St. Louis’ Kosciusko neighborhood is about to see a notable drop in its residential population—from 52 to 50. Joan and Wayne Long, who’ve lived in the industrial neighborhood east of Soulard since 2000, can no longer feasibly live in the old industrial building whose top floor they’ve long called home.
The couple’s exodus, prompted by them getting older and Wayne’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, also puts around 100 shelter beds in jeopardy. For the past three winters, the couple has opened the lower showroom portion of their building up to people in need of emergency winter shelter.
The building, which has ties to the A.E. Schmidt billiards empire dating back to the 19th century, has two wings: a larger, three-story red-brick structure to the east and an adjacent, one-story structure to the west. The couple ran a catering and banquet company out of the one-story building for a long time, using the former pool showroom as a banquet hall and living in the upper floor of the eadjoining space. Joan tells SLM that it’s been mostly uneventful when the lower wing of the massive complex they call home fills up with those needing emergency shelter. “Living here, we had no problems,” she says.
Now they’re planning to move into a smaller apartment downtown at the end of May or in early June. They would like to see the building, which already has an occupancy permit to operate as a shelter, continue as one after they leave…