Old North Co-op Gets Help from Student Volunteers

When the Old North Grocery Co-op finally opens for business toward the end of June, the list of people to thank will be quite long.  One of the most recent additions to that list is a group from the John Carroll University chapter of Students Today Leaders Forever who rolled into Old North from Cleveland this past Monday morning.  These college students were on a cross-country tour as part of an alternative spring break in which they spent some time taking part in service projects in different cities each day.

While in Old North, these students helped out with a lot of the messy work of interior clean-up (or clean-out) at the building that will house the co-op.  The photos below show just a sampling of the day’s activities as the 40 or so volunteers mobilized to begin the process of transforming the former horseradish factory into a neighborhood grocery store.

With hardhats, goggles, and face-masks, this crew prepared to remove an obsolete kitchen and open up some space. The photo below shows the progress achieved in just a couple hours of work.

The building still has a long way to go before it’s ready for opening day, but thanks to the energetic and committed group from Students Today Leaders Forever, we got a great start last week.  We’ll continue to report here about other sources of support that are being made available for this great community-building and public health initiative.  In the meantime, if you’d like to pitch in with future work days or contribute in other ways, contact the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group at 314-241-5031 or send an email to info@onsl.org.

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ONSLRG Welcomes Matt Fernandez as new Community Development Specialist

This week ONSLRG welcomed Matt Fernandez as the organization’s new Community Development Specialist, which means Matt now is getting paid to show up for work every day, after the past several months as a part-time contract worker and two previous stints as an intern. 

On his first full day on the job, Matt showed his willingness to do the dirty work of community development.

Already known to many in the neighborhood through his involvement in various projects over the past several years, Matt has been able to hit the ground running due to his familiarity with the community, the organization, and the broad range of issues affecting Old North.  Meanwhile, Matt’s educational background is uniquely suited for working with us, not just because he has an undergrad degree in Urban Affairs and a master’s degree in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development.  While those degrees are good training for neighborhood development work anywhere, Matt took that one step further and made Old North St. Louis the focus of his research throughout his education, including using his Master’s program “capstone project” to explore redevelopment options for the Mullanphy Emigrant Home area.  In addition to his two internships with us, Matt also worked at Landmarks Association while he was in grad school and gained significant experience working on preservation issues.

One important part of the job of the Community Development Specialist is to meet with prospective homebuyers and/or people interested in rehabbing opportunities in Old North.  As someone who has purchased a vacant, deteriorated building in the neighborhood and is in the midst of his own major rehab project, Matt can speak with credibility about the attraction of the neighborhood – and can offer firsthand insights about the process of putting together and managing a project.  And, with direct experience with the challenges of construction & historic rehab, Matt can speak the language of the construction contractors and development partners we have to deal with in our current and future projects.

Another key factor in Matt’s selection was his demonstrated willingness to do whatever needs to be done – whether that means mopping the floor, carting tables and chairs, swinging a hammer, scheduling an appointment with an appraiser, or meeting with a real estate agent at odd hours.  Matt was able to put those skills to work on his first full day on the job, this past Monday when an army of 40 college students arrived to tackle some of the interior clean-out of the future Old North Grocery Co-op building.

Matt (in the brown jacket, back to the camera) providing last-minute instructions to the volunteers from Students Today-Leaders Forever on Monday.

If you’d like to send your own welcome to Matt - or ask him about homebuying or rehab opportunities in Old North, send him an email at Matt@onsl.org or give him a call at the ONSLRG office, 314-241-5031, ext. 101.

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Scenes from ONSLRG’s Annual Meeting & Potluck Supper

On Monday night we hosted a full house of residents and friends for Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s Annual Meeting & Potluck Supper.

Board President Tino Ochoa discusses the plans for the Old North Grocery Co-op.

Kathleen Parvis, Marketing Committee Chair, announced plans for a bigger and better Old North House & Community Tour, scheduled for Sat., May 8.

In addition to a slide show of highlights from the past year and a preview of coming attractions, ONSLRG’s members elected 5 individuals to serve on the Board of Directors for the 2010-2012 term.  Re-elected to the Board were Tino Ochoa, John Burse, Johnnie Owens, and Kathryn Bentley.  Also elected was Brian Krueger, one of the most active volunteers at the 13th Street Community Garden and the North City Farmers’ Market. 

The meeting also was an ideal occasion to recognize neighbors who have made significant contributions to the quality of life in Old North over the past year.   Good Neighbor Awards were presented to Graham Lane and Ben Sever, who tirelessly gave of their time to numerous projects, including the Macho Action Group clean-ups, set-up at the North City Farmers’ Market, service on multiple committees, and opening their homes for tours on a regular basis; and to Kathleen Parvis, who took the lead on last year’s House & Community Tour and recruited scores of SLU students to assist with neighborhood clean-up and garden projects as part of their law school orientation week.

As usual, though, the highlight for many was the feast of casseroles, cakes, biscuits, and salads from the kitchens of neighbors and friends, and the chance to share a meal with new and long-time neighbors on a cold, wintery evening.

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ONSLRG’s Annual Meeting & Pot-Luck Supper Next Monday, Feb. 15

Next Monday, February 15, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group will hold its annual meeting and put-luck supper at the ONSLRG office and gallery.  If you’re a member of ONSLRG or just a friend who cares about Old North and want to show your support for the community-based, not-for-profit organization that serves the neighborhood, come on out and join us for a review of the highlights of 2009 and preview of plans for the rest of 2010.  And if you’re not yet a member, you can join now by clicking right here.

Click here to download a PDF of the flyer for this event so that you can print and share with your friends or neighbors.

Above: ONSLRG Board President Tino Ochoa discussed some of the plans for 2009 at last year’s annual meeting.

Above:  a highlight of this annual event is the opportunity to taste some of your neighbors’ favorite recipes.

If you have any questions, just give us a call at the ONSLRG office (314-241-5031) or send an email to info@onsl.org.

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Other upcoming events: Meetings with MODOT (Jan. 21) and Habitat for Humanity (Jan. 26)

Now that you’ve got a new calendar for the new year, you can start filling it up with events in Old North, including the following:

Next Thursday, January 21, ONSLRG will host a community meeting with representatives from the Missouri Dept. of Transportation, who will be on-hand to explain plans for the replacement of the Madison Street overpass.  This meeting will start at 7 p.m. and take place in ONSLRG’s Crown Village Gallery, 2700 N. 14th Street.

Then, on Tuesday, January 26, ONSLRG will host a community meeting with Habitat for Humanity.  Staff from Habitat will be present to discuss the plans for the 17 new, homes they’ll be building this year on Dodier, Sullivan, and Hebert.  This meeting also will begin at 7 p.m. in the ONSLRG gallery. 

Feel free to make copies of this flyer for your friends and neighbors and help spread the word.

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Open House & Reception at ONSLRG’s New Office -Thurs, Jan. 7, 4-8 p.m.

Click on the link below to download this flyer as a PDF.

onslrg-open-house-jan07-2010

Our December newsletter didn’t get out in the mail, but the cover story still works as an invitation to the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group’s Open House on Thursday, January 7.  Come on out and join us in celebrating the opening of ONSLRG’s new office, the Crown Village Gallery, the Old North Community History Museum, and the neighborhood information center for current and prospective residents.  We’ve been working out of the new office since November, but the open house will be our first opportunity to show off the space for all of our members, friends, supporters and neighborhood residents.  So, please join us on Thursday, Jan. 7 from 4 to 8 p.m. and help us in spreading the word about this cool, new space at Crown Square in the heart of Old North.

With just one day left in 2009, you can still make a tax-deductible contribution to Old North St. Louis Restoration Group to support the preservation of Mullanphy or any of our other work to revitalize the physical and social dimensions of Old North St. Louis in a manner that respects the community’s historic, cultural and urban character.  To make an online donation, just CLICK HERE.  

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Trivia Night Benefit for Mullanphy Hostel Plans - Jan. 15

This past year has been incredibly busy on many fronts, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about the preservation of the Mullanphy Emigrant Home - or plans for its eventual full development.  Moving beyond that initial stabilization and buttoning up stage takes a bit of planning and feasibility assessments - and all of that costs money too.  So, to help us with that next step, you can support this great cause and the plan to establish and develop a world-class hostel at the Mullanphy Emigrant Home by coming out to the “sort of annual” Friends of Hostelling trivia night on Friday, January 15, 2010.

To register in advance, follow the instructions at www.moonlightramble.org.  Feel free to print and distribute the following flyer for the event to all of your trivia-minded friends and/or everyone you know who cares about preserving our irreplaceable historic, cultural, and architectural landmarks.

a table of Mullanphy supporters at last year's trivia night

With just a few days left in 2009, you can still make a tax-deductible contribution to Old North St. Louis Restoration Group to support the preservation of Mullanphy or any of our other work to revitalize the physical and social dimensions of Old North St. Louis in a manner that respects the community’s historic, cultural and urban character.  To make an online donation, just CLICK HERE. 

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One Day’s Activities Reflect Vibrant Community in Old North

Saturday may not have been a typical day in Old North, but it sure reflected the positive energy fueling the neighborhood’s revitalization and demonstrated how active the community is.  As noted in yesterday’s post here, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group is in the midst of moving our offices and community space down the street, to the heart of the Crown Square redevelopment.   While a Saturday ordinarily would be an ideal day to mobilize our dependable army of volunteers to help with the move, many of these individuals were deployed to various other community projects throughout the neighborhood, including:

• The Metropolis St. Louis tour of Old North;
• A vacant building board-up initiative, coordinated by the “Macho Action Group”, a division of ONSLRG’s Real Estate Committee;
• An event focused on the dynamics of community development, held at the Urban Studio Cafe with the Brown School of Social Work; and
• Construction of a wheelchair ramp by neighborhood volunteers for a long-time resident who experienced complications after hip-replacement surgery.

All of this played out against the backdrop of a beautiful November day, which brought out throngs of visitors to the neighborhood, many of whom chose to wait in the long line out the door at ONSL’s favorite ice cream parlor / lunch spot, Crown Candy Kitchen.  See below for a sampling of photos from this extraordinary slice of community life in Old North St. Louis.

Metropolis visitors toured Crown Square, including ONSLRG's new space (in the background)

Graham Lane showed off the creative adaptation of warehouse space as a cool, loft-style home.

Nico Leone (in the white t-shirt) led a tour through the home he is rehabbing on Wright Street and pointed out that the stairs were constructed from timbers salvaged from a nearby warehouse.

Macho Action Group volunteers cutting plywood and gathering materials for securing vacant buildings.

Boarding up a building on Palm Street, to keep it protected from the elements and vandals, so that it can survive long enough for a future rehab. Hey, isn't that Graham Lane, again?

ONSLRG's practicum student, Meghan Baer (in the purple shirt), helping set up at the Urban Studio Cafe for the program with her fellow students from Washington University's Brown School of Social Work.

The line at Crown Candy stretched out the door.

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New Space for Old North St. Louis Restoration Group!

As of today, the big move has begun - and the first commercial tenant at Crown Square is ready to open for business.  This coming Wednesday, November 11, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group will switch phone service over from the corner of St. Louis Avenue and N. 14th Street to historically rehabbed space at 2700 N. 14th Street.  Although we’re only moving 1 block away, it’s a huge leap for the organization, which, for the first time in its 28-year history, will be operating out of space that reflects the historic rehab we promote and support.

The front of the building soon to be home of ONSLRG and the Crown Village Gallery.

The old Thomas Furniture building as it looked in 2006.

The former Thomas Furniture building, which was previously a Worth’s Department Store, and prior to that, a Kroger grocery store, is one of the 27 buildings that have been fully rehabbed as part of the Crown Square redevelopment of the former 14th Street Pedestrian Mall.  Although the street work is still yet to be completed, 2700 N. 14th can be occupied now that water and sewer service have been connected. 

Workers were still making final touch-ups over the past few days, including at the front reception desk, which has been constructed with timbers from the former floor system of the building at 2612 N. 14th, & a stained & polished concrete counter top.

ONSLRG's new space will include the Crown Village Gallery, which will serve as a venue for community events, art exhibits, various meetings, and educational programming.

Among the cool features are sliding doors, made from salvaged maple floorboards, and repurposed windows saved from other buildings along 14th Street.

Come on by to see us, and grab a box or file cabinet from the old office and walk on down the sidewalk to our back door.  Until the street and front sidewalk work is finished, the entrance to our new space will be the back door, off the parking lot just east of 14th Street.

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Halloween in Old North

Since the last day of the North City Farmers’ Market coincided with Halloween, the end-of-season celebration included costume contests along with some of the other festivities, the fantastic live music, crafts from Old North, and the usual good deals on farm-fresh vegetables, baked goods, and meat.

The first of the two bands that heated up the chilly air.

Joe at the KDHX booth.

James at the Black Bear Bakery booth.

Sarah at the Lee Farms booth.

The Princess & the Pumpkin

Princesses, Power Rangers, dinosaurs, dalmations and other creatures line up for the costume contest.

The Dinosaur and Wolverine celebrate their prizes.

Some of the adults of the neighborhood celebrated Halloween the night before at a party hosted by Graham & V. Lane at their cool space in the former Ford Charcoal Warehouse.

Han Solo (Graham) and Princess Leia (V).

The spider (Tom) and his ladybug (Gloria).

Graham showing off the features of his one-of-a-kind home.

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