St. Louis Cultural Resources Office Recommends Denial of AAA Demolition

After surving a first attempt at demolition last summer, the oval AAA building on Lindell Boulevard recently appeard on a preliminary City of St. Louis Preservation Board agenda. Now the final Board agenda for June is posted and the Cultural Resources Office recommends that the preliminary review to demolish the AAA building on Lindell be denied. This is clearly good news, but even better news is found by reading the CRO's comprehensive and well argued narrative.

The Cultural Resources Office concludes that the AAA Building is a particularly fine example of 1970s architecture and a High Merit property. It is eligible for listing as a City Landmark, meeting three criteria, and once it reaches 50 years of age, the property would be eligible to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Further study could conclude that it has exceptional architectural significance and would be eligible for listing in the National Register with that status. In addition, the building, though distinctive in shape and interior arrangements, has high reuse potential. As the merit of the building is so evident, and Architectural Quality ranks second only to a legislated redevelopment plan, it is hard to conclude that any other criteria are significant in this case or that the quality of the proposed subsequent construction would equal or exceed the contribution of the AAA Building to the integrity of the existing streetscape and block face, the ensemble of high‐quality mid‐century Modern design on Lindell, and the built environment of the City.

If you've been following the story closely, you know that we've arrived at this point because 18th Ward Alderman Terry Kennedy opposes demolition of the AAA building for a standard CVS. A community group he organized is also against the demolition. Kennedy has just recently had the 18th Ward placed under preservation review, and thus, the request for demolition is now in front of the city's Preservation Board. The Preservation Board could received Aldermanic and community input and choose to endorse demolition anyway. They could also deny demolition and the applicants could appeal to the Planning Commission. And sadly we know how that can sometimes turns out.

{CVS site plan - existing AAA building highlighted in red}