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Reducing the Number of Vacant Properties in St. Louis, One at a Time

Industry Update
August 15, 2023

Source: fox2now.com

More than 20,000 properties are sitting vacant in the City of St. Louis. That data is courtesy of a partnership between the city and the STL Vacancy Collaborative.

“That includes, approximately, about 14,000 vacant lots and about 8,000 to 9,000 vacant buildings. Most of that is concentrated to the north side of the city—over 60%,” Torrey Park, director of the STL Vacancy Collaborative, said.

The question many people are wondering is now that the city knows where the vacant properties are located and who owns them, what happens next?

“Property is being fixed up, being stabilized, renovated; some of it is being torn down. Some of it is being repurposed as community gardens,” managing attorney Peter Hoffman said. “So, there are already successes. We have to also remember this is a 70-year problem in the making. This did not happen overnight.”

“Obviously, it costs money to both stabilize wherever possible and demolish vacant buildings. We’ve allocated a lot of funding to it,” Nahuel Fefer, executive director of the city’s Community Development Administration, said. “But we’ve now, for the first time, allocated $13 million in ARPA funds to the stabilization of privately owned properties.”

He said funding from the city is helping restore homes.

“Prop NS has stabilized over 150 properties and sold 39 of those. With the CDA home repair program, where we allocate another $15 million of ARPA funds to scaling and expanding the city home repair program. We’ve completed 274 this year to date,” Fefer said.

For full report, please click the source link above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Alan joined Safeguard in 1995, learning the business from the ground up. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2002, and was named CEO in May 2010. His hands-on experience has given him unique insights as a leader to innovate, improve and strengthen Safeguard’s processes to assure that the company adheres to the highest standards of quality and customer service.

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Michael Greenbaum is the Chief Operating Officer of Safeguard Properties, where he has played a pivotal role since joining the company in July 2010. Initially brought on as Vice President of REO, Mike’s exceptional leadership and strategic vision quickly propelled him to Vice President of Operations in 2013, and ultimately to COO in 2015. Over his 14-year tenure at Safeguard, Mike has been instrumental in driving change and fostering innovation within the Property Preservation sector, consistently delivering excellence and becoming a trusted partner to clients and investors.

A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mike earned a degree in Quantitative Economics. Following his graduation, he served in the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Branch, where he specialized in supply chain management. Before his tenure at Safeguard, Mike honed his expertise by managing global supply chains for 13 years, leveraging his military and civilian experience to lead with precision and efficacy.

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Joe Iafigliola is the Chief Financial Officer for Safeguard Properties. Joe is responsible for the Control, Quality Assurance, Business Development, Marketing, Accounting, and Information Security departments. At the core of his responsibilities is the drive to ensure that Safeguard’s focus remains rooted in Customer Service = Resolution. Through his executive leadership role, he actively supports SGPNOW.com, an on-demand service geared towards real estate and property management professionals as well as individual home owners in need of inspection and property preservation services. Joe is also an integral force behind Compliance Connections, a branch of Safeguard Properties that allows code enforcement professionals to report violations at properties that can then be addressed by the Safeguard vendor network. Compliance Connections also researches and shares vacant property ordinance information with Safeguard clients.

Joe has an MBA from The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and holds a bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University’s Honors Accounting program.

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