Saturday, March 22, 2008

The Central West End Deserves Better! Public meeting about the proposal to demolish the San Luis Apartments Saturday March 29

Here is your chance to make a difference! Saturday March 29th the Planning and Design Committee of the Central West End Association will be hosting a public meeting regarding the fate of the San Luis Apartments located on Lindell Boulevard at Taylor. The meeting is at 9:00 am at the Schlafly Branch of the St. Louis Public Library which is located at the northwest corner of Lindell and Euclid
Interior of the San Luis in the in 1975 (from the Globe Democrat Collection)

The owner of the San Luis, The Archdiocese of St. Louis is proposing to demolish the building and replace it with a SURFACE PARKING LOT! This proposal is an insult to everything good happening in the Central West End and the City in general. The CWE is one of the most vibrant, dynamic and walkable urban neighborhoods in the City and one of its most visible blocks is in danger of giving way to the WORST possible use imaginable. Until recently, the San Luis housed over 200 senior citizens, who have since been kicked out and forced to find other living arrangements. The likelihood that these seniors will find comparable housing in such a convenient walkable area are slim.

Is this the future of Lindell & Taylor?

Please come to the meeting next Saturday and voice your opinions. Let the CWEA and the Archdiocese know that the corner of Lindell & Taylor deserves better than looking like its part of a second-rate city with no respect for itself and no aspiration to become a great city and a great place to live. Just one block south and west, the "Doctors Building" parking lot, is about to be replaced with a mid-rise apartment building with ground floor retail. While I am less than thrilled with the design of the new building, at least an eye sore that has been around for 30+ years will be gone. The Archdiocese has given no indication of any desire to build anything new at Lindell & Taylor, so please remember, that if this proposal goes through, we could be faced with a new eye sore for another 25 years or more, so please show up next Saturday.
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4 comments:

  1. LisaSMarch 27, 2008 at 9:57 AM

    1. I think most of the seniors have already been relocated. I *think* the building is currently vacant. I may be wrong, but it seems like that's what I heard somewhere.

    2. The City purchased the adjacent lot on Taylor for a neighborhood playground to replace the one BJC bought (Hudlin Playground, Forest Park, old story). So the new park will be next to a humongous parking lot.

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  2. Vanishing STLMarch 28, 2008 at 11:35 PM

    Lisa, you are correct. The residents were forced out a while ago. I read an article I found online that one resident sued because of having to move. I have not researched how that panned out.

    And yes, it would be really sad if the new park/playground ended up next to a sea of asphalt.

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  3. ChrisMarch 29, 2008 at 10:36 AM

    I think more should be made out of the fact that all of these senior citizens were forced to move out by the Catholic Church no less. Wouldn't a senior center right across the street from the cathedral be a great asset? They could literally walk across the street to go to church.

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  4. AnonymousMarch 29, 2008 at 12:57 PM

    Making the hotel an SRO with no resident parking, and preserving the parking for the use of the congregants would even be a better use that surface parking. It would at least allow the Catholic church to demonstrate its service to least among us, and after all, I believe that is one of the principal tenets of the faith.

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