Metropolitan Rural

If you haven’t been down Macklind Avenue in a while, you should make a point to head down that way again soon. The last few months have brought several new businesses to the area. Here’s what you’re missing out on:

• Natures Aglow 2 - A new 100% soy candle shop. My wife and I have both been in here and they’ve got a pretty good selection of scents and sizes (Be sure to check out the “Monkey Farts”, you’ll love it!). They also will fill an empty container for you with your choice of color and scent.
• Big River Running - Their first location in the city. It’s right on the corner of Macklind and Devonshire (Natures Aglow is right next door). I haven’t been in yet (just thinking of running makes me knees hurt), but they seem to have a good selection of sportswear and shoes. I’ve also seen a rather large increase in the number of runners around the neighborhood since they moved in.
• DramaRama Theater Company - As a new addition to the South City landscape, they are renting part of the Southampton Presbyterian Church at Macklind and Nottingham. They will be providing classes in drama and improv for all ages. They will also likely be having some live performances as well. Stay tuned there for lots of fun I’m sure.

Also, a couple weeks back, I attended a business owners networking event at Montgomery Bank. The event was catered by Murdoch Perk and was a lot of fun. I heard there that several of the businesses in the area have been working with Home Eco to procure eco friendly consumable and cleaning products for their shops. That’s a really cool collaboration to hear about.

My wife and I also attended a trivia night fund raiser this past Saturday for the Macklind Business District. We had a lot of fun and managed to hold on to second place at the end. Now, if we only would have remembered that Sponge bob’s pet snail was named Gary and this post over at Urban Review wouldn’t have convinced me that 1809 was the year St. Louis city was founded (it was incorporated then, not founded), we just might have gotten first.

The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!

Thus are the cries we have all been hearing over the past 12-18 months. The housing market is in a tailspin and our financial giants are dropping like flies after being drawn to the bug zapper. The greed mongers of the last decade are now being circled by vultures and our hard earned tax money is being spent to make sure they don’t take the rest of us with them. While it is unfortunate that those of us who were financially responsible will pay even more to bail out those who were greedy or made poor, uninformed decisions, it is a necessary evil.

In these tough financial times, it will be those of us who were responsible during the binge that will come out ahead. The next few years are shaping up to be pretty rough for a lot of people. Now is the time people can make a real difference in their community. Think more frugally about where you spend your money. Is it worth it to drive across town to a Wal-Mart when there is a local store down the street with most of what you need? Sure, you might spend a bit more, but how much time and effort did it cost you to get to and from there? For us, since we bought our new car in December, we’ve averaged about $0.80 per mile we’ve driven in total costs. That means a 8 mile round trip to my nearest Wal-Mart would run me $6.40 in car expenses (not totally as part of that 80 cents is car payments and insurance that I’ll have to spend, but you get the idea). Oh, and so you know, I’m also not bashing Wal-Mart here as both my parents work happily for them it’s just not as close as my other shopping options in this instance.

For now, sit back, take a deep breath and realize, This too shall pass.  This country has been through hard times before and we will make it through again.  Tighten your belt and watch your pennies.  Oh, and don’t forget to smile.  After all, this isn’t the end of the world.

I came across some free material recently on the FDIC website for teaching basic personal finance and banking to adults.  With all the pay day loan places in my neighborhood I thought it might be a good way to help teach people some alternatives.  I was wondering if any of my many readers (okay, it’s many to me even if I can count everyone on my fingers and toes) has any experience setting up a not-for-profit entity? 

Drop me a line on my contact form if you think you might be able to point me in the right direction.  Even better, if you might want to help (cause I know I can’t do all this by myself)!

Well, I’m not quite an old man (unless you ask my son), but I’d still love to be snoring in bed with all this rain we’ve been having lately.  I think my grass is sufficiently watered to come back from dormancy.  Now it just needs a little more sunshine to spring it back to life.

At least this morning I felt better about the rain.  I looked out my bedroom window this morning and down at the gutter over the front porch.  Do you know what I saw?  Nothing.  We finally had someone come out and clean out the gutters and replace a couple of downspouts yesterday and the gutters are running clean and clear!  Yeah!!

I had a very difficult time finding someone to do this, despite repeated requests on the Rehabbers Club e-mail list.  It seems no one responds to anyone who inquires about gutter work.  I did get a recommendation from my in-laws.  They (and several people in their neighborhood) have been using Cardinal Services to clean out their gutters every year.  My in-laws are on an annual contract to clean twice a year.

They came out to have a look on Tuesday and said it was mainly just a build up of old debris.  He gave me individual quotes for the cleaning and each of the downspouts.  He said he would normally give us an estimate for an annual cleaning contract, but he didn’t seem to think we would need them cleaned out for a few more years so he wouldn’t bother.  That’s the kind of honesty I appreciate from contractors.

So, if you live here in The Lou and need some gutter work done, I highly recommend Cardinal Services.  You can talk with Jerry Stanley at (314) 644-4285. 

PS - This is not a paid endorsement, I just know how hard it was to find someone myself and thought I would share with you!

If there are any runners out there, be aware there is a new store open just for you right here in the city.  Better yet, it’s just a couple blocks from my house ( I guess you would call that running distance).  While I recently found my knees can not handle much running, the store itself looks quite nice and has a wonderful corner location at Macklind and Devonshire.  It’s Big River Running and this is their second store, first in the city.  If you’re into running and fitness, you should stop by and check it out.

Also, I learned through Doug Duckworth about a coffee shop just over in Northampton as well.  The place is called World Cafe and it’s over on Mardel and Hereford.  Swing over to his blog and check it out as well, sounds like a nice place.

Looks like small business is really starting to come back to this part of the city.  It’s funny to see the nearly vacant Southtown Center at Chippewa and Kingshighway struggle to find tenants, and the small neighborhood streets very nearby are flourishing.  People are really starting to get back to the community feel and walking.  Guess that big parking lot over there isn’t quite the drawing point they thought it would be.

Okay, can the election be over now?  I rarely watch TV and still I’m tired of the Presidential election. 

You know what else I’m tired of?  Taxes. 

Just back on the February 5th primary, city residents voted to increase sales tax in the city by a half cent.  The money is slated to fund pensions for firefighters and police as well as to higher more police.  See the mayor’s description of Proposition S here.  I voted against this.

 I’m not saying we don’t need more police, or that we should fund the pension funds for our public servants.  I did wander a few things about this though:

1. Why had we not been fully funding the pension obligations in the past?  If we said we were going to do it why are we not?  It is an obligation, not a nice to have, we shouldn’t be behind, period.
2. How many businesses have been lured to the city with property and/or sales tax exemptions (I’m thinking of a large new ball park myself)?  I mean, the Centene deal alone a while back would amount to $78 million.  Wasn’t it the Cardinal’s part of the deal to get Ballpark Village built and occupied?  Why must we offer more money to get it occupied for them?

Yes, Centene is promising 1200 new jobs downtown.  Even if their employees still pay the 1.5% city earnings tax, those 1,200 people would need an average pay of $4.3 million each per year to make up that amount of taxes in a year.  How many years was this tax abatement for?  I wonder, will they really bring all the jobs they say?  Will it really benefit the city more than $78 million to have them here?  I have my doubts. 

And while I’m thinking of it, isn’t that an unfair competitive advantage the government is giving them over their competitors?  What about competing firms in the city (or nation for that matter) that aren’t getting those tax breaks? 

In the mean time, I’ll keep paying the ever increasing sales tax rates to shop at my local city businesses.  (After all, I’ve got to make sure the owners of Centene get their full $78 million in their pocket instead of mine.)  All the while dreading the upcoming elections and hoping someone smarter than the average politician will show up on a ballot some day in the future.  It all just irritates me, maybe I’m just getting old?

I’ve been thinking lately about community improvements.   The question that comes to my mind is “Where do you start?”  There are several factors that go into making a nice, livable community.  Here are some of my ideas.

• Housing- Going beyond style of houses, but having a mix of single and multiple family along with different sizes and owner occupied and rentals.  There’s also the aspect of neighborhood design and at least some consistency in style of setbacks and such that factor in here.  Of course, there’s also the big one of condition.
• Education- Here I’m thinking everything from elementary schools to adult education and literacy programs.  You don’t need a neighborhood full of PhD’s but it sure helps to have a neighborhood where everyone has some basic education.  Enough so to stay in touch with the rest of the world and make smart, well-informed decisions.
• Business - Local businesses are often touted as the key to bringing an area back around.  Local shops provide not only necessary goods and services, but also a local sense of connectedness for the residents to meet and share common bonds.

These are 3 great areas that can have a great impact on a neighborhood.  The problem is, where do you start?  There are some “really nice” neighborhoods around with very nice houses, a highly educated residential base and almost no businesses.  Those don’t interest me because the people don’t feel as connected to each other.

The same can go for any 2 of the 3 or any single one.  Areas that have all 3 of these things going from them really thrive and grow (in my experience).  If you start with housing, you can often start to attract more highly educated people to the area as they are more likely to have a higher paying job which can afford the remodeled house. But if you don’t take the time to educate current residents and keep a mixed housing stock, it might seem like they are being pushed out because they would no longer “fit in” to the new demographic. 

Obviously, in this scenario, businesses would be attracted to the neighborhood.  But as incomes go up so does the draw of big box stores.  While I’m not opposed to those kind of stores (they are not “evil” as some propose them to be), they also displace the social connectedness you have with smaller, family run businesses. 

I think this all really goes down to keeping a good mix of all of these things.  Diversity in housing, education and business is necessary for a truly great experience for all.  That was always the thing that turned me off from most suburban communities.  So much of the time they are built to create sameness.  There you can live in a house that if it’s not the same as the one next door is at least the same as the one 2 doors down and be among people who have about the same education and income as you.  Everyone drives the same cars to shop at the same big box retailers to buy the same stuff to fit in their same houses. 

That all sounds like such a bore!  I guess people are attracted by that because so many of us are afraid of conflict.  Maybe if I live someplace where everything is the same, there won’t be any. 

Personally, I see and hear comments from people occasionally about such and such city neighborhood that is “coming back.”  What defines that?  I’m almost afraid at times that it is coming back because people are solely remodeling houses to try and make a big check when some well off, highly educated family moves in at inflated prices.  It seems a lot of people I talk with think that is what makes a neighborhood nice.  I don’t want to see suburban communities here in my city (I’m very worried that McKee is planning that very thing with all of his tax incentives).

How can we insure that we reach a balance in community development and improvements?  How can organizations improving these different areas work together to bring about neighborhood improvement that brings people together rather than segregating people out like we’ve done the last 50 years?

So, over the past year and a half of living in the city, I’ve heard of a lot of cool things that I want to do sometime.  Many of them we’ve done before, but the list seems to be growing of things I haven’t done yet.  So, I thought I would share with you just a few of the things I want to do and Places I want to visit around our fair city.

• The Royale- I’ve heard lots of good things about this place and many of the city based groups I know have meetings there, but yet I’ve never been.  It’s only a few stop lights up the street, yet I’ve never managed to make it there.
• 52nd City- I met an editor (Stefene Russell) of 52nd City through the late, great Marti Frumhoff.  Stefene is also an editor for St. Louis Magazine and St. Louis At Home.  Very cool person, yet I’ve never gotten around to picking up an issue of their magazine.  Bad me!  Sorry Stefene, I’ll be sure to pick up one soon.  The website looks cool though and I promise to subscribe to the blog there also!
• Crown Candy Kitchen- The wife, kid and mother-in-law have made it up there for lunch before, but poor old me was at work.  I’ll make it up there someday.  I really want to see first hand how the development is going on Crown Village if nothing else.
• Bevo Mill - I’ve heard the food there is excellent and now that they are doing breakfast on the weekends, that just might entice me enough to drive the dozen blocks or so to get there!
• The Boat House in Forest Park - This is another place the rest of the family went to while I was working.  Hopefully they’ll take me along someday too!
• Pho Grand- We’ve been to several places on South Grand, but have yet to make it here.  It’s tough to do when you would have to go without the kid. 
• Black Thorn Pub- Read the reviews in the RFT about the pizza here and I’ve just GOT to try it some day.  The wait for one isn’t a thrilling idea, but something that needs to be done.
• Fabulous Fox Theatre - I’d love to go see a show there sometime, if for no other reason than to see for myself whether or not it’s truly Fabulous!
• Moolah Bowl/Theatre - Bowling and a Movie theatre in a converted building like that!  What’s not to like?
• City Museum- I’ve still never made it down there.  Just too much cool stuff to not go visit.
• Central Library - I LOVE our Buder branch of the library over on Hampton, but I still need to go visit the Central downtown to get an inner glimpse of the place.  I took the kid there a few months ago to get pictures for his 7 Wonders class, but it was Sunday and they were closed.

I’m sure there are some places I’m forgetting at the moment, but that should keep me busy for a while.  Any other suggestions for me out there?

I wish I had the money to do this, but that’ not an option. I’m posting this to encourage some investment down in my neck of the woods. I’m in Southampton which is a pretty stable area with long term residents and strong home values. The one exception is the 49xx block of our streets right next to S. Kingshighway (particularly the area near Chippewa). The area has seen some poor choices of tenants over the years by landlords that aren’t as involved in the are as they should be. There are several 2-4 family units for sale on the 49xx-50xx blocks of Chippewa at present. There is also some Mixed Use properties available near by on Kingshighway as well.

If you stop by and have a look you will find some decent properties that keep their value well despite themselves. Should you decide to make the leap and invest, you would also get lots of moral support from the neighborhood association and it’s members as well as the Southtown Business District.

Anyway, here’s a list of some properties you might consider:

4975 Chippewa ($75,900). This 2 family was just dropped about $40k in price yesterday. It won’t last long. No other 2/4 family’s nearby are listed for less than about $170k.

4954 Chippewa ($379,900). This is a 12 unit apartment building that has been condemned and boarded up by the city. I don’t know much else of it’s story, but it sure doesn’t help the rest of the area.

4517-4525 S. Kingshighway ($599,000). This is a mixed use building just a couple blocks south of Chippewa and I believe just a couple blocks south of the infamous Avalon Theatre that is still standing. Check out the pictures on this one, it’s about the only building for several blocks that doesn’t have a payday loan place in it already! At least there is a Home Vestors Franchise (the Ug Buys Ugly Houses people) that you could kick out if you are so inclined. It’s 5 commercial spaces and 4 residential units. Seems like a bargain to me.

Total listing prices of these 3 properties… $1,054,800 (which is approximately the current asking price for the badly deteriorated Avalon Theatre). For that measly sum you could be an instant slum lord, or better yet, a neighborhood visionary! You would get 18 residential units and 5 commercial units. Of course, I’m sure there’s another few hundred thousand needed to spruce things up, but what’s a few hundred thou between friends… right!

Ever since I was a young boy of about 10, I dreamed of being an architect and designing houses. I would build them out of Lego’s and draw out plans on graph paper before I ever knew anything about drafting. In HS drafting class we designed our own houses. While most everyone in the class had these sprawling 3,000 square foot ranch houses for out on their farms, I had a small, 2-story, 3 Bed, 1.5 bath home of about 1,600 square feet. Even then, I was geared for urban living.

When HS was nearing an end in the early 90’s, the housing market was hitting rock bottom and I was afraid to go into architecture and never end up with a job. Instead, I chose to get a degree in Engineering. After years of working for manufacturing companies as a business process expert in areas of production planning, purchasing and finance, I have found myself as an IT geek supporting those areas and dreaming again of a life spent with houses.

While my dream has changed some, the core motivation really hasn’t. I’m a house nut to the core. I love walking into a house and just standing there to look around. My mind instantly races to the possibilities of room layout, furniture placement, colors and remodeling. I walk into a kitchen or bath and instantly have ideas on better layouts of the cabinets, appliances and fixtures.

I love it.

That desire is what is keeping me at work at this point. I am diligently getting my finances in order to start work on our first investment home. Oh, it will probably be another couple of years before I finally get started, but I’m already there in spirit. I see new foreclosure listings in my neighborhood and I can do the math in my head on returns. How much the kitchens, bathrooms and other changes would cost at most and what the probable sale price or rents would be afterwards. What are the current interest rates and how much would the financing cost during the project. It’s all intuitive for me.

I look forward to that first house, but my dream doesn’t stop there. Long term I want to have a a one-stop shop of sorts. I envision some commercial space in my neighborhood with large windows. A place where I have several companies that do the whole deal (investment properties, rental management, general contracting, architects, Realtors and even a mortgage broker.) Putting together such a business isn’t easy and won’t happen overnight, but I don’t want a huge several hundred employee place. I’m just thinking one or two people to manage and work each area. We’d work together on projects with the investment properties and then also get our own work outside the company as well.

I love being around smart, creative people who have the same love for houses as myself. This would be the ultimate for me. Alas, it remains a dream for now. I will instead see visions in my head to keep the dream alive. All I want is to make a living for myself and enjoy my work and who I work with. I don’t care about being rich, just knowing I can help make a better neighborhood, better city and a nice place for someone to live while putting food on my table.

Anyone care to join me?