ST. LOUIS 鈥 Benny Ellerbe, chief of Optimist International, has little hope for Monday.
Ellerbe has been trying for weeks to persuade 最新杏吧原创 officials to let a developer demolish the Optimist headquarters on Lindell Boulevard and build a luxury apartment complex in its place. Ellerbe says the structure is in disrepair and is too expensive for his children鈥檚 charity to maintain. Officials, calling the midcentury building historic, have resisted.
The developer goes before the city鈥檚 Preservation Board again at 4 p.m. Monday. And Ellerbe thinks it鈥檚 his last shot.
鈥淲e own a great corner location in the Central West End,鈥 Ellerbe said. 鈥淎t some point, the building will just fall down on its own accord.鈥
It鈥檚 the latest project to put the board, which usually flies under public radar, at the center of the city鈥檚 age-old, divisive battle between preservationists and developers.
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Preservationists say that demolition of the Optimist Building could set a dangerous precedent for the future of the city鈥檚 other significant buildings. The apartment developer, Lux Living, and its supporters argue the odds are unfairly stacked against them: The Preservation Board, charged with protecting the city鈥檚 architectural heritage, can make or break a project.
But neither is entirely correct. Over the past 10 years, the board has approved more demolitions than it has denied. Sometimes demolitions got approved but developers found ways to save the buildings. And in other cases, demolitions were denied, developers dropped their plans but others came in their places and redeveloped the land regardless.
The board approved the partial demolition of the former downtown headquarters of 最新杏吧原创 Community College, but a new developer has decided not to raze the building. It OK鈥檇 a Central West End apartment tower in the place of a two-story brick building on Lindell. And it denied the demolition of the Cupples 7 building downtown 鈥 but the city was then forced to demolish the warehouse itself two years later. Apartments are planned for the site.
Preservation Board Chair Richard Callow is unapologetic.
鈥淧eople choose where to live for a variety of reasons, and ambience is a big part of that,鈥 Callow said. 鈥淭he Preservation Board preserves that experience.鈥
鈥楾he ultimate decision鈥
When commercial and residential owners want to change, add to or redevelop properties in city-designated historic districts, their first stop is at the city鈥檚 Cultural Resources Office. Workers assess the plans and make recommendations to the Preservation Board.
Eight members of the public sit on the board, plus the chairman of the Aldermanic Public Safety Committee or their appointee. Five of the nine spots are designated for a registered architect, a registered engineer, a real estate broker, a landscape architect or urban planner, and an art historian or architectural historian.
The city鈥檚 Planning Commission can overturn board decisions. It did so in 2012 when it allowed 最新杏吧原创 University to tear down the Pevely Dairy complex in Midtown. The site is now home to the $550 million SSM Health 最新杏吧原创 University Hospital.
Legal recourse through the 最新杏吧原创 Circuit Court is the final step for unhappy petitioners. Callow, a member of the board for 20 years, doesn鈥檛 believe the court has ever overruled the board.
A review of the Preservation Board鈥檚 decisions over the past 10 years shows the board has weighed more in favor of demolishing historic buildings than saving them. Of some 100 commercial and residential petitions that sought demolition, the board approved 62 of them. Many petitioners successfully argued that keeping the building intact would be a financial hardship, according to a Post-Dispatch review of meeting minutes.
In 2018, the board approved, with conditions, the partial demolition of the former downtown headquarters of 最新杏吧原创 Community College, at 300 South Broadway, a six-story brick building across the street from Busch Stadium. A new developer, Creve Coeur-based Bamboo Equity Partners, says, however, that it doesn鈥檛 need to demo the historic building to make its planned apartments work.
In 2014, the board approved Minneapolis-based Opus Group鈥檚 request to demolish the wide, flat brick building at 4643 Lindell Boulevard, home then to the American Heart Association, to make way for Citizen Park, Opus鈥 towering, brick-and-glass apartment and retail development.
That doesn鈥檛 mean the board鈥檚 decisions always prove the most efficient: In 2011, it denied developer Kevin McGowan鈥檚 request to demolish the old downtown brick warehouse known as Cupples 7, ruling the property was still structurally sound. McGowan abandoned the project, and a few years later in 2013, the city shelled out $1.3 million to pay for its demolition and what was still owed to the bank on the property.
Last year, Opus proposed to build apartments on what鈥檚 now a vacant lot.
Callow defended the board鈥檚 decision: The ordinance defines a building as structurally sound if it will still be standing in six months. Cupples 7, Callow said, 鈥渨as there six months later.鈥
These days, McGowan doesn鈥檛 feel one way or the other about what happened with Cupples 7. He said he expected the property, which he described as the worst of any he鈥檇 had seen, eventually would be demolished. The six-month benchmark, he said, stops development and doesn鈥檛 account for whether it鈥檚 economically feasible to save a decrepit building.
鈥淧eople with no skin in the game have the ultimate decision,鈥 McGowan said. 鈥淐an a Cupples 7 happen again? Absolutely.鈥
A deck stacked
Preservationists argue there鈥檚 more at stake for the region than money when historic properties are bulldozed or lost to time.
Architecture reflects a community鈥檚 history, heritage and culture, said preservationist and architect John C. Guenther. The Optimist Building, at 4490 and 4494 Lindell Boulevard, represents the 鈥渟trategic spine鈥 of midcentury modern architecture along Lindell, he said.
鈥淭o start demolishing one or more of those buildings is a significant loss,鈥 Guenther said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 precedent setting.鈥
He鈥檚 sympathetic to the Optimists鈥 financial strain with the building, though he said the nonprofit is still a steward of that building. Guenther called the group鈥檚 lack of upkeep 鈥渂enign neglect.鈥
The property was built for the Optimists, a 最新杏吧原创-based nonprofit service organization. At its peak years ago, 60 staff members worked at the site, where they catered to 175,000 members worldwide. Today, the nonprofit employs 20 staff members, has 50,000 members and doesn鈥檛 need such a big space, said Ellerbe, the group鈥檚 executive director.
Lux Living principal Vic Alston, who wants to build 150 apartments on the site, said the Optimists have a legitimate case for financial hardship.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a major corner in the Central West End,鈥 Alston said. 鈥淚n some ways, it鈥檚 a blighted site.鈥
John Warren, the Optimists鈥 real estate broker, said that when the Cultural Resources Office put the building on its top-25 list of midcentury modern buildings, it made the building hard to sell. Besides, he said, some buildings that the resources office has identified as important have been demolished 鈥 like Queeny Tower at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and several buildings on 最新杏吧原创 Community College鈥檚 Forest Park campus.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not selling the building for it to become a gas station,鈥 Warren said. 鈥淭he proposed plan is a modern, multifamily development ... in an area that has high residential demand.鈥
At least seven other developers have stepped forward with plans for the Optimist Building. The Koman Group, now known as KDG, went before the Preservation Board in 2015 seeking preliminary approval to renovate the property. The Optimists told the board then that Koman鈥檚 redevelopment was preferred over demolition, according to meeting minutes.
Ellerbe said now the group just wants to sell the building. After courting so many potential developers, the group doesn鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 financially feasible for anyone to readapt the property.
But Ellerbe isn鈥檛 sure the Preservation Board will approve the Lux Living plan either. Last month, the board split on the request and then delayed its decision to Monday.
鈥淚t was fairly clear that the deck was stacked against us,鈥 Ellerbe said. 鈥淭he (board鈥檚) name gives their intentions away.鈥
