ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis property owner, Coby Williams, is fighting to keep the city from demolishing her Northside home. She and her partner bought the property on Bacon Street in North St. Louis with plans to renovate it.
They claim to have invested $25,000 into the property only to receive a notice from the city that officials plan to tear it down.
Williams said, “It’s not fair. The city wants to demolish my building, and I want to keep it and fix it up. They say people are hanging out there, but I ask them to leave when I’m there. When I’m not there, I don’t know what they’re doing. It’s similar to the situation at city hall; officials can make people leave when they’re there, but they come back. Until I have someone working there every day, people will still come back.”
They reached out to the “You Paid For It” segment, hoping for a second chance.
FOX 2 contacted the Mayor’s Office, which issued a statement from the St. Louis Building Division: “On May 2, 2024, the City of St. Louis Building Division Permits Section sent a letter to the property owner alerting them that the property was condemned due to structural damage caused by a fire.”
Williams said, “The place is not that bad. They want to demolish it for structural problems, but the bricks are not falling. The bricks that were falling, I got them fixed. I want to keep my house and fix it up.”
Her partner, Dion Robinson, added, “We’ve renovated many houses before. I was working on it, getting drawings done and everything. I can’t continue working on it if they tell me they’re getting ready to tear it down. I don’t want to keep spending money on something they’re planning to demolish.”
The Mayor’s Office statement offers some hope: “However, the Building Division is willing to work with the new owner of the property and fully expects the owner to follow through with garnering the proper permits to restore the building to its habitable state.”
The owners promise to do just that.
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