The University has bought or is buying about 75 apartment buildings in University City just north of the thriving Delmar Loop business district. WU already owns about 25 buildings south of the Loop.
By Betsy Rogers
February 9, 2001
While the St. Louis region wrestles with downtown redevelopment, community improvement, containing suburban sprawl and other urban issues, some of the area's major institutions are quietly working at their own front steps to revitalize their neighborhoods. Washington University is prominent among them.
The University has bought or is buying about 75 apartment buildings in University City just north of the thriving Delmar Loop business district. WU already owns about 25 buildings south of the Loop. |
Both at the medical school and around Hilltop Campus, the University is committing substantial funds to upgrades in the housing it owns, street improvements, enhanced security, community facilities and other investments to make life in these areas more livable. Its investments, in turn, ripple out through the area in the form of construction wages, neighborhood improvement, reduced crime and rising property values.
It takes considerable juggling skill to keep all these efforts "in the air" along with numerous new construction projects and broad efforts to upgrade the University's treasured historic buildings.
But in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood north of Forest Park and in University City, the University has made substantial investments in a variety of projects.
"The University made a decision to help provide economical housing for students," explained Richard A. Roloff, executive vice chancellor.
To this end, the University has recently purchased two more Skinker-DeBaliviere apartment buildings, providing four one-bedroom and 13 studio units for a total of 45 in that area. Ongoing improvements address housing-code problems, mostly in the categories of fire escapes, porches, tuckpointing and roofs, and interior upgrades including new cabinets, bathroom fixtures, carpeting and more.
Investments are ongoing, according to George C. Burris, director of off-campus housing, who explained that projects are tackled according to a master plan that gives priority to the most critical needs.
In University City, just north of the thriving Delmar Loop business district, the University has bought or is buying about 75 apartment buildings with everything from studios to three-bedroom apartments.
Extensive improvements are under way in this area, again concentrating on code upgrades and refurbishing to make the structures more attractive.
The University already owns about 25 buildings south of the Loop.
Burris has observed a visible increase in the number of landlords working on their properties in the neighborhood north of the Loop. "The University is a long-term stabilizing influence," he said.
"We want to make sure housing exists in the future," Burris added. "We were concerned that it would no longer exist --that it would be replaced with commercial development or condos or luxury-apartment developments. We want to make sure that our students, faculty and staff can continue to afford to live there."
Results so far: more than 40 new homes, with more houses and rental units planned, and renovations under way on Adams Elementary School and a connecting Adams Park Community Center. Adams, closed since 1993, will house more than 400 pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The facility will reopen next fall.
The University's partners in the $15 million Adams project are the St. Louis Board of Education, BJC, developers McCormick-Baron and the neighborhood's residents, whose Community Council has played a major role in shaping the plans.
A grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has helped fund the residential units. The WUMC Redevelopment Corp. has invested $6 million in residential construction, with an additional $250,000 paid out for sidewalks and other infrastructure improvements, according to Brian Phillips, real estate developer for the corporation.
All are components of a larger master plan to expand employment and education opportunities, housing, social and human services, security and business activity. The plan also envisions a senior assisted-living facility and possibly a middle school.
Johnson said the medical school's work in the neighborhood, like its free clinics, AIDS-education programs and myriad other community services, are still another way to reach out and share its resources for the benefit of many.
"The University has a real stake in the safety of these areas," Roloff said. "We want both our students and our neighbors to feel secure, and we're committed to being part of the solution."
Two other solutions it's helping fund concern traffic near the Hilltop Campus. The University has paid for widening Big Bend Boulevard, first south of Forsyth Boulevard and now just south of Millbrook Boulevard. These projects serve both the campus and neighbors, expediting southbound traffic adjacent to the South 40 and northbound traffic at Millbrook.
"The University exists in a symbiotic relationship with the people who live around us," Roloff observed. "The solutions that work best for us will be the same ones that work best for our neighbors. It's gratifying to be part of an institution that uses its resources in these very constructive ways."
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