What happened yesterday at the Blairmont hearing?
Nothing.
Blairmont's attorney, Steven Goldenberg, successfully obtained a continuance from Judge James Dowd of the Circuit Court, claiming that it will conduct an engineering study on the Clemens House and submit that the court. This indicates two things:
a.) Blairmont's owners are still hiding from the public and preparing some revelation to head off any moment at which their watchdogs might have a clue on their identity;
b.) Blairmont likely is getting ready to justify demolition of the Clemens House with the study.
Rumors have flown here and there about Blairmont's identity. One source has Blairmont being a northside business family investing the last dollars of a failed empire; another more likely scenario has Blairmont being a front for a well-known suburban developer plotting a large scattered-site housing development.
But I think that I have solved the case: I think that the land is being bought up by relatives of our new police chief S. Jammu. Sound kooky? You say there isn't a chief named Jammu? I swear that the pieces all fit together to make a convincing story! Either that or Jonathan Franzen is on the joyride of his life.
All kidding aside, Blairmont Associated Limited Company is an irresponsible property owner whose failure to maintain its property warrants the lawsuit filed by the Building Division. If I were an eminent domain sort of guy, I would say here's a case where it might be wise to use it. Blairmont controls 89 properties and its affiliated enterprise VHS Partners LLC controls an additional 101 properties. Of course, if the plan is to build new houses the powers that be would more likely endorse the effort than try to stop it.
Friday, December 2, 2005
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5 comments:
How large is the Clemens house site?
Would it be large enough by itself to support a mini-subdivision of new for sale housing?
Or has Blairmont also bought up the property around it?
TIME TO START NAMING NAMES: The name I have heard is that Blairmont is a front for Paul McKee. I have no idea if that is true.
The clemens house: it is virtually surrounded by a housing project which is wrapped up in multi-year tax credit investments and commitments; it doesn't seem likely that there will be much takeover of that property for a new subdivision. While the lot is substantially larger than surrounding lots, it is not large enough on its own to make a large scale suburban developer salivate.
It is seems clear that this purchase is to place control over the last lot in an area where development has largely eaten up most of the vacant land and buildings..
In other words, Blairmont and its backers are a bunch of jerk-a#$ speculator who needs to be hunted down and beaten.
If a developer was doing a scattered-site project, the size of the Clemens site would not matter much.
However, it's likely that Blairmont is simply waiting for a buy-out from the city or the developer of the surrounding development, McCormack Baron. Blairmont also owns a warehouse at 13th and Cass that the State of Missouri Department of Transportation wants to buy out for a ramp related to the Mississippi River Boondoggle (even though the ramp itself won't need the warehouse site at all...).
Michael, who do you think Blairmont is?
I don't know.
Who are you?
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