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Historic Preservation Service (HPS) prepared the nomination of an
area within Forest Park Southeast as an historic area. The area is
roughly bounded by the alley north of Manchester from Sarah to
Kingshighway, north to the alley north of 4500 Chouteau to Taylor,
then along Chouteau (excluding the north side) back to Sarah.
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Sally ____ of HPS said the boundary was drawn to make the area as
compact as possible because getting approval for large areas is
especially difficult. HPS looked at the area south of Manchester
but found Manchester was "too big a moat" to bridge and the south
area was more spotty, more vacant, more damaged. She also said
the HPS contract did not include nominating any area south of
Manchester. (As best I could gather, the contract was funded by
Alderman Roddy with city funds and by Washington University.)
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Two arguments support the nomination: (1) the common planning and
development of a "suburb" for working / middle / upper classes
with buffers from commercial areas, spurred by the availability
of public transportation, from 1890 to 1935; and (2) the feel or
"sense of place" resulting from the solid brick architecture
with a variety of design for an area with a high degree of
multiple family units.
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Copies of the nomination will be available Friday, September 7.
Call Kris Zapalac of the Urban Outreach Office, Missouri
Department of Natural Resources, 314.340.5618. Her office is in
the Chouteau Building. Or you may contact Kathleen Shea,
Planning and Urban Design Agency, 314.622.3400, ext. 206. Her
office is at 1015 Locust, Suite 1200. Or contact Marcella at
314.533.6704. The redevelopment office is now at Arco / Taylor.
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The Planning and Urban Design Agency will hold its public hearing
at 3 p.m. on Monday, September 10. (As I understand it, the
city's urban design agency is certified for making
recommendations to the federal agency that makes the final
decision after review by a state advisory board.)
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All "contributing" buildings in the area nominated are eligible
for the program. Property owners (homeowners, landlords, and
organizations) may apply for the program. The property owner
must invest at least one-half the amount of the building's
original cost in qualified improvements such as roof, heating and
air conditioning, new plumbing and wiring, and windows
(basically, things that extend the useful life of the building).
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Upon satisfactory completion of the improvements, the owner gets
to deduct one-fourth of the amount invested (including "soft"
costs like architect's fees) from the owner's Missouri state
income tax. The credit may be used to make amended returns for
the previous three years and for the next ten years.
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Property owners may also sell the credits, likely getting between
80 and 90 cents on the dollar. Some banks are beginning to
factor in purchase of the credits when they make loans to
finance the improvements.
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The historic tax credits have been used to finance a number of
projects downtown, such as the new convention hotel, Cupples
Station (Westin Hotel) and other hotels. Ms. Shea said it had
also been used by some North St. Louis homeowners.
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Two other applications from St. Louis neighborhoods have been
pending for 45 days. Usually review is complete in 30 days.
The pending neighborhood applications are a section southwest
of Grand / Arsenal and a Carondelet area (St. Boniface).
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