo of sidewalks being installed along the 1300 block of North Market during the construction phase of the North Market Place Homes development as an example of efforts to make the neighborhood more walkable.

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New Year Brings More Media & Outside Attention for Old North

The new year is barely two weeks old, but Old North has already received a good deal of attention in 2012 from a range of outside sources, including some publications with national readerships.

The latest moment in the spotlight came when HUD’s Best Practices website posted a feature on Old North’s Crown Square on Friday.  The Crown Square redevelopment earned its place as the latest in a series of reports on “best practice” developments around the country because the project resulted from a strong partnership between Old North St. Louis Restoration Group and Regional Housing & Community Development Alliance (with support from the City of St. Louis), a genuine community-based planning process, and a commitment to affordable and mixed-income housing, historic preservation, and various other sustainable development principles.  Click HERE or on the image below to read the full report.

On January 5, Builder Magazine posted a story on their website about the desirability of walkable neighborhoods and used Old North St. Louis as their featured example of a community that has benefited from improvements to its walkability.  The article cited Old North’s comprehensive approach to redevelopment and offered several photos from Old North, including a community garden, the North City Farmers’ Market, historically sensitive new homes at North Market Place, and the streetscape at Crown Square, to illustrate the elements that have made Old North not just more livable for current residents but also more attractive to prospective residents.  Click HERE or on the image below to read the full article.

Eleven Music Magazine’s January issue has hit the streets with Old North as its “Neighborhood of the Month”, which is nice recognition, especially for the Crown Square redevelopment of the former 14th Street Pedestrian Mall.  (Although the piece includes a mis-quote about the age of the neighborhood - indicating that the neighborhood was a separate village from St. Louis from 1860 - 1940, rather than the real dates of 1816-1841, we’ll forgive that because of the overall positive tone of the piece and the fact that the actual quote may have been difficult to hear during the interview, which was recorded at Old North’s La Mancha Coffeehouse, with the sound of an espresso machine and various diners’ chatter in the background.)  Click HERE or on the image below to read the article.

Visitors to hotels throughout the St. Louis area are picking up this month’s issue of Where Magazine-St. Louis, in which they’ll read about 6 new independent retailers “worth your time,” including Old North’s newest Crown Square establishment, Rambles Gift Gallery & Boutique.

Where Magazine is available at concierge desks and in-room at medium-to-high end hotels and other select businesses, but it’s also available online to provide travelers (and locals) with “the most complete guide to the city’s top restaurants, shops, shows, exhibits, and tours.”  The online version (seen below) also features a photo of the interior at Rambles.  Click HERE or on the image below to see and read the online version of the review of Rambles.

Thank you to all of these publications for sharing our story with the rest of the world!

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Happy Holidays from Old North…& Part 1 of an Award-Winning Year in Review

As we wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and best wishes for the holiday season, this is also a good time to thank all of our friends, partners, and supporters who helped make possible another full year of events, awards, and new business openings in Old North.

Among the top stories of 2011, perhaps the biggest was the news that…

OLD NORTH’S POPULATION GREW BY 28% OVER THE PAST DECADE

The Census Bureau released figures showing that Old North had reversed at least a half century-trend of population losses and actually grew by 28% between 2000 and 2010.  We start off with that bit of news because no matter how impressive anything else might be, Old North wouldn’t be a viable or sustainable community without people wanting to live there.

This achievement was made possible due to the efforts of many people and organizations over many years.  Part of the credit no doubt goes to the good folks at the Regional Housing & Community Development Alliance (RHCDA) who agreed to partner with ONSLRG in producing housing units in parts of the neighborhood where no one was living in 2000.  It would seem to be obvious that a change from 0 residents at a particular parcel of land to ANY residents at all would result in a population gain, especially when multiplied numerous times throughout the neighborhood.  However, at least one published report about the neighborhood’s growth generated a few of skeptical comments from readers who clearly have not been in the neighborhood at all or at least in a long while.

While there’s no need to respond to every skeptic out there, it’s occasionally encouraging for us and our supporters to demonstrate what the changes have looked like in Old North.  And since a lot of our more recent photographic evidence has focused on vacant buildings transformed into nicely rehabbed homes, the following shots show new houses that have sprung up on formerly empty lots.

Other than the bragging rights that come along with positive Census numbers, more people also means more people power for community building.  We’re not just improving the streetscape of the neighborhood, we’re infusing the community with more social capital.  And for that, part of the credit goes to the long-term residents who have created a welcoming atmosphere that attracts others from outside the community, including many who could choose almost anywhere in the region.  So, part of the credit also goes to the people who have made that choice to move into a community that is still a work in progress and have quickly joined the efforts to make the community a better place.

This has been good news for Old North, but also good news for the City of St. Louis as a whole because some of these people have moved into Old North from outside the city limits - or even from outside the St. Louis Metro area.  People such as:

Nevels & Eulonda Nevels and their daughters, who moved into Old North from Richmond Heights.  The Nevels family contributed not only to the quality of life in Old North but also to the whole city through Eulonda’s job with the YWCA and Nevels’ teaching job at St. Louis Public Schools, which selected him as their “Teacher of the Year” for 2011.  (Watch for a future blog post about that later.)

Chicago native Tino Ochoa & his wife, Zoila Rendon.  Tino has taken on many volunteer responsibilities over the past 8 years or so in Old North, and because of his commitment and passion, he was recruited to serve as chair of ONSLRG’s social outreach committee, then to serve as a member of the executive committee, and most recently as ONSLRG’s Board President, while juggling law school, and now, his more than full-time job with law firm of Bryan Cave.  Meanwhile, when not supervising social work practicum students working for ONSLRG, Zoila has put her MSW to work at other non-profits, most recently assisting BJC Hospital.

Graham & Viveca Lane, who moved to Old North from Kansas - and quickly shared their discovery with a national audience through an article published in Money Magazine in January of 2008.  While Viveca has been answering the call of duty in the airs over foreign lands (including Libya), Graham has contributed countless hours of service to the community through neighborhood clean-ups, building-board-ups, various construction chores at the Old North Grocery Co-op, and as a board member - and now Board Vice President - with ONSLRG.

Ben & Heidi Sever, who moved into Old North from Webster Groves.  As an attorney and jewelry-maker, Ben and Heidi could have taken their talents just about anywhere, but they chose to move into Old North so that they could bring life and charm back to a crumbling, city-owned empty shell of a building on N. 19th Street, and chronicle the thrills and challenges along the way through a cool blog with a name that reflected the condition of the building at the time they took it on:  www.3walls.net.  While Heidi brought a new jewelry-making business to the city, Ben has contributed much of his time to various neighborhood initiatives, and as chair of ONSLRG’s Real Estate Committee, has overseen (with Graham Lane) improvement efforts that require healthy doses of muscle and sweat (and thus, this band of volunteers has earned the name, The Macho Action Group).

Old North’s new residents have arrived from different directions and taken different paths that led to their new homes on the north side of the city, but the common denominators for many have been a desire to live in a community that is in the midst of a revitalization — and a desire to get involved with that process.  That doesn’t happen by chance.  Attracting people with talent and a sense of responsibility takes a lot of time and effort.  Marketing the community, providing assistance to current and prospective residents, and facilitating opportunities to get involved are just a few pieces of what Old North St. Louis Restoration Group does in pursuing a mission to “revitalize the physical and social dimensions of Old North in a manner that respects the community’s historic, cultural, and urban character.”  ONSLRG wouldn’t be able to do that work without consistent financial support over many years, including from the City’s Community Development Administration, and more individual, corporate, and foundation contributors than can be named in this space.  THANK YOU to all who have supported this ambitious agenda.  And, if you feel compelled to help us continue that work throughout the coming year, please click HERE to make a secure, online tax-deductible contribution.

Check back tomorrow for more of our list of highlights from 2011.

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• Infill housing, LRA properties in ONSL, Life in ONSL, North Market Place, ONSL amenities, ONSL in the news, ONSL people, Old North Grocery Co-op, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Outreach, RHCDA, Uncategorized, Volunteer Opportunities, sustainability
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Old North St. Louis Selected for National Award for Excellence in Smart Growth Achievement

This morning in Washington, D.C., the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Sustainable Communities announced that the revitalization of Old North St. Louis is the winner of the 2011 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.  The National Award for Smart Growth Achievement recognizes communities that have successfully used the principles of smart growth to preserve and enhance their quality of life while helping to protect public health and the environment.  Of the five projects or communities selected for awards this year, Old North was recognized with the Award for Overall Excellence in Smart Growth.  St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Old North St. Louis Restoration Group executive director Sean Thomas were on-hand to receive the award from John Frece, Director of EPA’s Office of Sustainable Communities.

The Award for Overall Excellence in Smart Growth is the highest award under this program and “recognizes an outstanding comprehensive approach to growth, including built projects, supportive plans and policies, and effective community participation,” according to the selection committee.  The committee further notes that “This award is for the best overall approach to implementing smart growth on a variety of fronts—not just for a single plan or project, but at the neighborhood, corridor, city, county, or regional level.”  Last year’s Overall Excellence award recognized collaborative efforts among New York City’s Departments of Transportation, Health, Design & Construction, and Planning toward improving that city’s livability.

Among the factors that contributed to Old North’s selection was the neighborhood’s 28% population increase over the past decade.  A winning project not only shows that a comprehensive approach is in place, but that it has significant impacts.  Because the overall achievement award is not for one specific project but for the collaborative and strategic efforts over several years, credit for this achievement goes out to a wide range of groups and individuals who worked together on multiple projects.  On behalf of the Board and staff of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, we especially thank the residents of Old North who, over many years, have scraped together limited resources and put in countless hours of service to the community.

Specific initiatives that have contributed to the neighborhood-wide revitalization include the $35 million, 27-building Crown Square redevelopment of the former 14th Street Pedestrian Mal, and with it, 80 new households in an area that had largely abandoned and a growing number of new locally-owned businesses; the new homes at North Market Place and the historically-rehabbed North Market Apartments, which salvaged 9 previously crumbling, abandoned buildings; the cultivation and maintenance of community gardens throughout the neighborhood; the North City Farmers’ Market; and last year’s opening of the community-owned Old North Grocery Co-op.

Partners who have worked with ONSLRG to help make these great things happen include multiple agencies of City of St. Louis (such as the Community Development Administration, St. Louis Development Corporation, Land Reutilization Authority, Planning & Urban Design Agency, Cultural Resources Office), Regional Housing & Community Development Alliance, University of Missouri-St. Louis and MU-Extension; Missouri Foundation for Health, Ken & Nancy Kranzberg, Gateway Greening, Operation Brightside… and so many more than can be listed here.

Although this award recognizes past achievements, the real benefit is that it will help shed more light on an area that has even greater potential for more growth.  In fact, the work to continue the revitalization is already in progress.

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• Art in Old North, Awards and honors, Bikes and Trails, Community Gardens, Crown Candy Kitchen, Crown Square, Crown Square Businesses, Habitat for Humanity, Historic rehabs, Infill housing, Life in ONSL, North City Farmers' Market, North Market Place, ONSL amenities, ONSL in the news, ONSL people, Old North Gallery (formerly known as Crown Village Gallery), Old North Grocery Co-op, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Parks and green spaces, RHCDA, Renovation, Uncategorized, Videos, sustainability
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Virtual Old North St. Louis

For the past year or so ONSLRG has been working with University of Missouri St. Louis staff to create a virtual version of Old North St. Louis utilizing the Virtual City Program. The result is a model of what the built environment of Old North St. Louis may have looked like throughout time.

To use Virtual City, you will need to have Google Earth installed on your computer. Currently, only Crown Square and the 2700 Block of N 13th St. has been created. More of the neighborhood will be added over time, and the existing modeling will be refined.

The current model of the neighborhood can be found here. When you open the file, give it some time to load for best results. Click on the files in temporary places to load buildings. There is a time-line in the upper left corner that moves through time, and you will see buildings appear and disappear. Most of the structures at this point are modeled to show mass, scale, and siting. Generic building fronts from the neighborhood are pasted onto the structure. Over time this will be refined to show more detail. For more information about a building, you can click on the little dog in front of each building with more details.

While it is fun to see what once was built in Old North, it is also good to look toward the future. Since the time line extends nearly two decades into the future, we thought it would be a good idea to utilize Virtual City to develop some future development ideas. For now, we have developed three alternatives for future development for a plot of land that ONSLRG owns at the Northwest corner of Montgomery and 13th St. By no means are we committed to any one design, this exercise is meant to create discussion and ideas for a possible future project that at this point has no funding for any alternative. We would like to ask for constructive feedback on these potential ideas. What do you like about the current designs?  What would you like to see designed differently?  And let us know why you are making the suggestions you are offering.  Feel free to post your comments here by clicking on the “Leave a Comment” link at the top left side of this post.  You can also send any constructive feedback that you may have to Matt Fernandez, our Community Development Specialist, at Matt (at) onsl.org.  To see each alternative, click the link below each preview image displayed below.  You may also come by the ONSLRG office anytime and we will show you the Virtual City on one of our computers.

Contemporary loft development.

Click the following link to view the Contemporary loft development alternative on the Virtual City program.

Mixed-use development with traditional design.

Click the following link to view the Traditional design alternative.

Green homes development.

Click the following link to view the Green homes alternative.

Stay tuned as this program gets filled with more images and as we flesh out the instructions for access and use.  In the meantime, enjoy the stroll down some of the streets of Old North as they may have looked at various stages in history.

Images currently loaded onto a view of Montgomery Street looking east from N. 14th Street in 1955.

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• 14th Street Mall, Crown Square, History, Infill housing, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Uncategorized, Virtual City, real estate, sustainability
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