Leaders from the Land Reutilization Authority say they have resumed accepting offers for their properties in St. Louis.
The authority paused accepting applications after the May 16 tornado while staff conducted damage assessments and worked with city departments and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to analyze properties.
The LRA is responsible for the stewardship and sale of previously abandoned and foreclosed properties in the city.
Shelton Anderson, director of real estate for the authority, said it decided to resume accepting offers in an effort to reduce vacancy rates in St. Louis.
“A lot of these properties are next to owners who have been in the community for some time,” Anderson said. “We would like to give the opportunity for community members, investors and developers to take part in our efforts to move forward with the city’s recovery from the May 16 tornado.”
Mayor Cara Spencer said there’s a backlog of people interested in purchasing properties. Anderson added that due to that high interest, the authority wanted to be intentional about accepting offers in the aftermath of the storm.
“While it’s been a tragedy for the city, we want to ensure that we’re looking at every opportunity to rapidly expedite the individuals being property owners and getting these properties back into productive use and occupancy,” he said.
“Through the efforts of the community, the investors and the developers who seek to actively purchase those properties, we do believe that the vacancy rate will continue to go down.”
A recent Vacancy Strategy Initiative report revealed that unoccupied properties in the city decreased by 4% since 2018. And nearly 90% of properties in St. Louis that are vacant today were vacant in 2018.
The LRA currently owns around 9,000 properties that are available for purchase, and 85% of those parcels are vacant lots. The remaining 15% are vacant buildings, Anderson said.
More than 150 buildings have been stabilized for future rehab by Prop-NS, a program that stabilizes LRA properties that are vacant, residential, and have six units or fewer.
Properties only come into the LRA’s inventory if they are not purchased at the city’s tax sale, Anderson said.
Spencer said that separately, demolition has also begun on publicly owned properties that were impacted by the May storm through a partnership with the St. Louis Regional Crime Commission. She said it will take time to rebuild north St. Louis after the tornado, so that it doesn’t remain a barren wasteland.
“The long-term plan is one that really needs to be driven by community,” Spencer said. “It also is going to require just an enormous amount of funding. We are anticipating requesting Community Development Block Grant funds, the specific disaster designation to help us to fund that, to drive that rebuilding effort.”
New LRA offers must be submitted by Sept. 3 to be considered at the Sept. 24 LRA board meeting. Interested parties can apply online or contact the authority at 314-657-3721.
Prop-NS properties are also available for bidding through Aug. 27.
