Feathercraft, at 8307 Manchester Road, is one of four Brentwood businesses on Manchester Road between Brentwood Road and Hanley Road challenging the city’s attempt to blight businesses in the area to make room for a $400 million redevelopment.
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Maplewood will be next on the chopping block, and who decides what stays and what goes in terms of real estate? Will the citizens of Maplewood have a voice? Watch Brentwood! Brentwood has shown us how it works.
So, the businesses in an alleged flood-prone area are to be replaced by a “development?” Two offensive questions: 1. How much were the members of B’wood City Council paid to support this? 2. Will “development” bring in enough taxes to offset any TIFF money? Will the profit from the “development” benefit St Louis – or New York developers? This is NOT local government in action. It’s just straight-up greed.
Nancy R. Schick, I agree with “It’s straight up greed.” Money or power. My question is, could there be a much larger aggression funded by a group or a single person to get the power to blight the real estate? This would explain why, when a vacant storefront is empty, the building owners slap on cheap remodeling on Main Street in Maplewood, part of the Maplewood Business District. Without making the tuck pointing that matches, remove unnecessary steel on the face of 7344 Manchester Rd. It sends a signal to me; it is all temporary because they are privy to insider information. I experience Maplewood McGreedy Consolidated. I am still interested in the Maplewood Mayor Greenberg lawsuit.
I notice the title to the St. Louis Post -Dispatch article, that you link at the end of your article, says Brentwood wins in the first round of classifying these great businesses as blighted. So the process is not over. It would be helpful to highlight this. I urge everyone to support this struggle by local small businesses against being designated blighted, so wealthy private developers can make massive amounts of money while getting municipal and state support via our tax dollars. We don’t need more giant, highly concentrated box condos and apartments in the flood plain along Manchester Road.
It will be sad. Part of Brentwood and Maplewood’s charm is that there are still older run down parts that function perfectly fine.
This is sad for me. My expectations are very low, for the residents in this area. There will be more noise, more lights, more traffic, more accidents, and possibly more crime. While not flooding as readily, there is still some flooding in that area.
The Hanley and Manchester intersection will really be a mess.
I have lived in Brentwood for 40 years and am not looking forward to the chaos that this project will bring.
I don’t understand how a longstanding business that attracts visitors from several hours away on a regular basis can be subject to blighting.
Move to Maplewood. We’d love you here.