"Sore Winners" Pour Salt on the Wounds of Demolition--Sue St. Louis Preservationists

As reported by the St. Louis Business Journal in "Old Post Office backers sue for 'malicious prosecution", the Save the Century group that valiantly tried to save a distinctive Downtown St. Louis building, a building whose destruction is funded in part by tax credits secured from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is being sued by the developers for court costs and damages, for having the effrontry to challenge their plans.

Teardown for a parking garage, even though extant parking garages within a few block radius of the project have under 75% utilization. Photos by Alan Brunettin.

From the article:

After a long and messy battle to close a deal to redevelop the Old Post Office building downtown and demolish the neighboring Century Building to make way for a new parking garage, the city and state are joining private developers in a legal counterattack on their courtroom opponents. They filed a lawsuit April 19 against Marcia Behrendt and Roger Plackemeier, two downtown residents who aimed to block the project through their own lawsuits during the past two years. A judge dismissed those lawsuits, and the city, state and developers are trying to recoup damages they said they incurred as a result of the suits. They allege the suits were groundless and intentionally malicious.

Attorney Matt Ghio, who is representing both Behrendt and Plackemeier, said the suit filed against his clients "is without merit and frivolous. There are no facts to support it."

Behrendt and Plackemeier led two civil suits to prevent a partnership of developers led by Steven Stogel of DFC Group and Mark Schnuck of The DESCO Group from receiving tax credits and tearing down the now-demolished Century Building as part of the Old Post Office project."
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This project, because of the National Trust's involvement, has received national attention, including an article in the New York Times, which was discussed in a blog entry, "Historic Preservation: Profession or Calling" on March 31st (in the March 2005 archive).

The California-based "The Planning Report", in "When Does Historic Demolition Serve Preservation? Sometimes!" interviews Peter Brink, vice president of programs for the National Trust, about this issue and historic preservation's role in community revitalization.

Note: the article acts as if this is a new phenomenon but the fact is, the only sustainable urban revitalization that works is based on historic preservation. Urban renewal strategies generally fail, because they destroy place and without being able to recreate distinctiveness, thereby further reducing demand for activities and interest in the city.


Interestingly enough, Mr. Brink acknowledges that the local preservation groups were against the demolition of this building, but doesn't acknowledge independent parking surveys, which found adequate current capacity to support the Old Post Office project.

One suggestion would be to include contract language in the use of National Trust "New Market Tax Credits" to pull the funding if developers sue local historic preservation organizations.