Pot holes on Manchester Road set to be repaired in April

The pot holes and piles of gravel at the Manchester Road intersections in Maplewood due to the installation of brick crosswalks is set to be repaired—pending on the weather—according to Maplewood city manager, Michael Reese. He said the mill process (removing asphalt) and new overlay on Manchester in downtown Maplewood will take a total of about five days to complete. It was supposed to happen the first week of March but didn’t happen due to cold and wet weather. It’s been rescheduled multiple times as the result of the weather. Weather pending, the asphalt removal and new overlay of downtown Manchester is planned for for first week in April.

New Rock Hill Aldi coming, Maplewood’s is staying, hopefully

The Webster-Kirkwood Times has reported that a new Aldi is scheduled to open on March 30 in the location that was originally Lucky’s Market, which closed in 2020. A ribbon-cutting is set for 8:45 a.m. that morning. The Maplewood Aldi will be unaffected by the opening of the new store, according to an employee there. Hopefully they’re right.

In the news: New restaurants opening; obituaries

Several magazines report that a burger restaurant will be opening in the former Elmwood location. The Business Journals — Burger Champ to open in former Elmwood space – St. Louis Business Journal

Feast Magazine — Team behind Pizza Champ and Elmwood announces new fast-casual concept, Burger Champ

KMOV — Mother asks for public’s help after car stolen with baby’s medical equipment inside

Sauce — Tapped will reopen as Tapped Social House in late March in Maplewood

Sauce — Burger Champ will open in former Elmwood space in Maplewood this summer

St. Louis Magazine – Burger Champ to move into former Elmwood space in Maplewood

St. Louis Post-Dispatch —  Laura Dashke (obituary)

St.

Maplewood residents to vote on public library improvement proposition

Maplewood voters will vote on Tuesday, April 4, on Proposition L, for “renovating, improving, expanding and furnishing the District’s library facilities,” from the wording on the proposition. Library director, Ashley Bryant, sent out a letter to residents with information on the proposition, also community members are invited to a town hall regarding Proposition L to be held in the library’s meeting room on Wednesday, March 15 at 6pm. The letter from the director:
Dear Maplewood Resident,

I am writing to inform you of Proposition L, which will be on the April 4, 2023 ballot. The proposition reads as follows:

Shall the Municipal Library District of Maplewood, Missouri, issue its general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed Three Million Dollars ($3,000,000) for the purpose of renovating, improving, expanding and furnishing the District’s library facilities? If passed, the funds will be used by the Library to improve our historic building in the following ways:

Preserve, repair, and maintain the existing structure, with an emphasis on waterproofing.

In the news: House fire; Mizzou recruits MRH wheelchair hoops player

Maple firefighter put down a house fire, a Maplewood Richmond Heights wheelchair basketball player signs with Mizzou, and more in the news. Fox 2 News — First responders called to Maplewood house fire

Fox 2 News Youtube — Maplewood house fire update – YouTube

KMOV — Maplewood-Richmond Heights senior recruited to play wheelchair basketball at Mizzou – KMOV

KSDK — Home catches fire Friday morning in Maplewood

Legacy.com — Anna Baskett Obituary (1928 – 2023)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Recap: KIPP St. Louis downs Maplewood-RH

St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Recap: Maplewood-RH topples McKinley – St.

Elmwood location pivoting to burgers, according to notice

Maplewood City Council will hold a public hearing on a request for a business to be called Burger Champ at the current location of the Elmwood restaurant — 2704 Sutton Boulevard in Maplewood. Michael Fischer is making the request for approval for a full and Sunday liquor license at the location according to a public hearing notice sent to homes nearby the restaurant. The Elmwood owners, early in the Covid pandemic, started making pizza to go, then opened Pizza Champ, at 2657 Lyle Avenue. The hearing is scheduled for March 14 at 7:30pm at City Hall.

Facebook discussion on painted brick, apartment building renovation

The 40 South News editor posted a photo of a Maplewood apartment building (at 7389 Maple Avenue) under renovation on the Maplewood, MO Facebook group, stating his hope that the renovation doesn’t include painting the bricks; that paint destroys the character of historical buildings. Many comments agreed, some saying that paint breaks down the bricks. One of the first comments was from someone who said he’s chief of development for the company that owns the building and that he won’t “paint this brick or any other brick I get my hands on.” He said the brick will be tuck pointed. That led to questions of what the rent will be when the renovation is done, landscaping, and questions from former tenants about having their deposit returned.

Rocket Park opening waiting for warmer temps

Maplewood’s Rocket Park was closed after the historic flooding in St. Louis last July  — flood waters mixed gravel and possible contaminants with the cushioned playground surface, according to Maplewood’s director of public works, Anthony Traxler. The surface needed to be replaced. The city approved the purchase in September but it didn’t arrive in the city until December due to supply issues. Traxler said the installation requires five consecutive days of temperatures above 50 degrees for the glue involved to do its job, and that’s what is holding up the park’s opening now.

Maplewood food truck ballot measure is a compromise between city and chamber of commerce

Maplewood voters will have the opportunity on April 4 to allow food trucks to have greater access to Maplewood residents. The proposed ordinance — Proposition B — is a compromise between the city of Maplewood and the Mid County Chamber of Commerce. Food trucks are currently allowed only in the Light Manufacturing Zoning District, the Sunnen Business Park, and Deer Creek Shopping Center. The original ordinance was passed over 10 years ago. When the city proposed a change to the ordinance last year to expand food truck access, the Mid County Chamber of Commerce opposed it, stating there were “grave concerns from the business community.”

Deer Creek Bar and Grill shutters, less than a year and a half after opening

Deer Cree Bar and Grill, which opened in September 2021, has shut its doors, announcing the decision on Instagram. Prior to that, the location was owned by Tommy Bahn since 1988 as Cousin Hugo’s.  Bahn temporarily closed up during the pandemic, then reopened, before shuttering in September 2021, when the lease was up.

Reported: vegan, gluten-free bakery coming; MRH graduate obituaries

Two Maplewood Richmond Heights graduates have been reported passed on. Also, Feast and Sauce magazines report that a vegan and gluten-free bakery is moving into the former Pie Oh My space on Sutton Boulevard. The Bradenton Times — Robert Alan Price obituary (MRH graduate)

Leader Publications — Joyce (Loida) Van Sickle, 76, Hillsboro (MRH graduate)

Feast Magazine — Prioritized Pastries, the hit vegan and gluten-free bakery in Southampton, is moving to Maplewood

Feast Magazine — A St. Louis date designed to treat yourself this Valentine’s Day weekend (Maplewood featured)

Sauce Magazine — Prioritized Pastries is moving into the former Pie Oh My! space in Maplewood this spring

Quik Trip buys corner in Ellendale

NextSTL, on Instagram (@nextstl), has posted that Quik Trip has taken possession of 6800 Arsenal. It’s in the Ellendale neighborhood next to Maplewood.One can only assume it’s for yet another QT location.

Current Maplewood business buys former Intaglia building

The former Intaglia home furniture shop at the corner of Manchester Road and Bellevue Avenue (7195 Mahchester Road) has been purchased by JZ Vacation Rentals, according to an agent at Saint Louis Group. JZ Vacation was previously in the 7200 block of Manchester. The agent said JZ Vacation Rental plans to turn its previous spot into shared co-working spaces.

Basketball game between Richmond Heights police and fire departments: outreach for new hoops courts in Forest Park

New basketball courts are being planned at Forest Park, and part of the process is community outreach with basketball players and fans in the region, according to a press release. On Thursday, January 26, from 4-7 p.m. at The Heights, Forest Park Forever will host an open house to show concepts and solicit community feedback about the project. This particular event has a special hook — a bragging rights basketball game between the Richmond Heights police and fire departments, emceed by Y98 radio host Julie Tristan. Project team members will be there with boards illustrating design concepts and asking about preferences, plus there will be interactive activities like a “Design A Jersey” contest. This is one of four upcoming open houses related to the Forest Park basketball project at local community centers (the others are in St.

Here’s some Maplewood History posts you might have missed

Maplewood historian, Doug Houser, has continued to post on 40 South: from collecting matchbook covers to previously unseen photos of Maplewood’s second high school. Here’s some of his recent. Maplewood History: A Hunk, A Hunk of Burning…Hobby? Revisited
Maplewood History: Now You Can Own A Reproduction Of A Stan Masters Watercolor! Maplewood History: Stan Masters – A World Class Watercolorist…From Maplewood
Maplewood History: The Bruno Farm
Maplewood History For Sale
Maplewood History: For Sale – A Painted Photograph of Gertrude Harper
Maplewood History: Previous Unseen Images of Maplewood’s Second High School

Special election to be held in Maplewood Ward 1

With the resignation of Shana Jones from the Maplewood City Council last September, a special election will be held on February 7 to elect a replacement for the Ward 1 seat. Matt Coriell, Jones’ opponent in the April 2022 regular election, will be running unopposed. Most of Ward 1 is the part of Maplewood that’s west of Big Bend Boulevard. See the city ward map here. Read about Coriell on his crowd-funding page for the April election: Coriell for Ward 1

Coffee shop, bakery, looks for March opening, as building is rehabbed

The new owner of 2500 Sutton Boulevard in Maplewood, Danny Slavin, has been busy replacing all the systems there. It’s the location of the former Stone Spiral Coffee and the yet-to-open Looking Meadow Coffee Co. The plumbing, wiring, heating and cooling all needed to be replaced when Slavin bought it, he said, and the ceiling above the coffee shop/bakery, which is planning to open in March, according to the owner, needed to be removed to access plumbing. Slavin said only two tenants are living upstairs, of the eight total units. He’s trying to work around them as he updates the building, including replacing windows.

Kitchen Conservatory coming to Brentwood

The business offering cooking classes from beginner to gourmet, Kitchen Conservatory, is moving from Clayton to a new location in Brentwood on Manchester Road — the location of the now demolished Brentwood Lanes and the smaller contiguous lot to the west. The lot to the west is the one next to Gene-Del Printing at 9019 Manchester Road, with the oak tree that the Brentwood Optimists has used for years for its summer barbecue and Christmas tree lot in December. The tree was knocked down.

For the record: council member resigns, chief of police named

Maplewood city council member, Shana Jones announced on Facebook, Sept. 23, that she was stepping down from the council. As of today. I have step down as a Councilwoman of Ward 1 in Maplewood. Even though I don’t have the title of Councilwoman it want stop me from Serving my community as I been doing for the last 10 years.

AT&T internet down for a week or more in a section of Maplewood, resident reports

A Maplewood resident reports that around 9:30 Wednesday morning a street crew at Piccadilly Avenue and Oxford Boulevard chopped through a large bundle of fiber optic cable providing Internet service for AT&T customers. Many residents south of Greenwood Boulevard in Maplewood have reported the outage. Technicians were dispatched to homes to check individual modem statuses, only to find that the outage is not due to customers’ needing to restart their modems. One Maplewood resident was told that the repair could easily take a week or more.