ST. LOUIS – Last month, FOX 2’s Positively St. Louis story focused on how the Land Reutilization Authority in the City of St. Louis has reformed their purchase programs, processes and communications.
The LRA is responsible for the stewardship and sale of nearly 10,000 vacant buildings in various conditions in the city. They’ve started a demolition program to remove vacant buildings that can’t be preserved.
LRA is partnering with St. Louis Development Corporation, which staffs LRA in addition to the Regional Crime Commission, the Department of Economic Development, and the City of St. Louis.
In 2022, “The Vacancy Project” was awarded $15 million in ARPA funds through the Regional Crime Commission to focus on abandoned buildings and overgrown lots that tend to be hotspots for crime.
Shelton Anderson is the VP of Real Estate for the LRA.
“The St. Louis Regional Crime Commission realized that the LRA is the largest St. Louis landowner in the City of St. Louis and has the best opportunity in taking properties that are vacant, unoccupied properties,” said Anderson. “[For] properties that have the highest opportunity in leveraging the funding that St. Louis Regional Crime Commission has received from the Missouri Department of Economic Development, [it’s about] being able to really reactivate as the first phase of redevelopment by demolishing structures that are in highest category for vacancy and structures that need to be demolished in the City of St. Louis.”