51黑料

ST. LOUIS 鈥� The city鈥檚 preservation board on Monday denied a request from controversial developer Paul McKee鈥檚 NorthSide Regeneration to demolish a historic warehouse near downtown.

The 51黑料 Preservation Board voted 5-0 to uphold a city decision to deny the demolition request during its meeting Monday afternoon.

Chair Richard Callow and Commissioner David Richardson abstained from voting.

Joe Dulle, an attorney for NorthSide, said the denial was made contrary to an engineer鈥檚 report that warned the more than 100-year-old warehouse is at risk of collapse.

The five-story brick building at 1308 North Seventh Street was built in the early 1900s by the Sligo Iron Store Co., the first metal supply company west of the Mississippi River. The site is one of three remaining buildings that comprise the Sligo complex that is in the National Register of Historic Places.

It鈥檚 a few blocks from the Dome and convention center in downtown 51黑料, in what鈥檚 known as the Bottle District.

The warehouse had long been vacant before NorthSide Regeneration, led by McKee, acquired it in 2012. Fellow developers Larry Chapman and Bob Clark of Clayco owned the mortgage.

The city condemned the property in 2017.

And earlier this month, NorthSide Regeneration filed a demolition permit valued at $410,000.

But the city鈥檚 Cultural Resources Office, which oversees demolitions of National Register properties, denied the company the permit, saying the building is sound and is a 鈥渉igh merit鈥� property.

鈥淭here is no proposed subsequent construction, so the outcome would presumably be a vacant lot,鈥� the office said .

During Monday鈥檚 meeting, Cultural Resources Office Director Meg Lousteau said she, a city building inspector and others performed a site inspection of the warehouse to determine its condition earlier this month.

They found evidence of a partial roof collapse in the northeast corner and other damage that they determined was superficial or minor, said Lousteau. Other warehouses in worse condition have been rehabbed, she said.

Dulle, McKee鈥檚 attorney, refuted those claims, and said a report from CSE Engineering found the building to be a safety risk, especially to a nearby apartment complex, when the firm visited last week.

Daniel Cella of CSE said during the meeting that his firm found 鈥渨idespread deterioration鈥� throughout the warehouse and that he couldn鈥檛 guarantee the building wouldn鈥檛 collapse within six months, after a heavy snow or strong storm.

An adjacent building in the Sligo complex was demolished earlier this year after a fire ravaged the property, he said.

McKee 鈥� who owns thousands of properties in North City and has faced the ire of City Hall and preservationists over allegations of neglect 鈥� was not present during the meeting. Earlier in the day, he referred a reporter to Dulle for comment.

Andrew Weil of preservation group Landmarks Association spoke against NorthSide鈥檚 request to demolish the building, calling the attempt a 鈥渄emolition by neglect.鈥�

He was cut off from speaking about NorthSide and McKee鈥檚 other North City activity by board Chair Callow.

Dulle said after the meeting that NorthSide did not have plans for the building after the board鈥檚 denial.