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How NGSN and Prop NS are transforming north St. Louis

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This story was commissioned by the River City Journalism Fund.In November 2023, a first-time homeowner closed on an affordable, fully rehabbed single-family home in St. Louis’ Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. The home, distinguished by its inviting yellow door against a soft charcoal brick, stands unrecognizable from its former self — an uninhabitable vacant home with contents exposed to the street like a dollhouse for 20 years. A side gate now attaches the home to its red-bricked neighbor, the office of North Grand Neighborhood Services, the nonprofit organization behind its rebirth.NGNS sprang from a gathering of north St. Louis churches, though it’s no longer affiliated with any of them. Its mission is to provide access to affordable rentals and homeownership in the three-block radius of Cottage Avenue, North Market Street and Garfield Avenue, an area only a three-minute drive north of the Fabulous Fox Theatre. NGNS believes affordable homeownership and rentals help stabilize communities, a vision that incentivized the rehab at 2423 Fall Ave.

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundA home rehabilitated in 2023 stands next to the North Grand Neighborhood Services headquarters. The organization is located in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood; its outreach covers a three-block radius.

In 1968, Timothy Bleck wrote of Jeff-Vander-Lou in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “There are rotted apartments and rutted streets — the broken pavement and broken promises of decades of downtown neglect.” Ten years later, in Proud magazine, C. Christopher Lee called JVL “a neighborhood that refused to die.” The neighborhood has experienced injustice in the form of disinvestment and neglect. Much of what Bleck witnessed remains true today: dilapidated properties, high crime and drug use and the marked discrepancy between the needs of the community and the government response. Yet Lee’s words still resonate. JVL has always been — and still is — a neighborhood with tenacity and generations of families that call it home.When NGNS first began, vacancy rates for its chosen radius pushed 55%. Two decades of physical and mental grit from a two-man team and loads of volunteers have helped bring that figure down to less than 5%.These blocks illustrate a story of the uphill struggle to bring back north St. Louis, which has suffered from neglect and disinvestment for decades on end. The success also tells a story about Prop NS, a city-sponsored program aimed at bringing new life to vacant homes in both north and south city.St. Louis voters approved Proposition NS in 2017 after years of community organizing. A lawsuit over the election outcome and other complications delayed its launch, but the program finally began in 2020, earmarking up to $30,000 for each single-family home or $60,000 for each small multifamily building, then hiring contractors to do the work to shore up the building and incentivize its eventual private purchase and full rehabilitation.In total, the program allocates just $6 million each year to revitalize vacant buildings owned by the city’s land bank — a small sum for a big problem. Currently, the city owns 1,319 vacant buildings.When Joe Feld, president of NGNS, first sought to acquire 2423 Fall Ave. in 2021, the vacant home adjacent to the nonprofit’s office had already been nominated for Prop NS support. Prop NS proved critical for the edifice, abandoned since 2003. “It was beyond our ability,” Feld said. “When we see these brick walls collapsed in, though we have good volunteers, that’s where we get a little nervous.”The city spent $29,600 to stabilize the property to a point where Feld said, “We could take it and finish it.”

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism Fund Joe Feld, board president of North Grand Neighborhood Services, stands in a gangway outside of one of the nonprofit’s homes in May.

In March 2021, NGNS placed a winning bid of $5,000 for the property and got to work. The nonprofit fields volunteer assistance from hardworking students, largely from De Smet Jesuit High School, as well as occasional college students from St. Louis University or Fontbonne University. On Wednesdays, a group of retirees dedicate their time, many bringing engineering or handiwork skills from their past. Without professional contractors, the team relies on collaborative communication, a depth of YouTube videos and hours spent reading city code. “We figure it out and learn as we go,” Feld says. For this home, Feld learned how to tuckpoint — the process of finishing mortar joints between bricks with putty to prevent water damage.Eighteen months later, NGNS laid the final touches — updated appliances and a stack washer/dryer. The full rehab cost an additional $94,000, paid for by the nonprofit via private donations and bridge loans from volunteers — making it a home literally built on trust. Feld says it’s great to break even on a rehab, adding, “Without that Prop NS funding, there’s no way that project would’ve been, because we can’t absorb that kind of a loss.”A source of funding

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundA home that North Grand Neighborhood Services plans to acquire sits abandoned and dilapidated.

The rehab on Fall Avenue generated excitement in Jeff-Vander-Lou. People came from all over to the open house, thrilled to see an abandoned pile of bricks brought to new life. NGNS fielded many offers for the new home, including from several priced-out south city residents. Ultimately, the two-bedroom, two-bath rehab sold for $97,000 to a first-time homeowner from north city.Feld mentions two properties in the neighborhood — 2521 North Spring and 2600 North Spring — nominated for Prop NS in April 2024 but currently waiting for the program’s assessment. He’s hoping they get picked. “The Prop NS, from our perspective, was a home run. We will not have been able to do this, that house would still be vacant, or might be torn down.”Since 2021, Prop NS has stabilized 170 vacant properties previously owned by the city’s land bank in both north and south city, from Baden to Dutchtown, and sold about a third of them. A total of 631 nominations for 553 properties have been received, but a third of them were not eligible for the program for various reasons, including not being owned by the land bank. Some of the nominations were beyond the capacity of Prop NS. Under the ordinance drawing up the program, no more than 200 properties that have been fully stabilized but not sold can be in the program at any given moment, leaving it with capacity for 88 more buildings. The program is funded by general obligation bonds, and more properties could overwhelm its coffers.When a building is approved for Prop NS, program staff prepare a full, itemized scope of work to stabilize the building and post the various projects on STLCityPermits.com for contractors to bid on that work.“It is a challenge to find enough contractors to do the work,” Sean Thomas, Prop NS program manager, reveals. “We know that they have limited capacity, and they can’t take on 10 different buildings at the same time.” One success is that the comparatively small rehabs paid for by the program attract small-scale contractors, often minority- or woman-owned, or startups. He adds, “Now that we have three years worth of successes to show, it’s easier to attract new contractors.”Despite its successes in Jeff-Vander-Lou, Prop NS seems to fly under the radar a bit. “I feel like it’s not a well-known program. I mean, this is an awesome thing,” Feld emphasizes.Kevin McKinney, executive director of St. Louis Association of Community Originations, echoes this point. He recalls how the late Sundy E. Whiteside, SLACO’s former board president, whom McKinney refers to as “the heart and soul of the whole project,” played a key role in going door-to-door to garner support for Prop NS.He commends the program for its ability to address vacancy in a way that keeps homes from continuing to rot and provides a chance for homeownership: “That increases the opportunity for somebody next door the next block over to do the same kind of thing.”McKinney feels strongly about increasing the city population by increasing access to affordable homeownership. “As opposed to giving tax abatements to market-driven developments that are charging $2,000 a month for rent or $2,500 a month for rent, as opposed to giving those those developers tax abatement, give these folks that are coming in low to moderate income, trying to be a first-time homebuyer, buying a prop NS house or any other home. Give them a five-year abatement.”Feld stresses the need for affordable homeownership. “As strange as it sounds, there is a shortage of affordable housing in north St. Louis,” he says. In the time NGNS has been working on its current rehab, Feld has had five people stop and ask to buy it.Working block by block

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundThe front door of a home owned by North Grand Neighborhood Services is propped open during renovation efforts. The home at 3630 Garfield sat abandoned from 2008 to 2021, when the nonprofit purchased it.

NGNS’ current project lies a block south of Fall Avenue at 3630 Garfield. The nonprofit purchased the property, abandoned since 2002, from the city’s land bank, known as the Land Reutilization Authority, for $750.This one needed even more work. Feld says NGNS was awarded a $100,000 grant from the city’s federally funded Community Development Administration in October 2023 to assist with extreme repairs, including a caved-in roof. It also sought funding from the North City Commercial Corridor Grant Program. “$100,000 is life-changing,” Feld says. “The biggest donation we’ve ever gotten is around $5,000. But the process has been so scarring. I don’t think we’ll do it again.”Though Feld bent over backward to meet deadlines, update licensing and meet standards, the promised money has yet to come. Of the CDA, he says: “The people we interact with are all really good. I think they’re well-intentioned. They’re overwhelmed by the bureaucracy within the city and with this being from federal funding and all the strings attached. They’re trying to figure this stuff out.”Nahuel Fefer, executive director of the CDA, stresses, “Affordable housing is just absolutely essential.” He brings the numbers. “In our city, we have about 140,000 households, of which about 78,000 are tenants. About 60,000 are homeowners. Of the 70,000 or so tenants, about 37,000 are cost-burdened, and about 15,000 homeowners are cost-burdened.”

Tristen Rouse

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St. Louis Public RadioNahuel Fefer, the executive director of the St. Louis Community Development Administration, speaks in October 2023 at Beloved United Community Methodist Church in the Gate neighborhood.

Fefer says, “Collectively, these groups pay over $250 million more than they can afford to rent and mortgage each year” — which could otherwise go toward child care or food. “There’s this need to invest in housing as diverse as our city, from transitional housing, shelters, tiny homes with supportive housing, to regular affordable housing and affordable for-sale housing.”The rehab on Garfield continues NGNS’ effort of intentional, block-by-block regeneration to encourage neighborhood stability. Several programs assist first-time-buyers with access loans or down payment assistance in north city, including an initiative by the St. Louis Development Corporation. “But they can be overwhelming for someone who’s never done this before,” Feld notes. He wants to encourage current renters to buy their homes but says groups like his will have to break down anxiety to encourage ownership and residents building long-term equity.NGNS owns and leases 10 rental homes in its targeted three-block radius: seven single-family homes and three tiny homes, all of which the nonprofit either built or rehabbed. The tiny homes function primarily for individuals coming out of homeless shelters (predominantly from St. Patrick’s Center). Meant to be transitional, they provide access to affordable housing at a rent of $400 per month.NGNS charges $600 per month to its other tenants, many of them women taking care of multigenerational families. “We charge below market rate because we want to keep them in the neighborhood.”The neighborhood has long relied on such micro-size efforts. Detailing positive movement in Jeff-Vander-Lou in the Post-Dispatch in 1968, Timothy Bleck wrote, “The significance of these northside improvements is that they are being purchased not by sweeping federal programs or gigantic business-industrial consortiums, but by the sweat and enterprise of a group of persons for whom this slum is home.” (Bleck’s use of the word “slum” reminds us that the word used to hold the political power to destroy majority Black neighborhoods in the name of revitalization.)According to the Jeff-Vander-Lou Neighborhood Association, JVL was one of the first neighborhoods in the city where Black St. Louisans were allowed access to real estate and homeownership. Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, white flight, disinvestment and institutionalized racism caused the extreme degradation of the neighborhood. Fed up with the city’s neglect, neighborhood organizer Macler Shepard founded Jeff-Vander-Lou Inc. in 1966. According to Bleck, Shepard firmly believed that “housing is the key to neighborhood stabilization” and grassroots rehabilitation could turn the neighborhood around.

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundBlueprints hang on the wall inside a home being rehabilitated by North Grand Neighborhood Services. The home at 3630 Garfield sat abandoned from 2008 to 2021, when the nonprofit purchased it.

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundThe inside of a home owned by North Grand Neighborhood Services undergoes renovations.

The organization orchestrated the successful rehabilitation of a deteriorated home in late 1967, sparking more than a decade of community growth. Its demonstrated successes garnered federal recognition and private partnerships, which increased its budget and capabilities. Jeff-Vander-Lou Inc. expanded with neighborhood resources, including an “opportunity house” for temporarily homeless families, senior living facilities, a monthly newspaper and communications center, youth programs and many more community-based projects. Their efforts attracted long-term residents, many of whom have stayed and want to stay.Rhonda Carbon has lived in north city her whole life. She attended Central High School in Jeff-Vander-Lou while living in the infamous Pruitt–Igoe Housing Complex from 1969 to 1973. She currently rents a one-story home on Garfield Avenue from NGNS going on eight years. It’s a pocket that sees little turnover among residents, many of whom, like Carbon, grew up in north St. Louis and want to stay in the area. Her sister lives across the street.Carbon owned a home at Page Boulevard and Newstead Avenue for 10 years before moving to Jeff-Vander-Lou. When she lost her job, she lost the house.When asked if she would consider homeownership again, Carbon says, “If it fits into my budget, where maybe I can get a lower rate or some kind of subsidy or something to help me, I would definitely consider.” She eyes the three-bedroom home being rehabbed across the street.

Zachary Linhares

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Special to River City Journalism FundRhonda Carbon stands in a home owned by North Grand Neighborhood Services. Carbon has lived in the home for roughly eight years.

From 2010 to 2020, Jeff-Vander-Lou saw its population decrease from 5,557 residents to 4,209. The historically Black neighborhood experienced a 28% loss of Black residents, yet a 64% increase in white ones. Even that increase represents a paucity of white residents (Jeff-Vander-Lou had just 121 at the time of the last census), but the numbers reflect a broader trend of Black residents leaving north city, an alarming driver of St. Louis’ ongoing population loss.Jeff-Vander-Lou housing stock consists of many vacant buildings, ripe for stabilization. Relatively few rest in the hands of the city’s land bank, but rather under control of private LLCs. Namely, the notorious Northside Regeneration LLC, Paul McKee’s failed enterprise, holds a vast majority of the neighborhood’s vacant buildings, according to the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative.Feld mentions he’s seen an increase in speculators, people who buy vacant property and wait until the market promises a profit, near the new NGA site. He also criticizes developers in the area, who he says “come in through low-income housing tax credit, and they’ll build these homes, they’ll put people in, and then they’re gone.”NGNS maintains a much more holistic approach. Its three-block area of focus fosters a community of reciprocity. Feld says NGNS cuts grass in about a dozen yards and assists homeowners and tenants with home maintenance projects. In return, he says, residents provide the workers with refreshments: water or even snow cones in the summer. NGNS also used to host community meetings once a quarter with the police captain, neighborhood improvement specialist and neighbors in attendance. While the meetings were sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Feld intends to be more intentional about hosting them in the future.Both Feld and Carbon are realistic. As in any other city neighborhood, Carbon says, you have to be smart and know your surroundings in Jeff-Vander-Lou, particularly as a woman. Feld points to locks and bars on current projects to prevent theft. Needles and bullet holes often decorate the sides of homes and alleyways.He sees hope in the expansion of Great Rivers Greenway’s Brickline Greenway. A segment of the greenway with its bike trails and walking paths would extend through the heart of the neighborhood: from Natural Bridge, down North Grand, west on Cass Avenue, and South on Spring Street, ultimately connecting Fairground Park to the Armory and Grand MetroLink Station.

Eric Lee

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St. Louis Public RadioTraffic moves along Interstate 64 in Midtown. The Great Rivers Greenway Brickline Greenway project was awarded $9.9 million as part of the Department Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program to build a greenway bridge between the highway’s westbound and eastbound lanes.

The city has also promised strategic investment in Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, only three blocks south of the nonprofit’s focus area. Feld sees pockets of the neighborhood that will slowly start filling in the gaps, aided by larger community-oriented projects along North Grand and MLK.Feld has a long-term vision — one that would connect the area his organization is focused on with other points of light. “The Ville is just about a mile and a half that way. There’s some great organizations in The Ville. If they start pushing east, and we keep pushing west…”In C. Christopher Lee’s words, “that’s the story of a neighborhood that wouldn’t quit.” As he wrote decades ago, “Through sheer tenacity, guts, daring, strong leadership, and love and concern for one another,” the area held together. Today, with the right amount of pressure and patience, in time, house by house, block by block, north city could see intentional change, rather than yet another “urban renewal” project.This story was commissioned by the River City Journalism Fund, which seeks to advance journalism in St. Louis. See rcjf.org for more information.

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Laclede’s Landing is moving from nightlife hub to neighborhood

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Laclede’s Landing has cycled through many identities throughout the history of St. Louis. Now, some people involved with its redevelopment in recent years hope the landing’s next one will be as a residential neighborhood.The small district tucked directly north of the Gateway Arch National Park has quietly undergone a massive redevelopment with more than $75 million pouring into the rehabilitation of many of the historic buildings at the landing.“We are starting to feel that momentum, especially in the last really 60 days. Things have drastically changed around here,” said Ryan Koppy, broker and owner of Trading Post Properties and the director of commercial property for Advantes Group.Advantes alone shouldered the rehabilitation of six of the historic buildings, which now sport a mix of apartments and retail or office space, he said. Four of those buildings are completed, and of the 119 apartments available, about 90% are filled, Koppy said.“It just shows you what kind of demand we do have for the area,” he said. “We’re separated from downtown a little bit, and for the tenants, their local park where they’re walking their dogs, it’s a national park.”

Sophie Proe

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St. Louis Public RadioInterior of the Peper Lofts at Laclede’s Landing on Aug. 16

Another 40 apartments are set to come online next year along with some retail space, Koppy said. He added he’s noticed a wide range of people who are considering and moving into the newly refinished apartments.“It’s very mixed, surprisingly,” Koppy said. “We have a lot of young professionals, maybe on their second job out of [university], we have some empty nesters too.”Part of the newfound momentum comes from a new market, the Cobblestone, and coffee shop, Brew Tulum, opening recently and bringing more foot traffic to the area, said Brandyn Jones, executive director of the Laclede Landing Neighborhood Association. She added that more apartments are set to come online within the next few months.“We have a great riverfront area here and so there are plans in the works to activate those spaces, bring people in,” she said.That could be more daytime events, like a farmers market, music festivals (one of which is happening this weekend) or just bringing in food trucks to Katherine Ward Burg Garden, Jones said. It’s a departure from the identity the district held a few decades ago as a hub for nightlife and entertainment.“That’s part of what connects so many people to Laclede’s Landing,” Jones said. “It’s important to tell the story of where we’re evolving. It won’t be what it was in the same exact way, but it will still be fun, and it can be fun early morning, midday or late night.”It’s a view shared by Koppy.“It’s grown up, it’s a bit mature,” he said. “We’re not going to have 3 a.m. bars here anymore because we have residents here.”Koppy added that Advantes is joined by other developers working to rehabilitate buildings in the district.“We all work in unison,” he said. “If I get a call and [a client is] asking for something and maybe the square foot doesn’t really match up with what I have available, but I know it matches up over there, they’re getting a very warm welcome and introduction.”

Sophie Proe

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St. Louis Public RadioRyan Koppy looks out the window of Brew Tulum Specialty Coffee Experience on Aug. 16 at the Cobblestone on Laclede’s Landing in downtown St. Louis.

This push toward making Laclede’s Landing a residential neighborhood also comes alongside broader conversations about the future of downtown St. Louis more generally as it looks to move away from a dependence on office space. While the city as a whole continues to lose population, downtown added about 1,700 people between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. Census data.“It’s been wonderful timing to have all that going on, that stress that you’re not just in downtown to work has been critical to part of this rejuvenation and energy down here,” Jones said. “Sometimes people forget Laclede’s Landing is part of downtown, really the original downtown.”And success in the small district could spread beyond its small confines and potentially serve as a model for success, Koppy added.“My idea is, if we could get all the great things of St. Louis coming in through here, we can eventually spread that,” he said. “We understand we can’t change the whole world, but we’ll just make the effort to try and change the world around us.”

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St. Louis barbecue festival Q in the Lou canceled

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The largest barbecue competition and tasting festival in St. Louis, Q in the Lou, has been canceled. The event was planned for Sept. 6-8, but organizers decided to cancel it due to poor ticket sales and insufficient corporate sponsorship.The traveling festival had low attendance in Denver last week, said Sean Hadley, a festival organizer.“We made the tough decision to cancel Q in the Lou,” said Hadley. “We’re seeing a lack of support … it’s just not there.”The traveling event first came to St. Louis in 2015 and drew hundreds of people to downtown St. Louis for barbecue, live music and a “major party.”“It shut down out of the blue … I’ve gone every year,” said Scott Thomas, local chef and food blogger. “It’s brilliant. You could take a tour of some really amazing barbecue restaurants and competition barbecue guys all in one place.”In a late July news conference, city officials touted Q in the Lou as a significant tourism draw and a boost for downtown revitalization.“Bringing a signature national festival back to downtown St. Louis … is making us stronger,” Greater St. Louis Inc. CEO Jason Hall said then.Less than a month later, ticket holders from every festival stop learned they’d be refunded. On Monday, organizers privatized the Q in the Lou website and deleted its social media accounts.Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office, said city officials are disappointed the festival won’t be back this year.“St. Louis knows how to throw a festival … bringing people together to celebrate our culture is one of the things we do best as a city,” Kerrigan said in a statement. “Should Q in the Lou try to come back next year or any year after that, they’ll have the support of the Mayor Jones administration.”

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Alton’s Jacoby Arts Center likely to relocate permanently

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The Jacoby Arts Center, a staple of Alton for many in the Metro East community, will likely permanently move out of its downtown building at the end of September.Its departure and relocation from the historic building that the arts center has called home for the past 20 years has created a tense situation for not only the arts center’s supporters but also the local development company working to revitalize Alton’s downtown that owns the building.“It’s an unfortunate situation,” said Chad Brigham, the chief legal and administrative officer with AltonWorks, the real estate company owned by another prominent local attorney working to develop the town. “I wish there wasn’t misunderstanding and disappointment in the community. It’s difficult sometimes to clarify that.”When news of the likely departure spread in June via a letter from the Jacoby Arts Center to its supporters, an outcry on social media quickly followed. Some assumed it would be the end of the arts center.“There’s a lot of feelings right now that I think are more about the building itself than there are about the Jacoby Arts Center,” said Valerie Hoven, vice president and treasurer of the nonprofit arts center’s board.For supporters of the Jacoby, moving from the building and likely never returning will be a sad affair. Exactly what’s next for the arts center remains unclear. However, Jacoby board members believe this will not be the end of the organization. It will likely look different though.

Sophie Proe

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St. Louis Public RadioThe Jacoby Arts Center earlier this month in downtown Alton

Sophie Proe

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St. Louis Public RadioThe Alton-based Jacoby Arts Center features more than 75 St. Louis-area artists and their work.

The history of the buildingFirst dubbed the Madison County Arts Council, the nonprofit arts center renamed itself after the Jacoby family gave it the current building in 2004. AltonWorks founder John Simmons purchased the Jacoby Building in September 2018, according to property records from the county.Managing the large building, at 627 E. Broadway, became too expensive for the Jacoby Arts Center. In 2018, the organization approached Simmons to purchase it, said Dennis Scarborough, a past president of the board and a downtown business owner.“Of course, it sounded really, really good,” Scarborough said of Simmons’ purchase. “He took over the insurance, property taxes, all those kinds of things that were really, really getting into our budget, and he rented it to us at a fair price.”The two parties entered into a lease agreement initially for five years. Since then, Simmons has spent more than $1 million in upkeep, taxes, insurance and more on the building. The lease has been extended twice until the end of September this year.Over the six years, Jacoby paid $1,500 per month, which covered a portion of the utilities.“It’s been wonderfully generous of AltonWorks,” Hoven said.Because the building is aging and needs repairs, Brigham with AltonWorks and those connected to the arts center have long known the Jacoby Arts Center would need to relocate — at least temporarily.

Renovations on the Jacoby building will begin this fall. They’ll include modernizing the aging building, repairing the old elevator and putting in apartments on the second and third floors.

News of the likely departure and controversyRenovations will begin this fall. They’ll include modernizing the aging building, repairing the old elevator and putting in apartments on the second and third floors.In May, it became clear that a preliminary proposal for the arts center to return to the building after renovations finished in 2026 would not work for them, Hoven said.She estimates the first floor and basement of the Jacoby Arts Building span roughly 20,000 square feet.

Chad Brigham is a business and legal adviser for AltonWorks.

AltonWorks’ initial idea floated to the arts center would only provide 2,553 square feet, according to both Hoven and Brigham. While the board calculated the price for the new space to be at least triple the current payment, Brigham said there was never a specific price discussed.“No discussion in terms of actual rent price,” he said.AltonWorks didn’t make a specific rent offer because the organization doesn’t even know itself, Brigham said.In addition to cash from John Simmons, there will be loans, tax increment financing and state tax credits to cover the $20 million in building renovations. The entities financing the cost of renovations will also help determine the rent when the construction is complete, Brigham said.Regardless, the price required to return will be too much for the arts center to pay, Hoven said. Also, the organization would like to maintain the many programs it offers to the community — a rentable event space, a dark room and a clay studio, for example — in the future.“For us to really meet the needs of the community and be sustainable, we need a space where we can offer some of those programs — the artists’ shop, and other spaces that offer some kind of income as well — so that we can continue to give money back to the community,” she said.AltonWorks offered at least two other locations as possible alternatives from their vast stock of buildings along Broadway to house the arts center during the roughly 18 months of construction. Those alternatives came with similar deals requiring the Jacoby to cover only utilities, Brigham said.“We did put in a great deal of work behind the scenes in trying to find an interim solution,” Brigham said. “We wanted to find a place for them to go, where it was easy for them to continue programming, whether it’s 100% of it or some portion of it, that would work for them.”Initially, the arts center hoped to keep the basement during the renovations, Hoven said. When it became clear the preliminary offer to return was for much less space than the arts center anticipated, the letter to the community was sent.“The letter that came out was merely showing our surprise,” Hoven said. “Don’t misinterpret it as panic. Don’t misinterpret it as desperation.”

Sophie Proe

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St. Louis Public RadioA smorgasbord of radios are displayed at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton.

The commentary on social media was passionate. Some critics of AltonWorks said the organization has good intentions but hasn’t executed those plans. Others said Jacoby hasn’t planned well enough for the future.For Brigham and the AltonWorks team, some of the criticism has been disappointing.“I thought that there were some decent solutions. Were they perfect? No, but they were very, I thought, very good solutions,” he said. “And the fact that it has come to the point that it is right now is a bit hurtful.”AltonWorks remains committed to the arts, Brigham said. John Simmons remains one the largest donors of the Jacoby Arts Center, Hoven and Brigham said.“I don’t think there’s ever been a question of our support of that organization — of our affinity for that organization,” Brigham said. “While some of the events were unfortunate, some of them were encouraging. The entire community rallied around the Jacoby Arts Center. That’s a good thing. It’s a good thing to have a love for the arts like that in a downtown community.”Sara McGibany, the executive director of Alton Main Street, an organization aimed at preserving the town, said AltonWorks should be commended for its vision. In many ways, her organization and AltonWorks share a vision for a thriving downtown.Even though AltonWorks hosts public meetings, McGibany believes the current situation lacks true community engagement.“We really think that if AltonWorks can get past some of the communication hurdles — and harness the community’s passion and shift to more of a bottom-up decision-making process that centers on community input — then we can turn around the growing sentiment of distrust that’s happening now,” McGibany said.Scarborough, the past board president and downtown business owner, echoed the praise for Simmons and his support of the Jacoby Arts Center. With the Jacoby likely moving, the future looks bleak, though.“It’s a community arts center that does a lot of good work,” Scarborough said. “The community is going to suffer, and they’re going to be missed by the community if they’re not there.”

Eric Lee

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St. Louis Public RadioShalanda Young, director of the federal Office of Management and Budget, talks to Illinois U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, during a tour of a construction project by AltonWorks last April in Alton. AltonWorks, who is building the LoveJoy Apartment Complex is receiving over $1 million in federal funding.

What does the future hold?AltonWorks will continue forging ahead with its ambitious plans to revitalize Alton. The organization hopes to conclude construction on the Wedge Innovation Center, which will have a restaurant, retail and co-working space, this fall. Lucas Row, a mix of apartments and retail space, is scheduled to be completed next spring.The remainder of the arts and innovation district, currently named after the Jacoby, will also move forward.“I believe in two years it’s going to be a much different place,” Brigham said of Alton. “It’s going to be thriving. It’s going to be new businesses, new tenants — and it’s going to be a nice proof of concept for what you can do in a small community like that.”The Jacoby board recently formed a strategic planning committee. Its task: figuring out what’s next for the arts center. The committee will reevaluate what space the Jacoby needs, what programs it wants to offer to the community and how they want to make that a reality.Keeping the arts center is essential for board members like Hoven. In her experience, it’s been a place where local aspiring artists get their start.“Art is one of the only ways to show your true authentic self,” Hoven said. “And there’s more people than I realized who do not get that opportunity every day.”The Jacoby will shut its doors to pack over the next month. Hoven said she’s optimistic the board will have concrete plans by the end of September when their lease officially ends.“Alton is such a fabulous and supportive community,” she said. “We still have lots of great options, so that the Jacoby Arts Center will continue to thrive in Alton and beyond.”

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