Developers behind a proposed Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in North St. Louis say they are making progress after seeking a conditional use permit, which lets a project move forward even if that type of structure isn’t normally allowed in the area.
The site in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood was announced more than three years ago and would serve as a satellite location of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. The project would reuse a former Land Reutilization Authority property — the former United Railways substation on North Spring Avenue.
The development will be completed in two stages. The first phase will focus on the museum, while the second phase will center on construction of 34 senior housing units.
Developer Guyton Harvey said the museum will be near the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club, the Brickline Greenway and the site of the former Sportsman’s Park stadium.
“It will do a lot to complement some of the existing anchors to the community, and we hope that it will catalyze other investment and interest in improvements in an underserved community,” Harvey said.
The city’s Public Safety Department held a conditional use hearing earlier this month.
Harvey said the museum plans to operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with varied hours on Sunday to account for church services. The museum will include a gift shop.
During the hearing, some Jeff-Vander-Lou residents said developers had not updated them on the museum plans. Jeff-Vander-Lou Neighborhood Association member Carla Alexander said she supports the museum.
“We are not trying to stop progress of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in our residential area,” Alexander said. “But what we are reporting is that the residents right across the street, down the street, around the corner, in close proximity, even neighbors and stakeholders in our ward did not even know about the project.”
Another resident expressed concern about what the development could mean for residential parking and housing.
“That is a detriment to parking, potential crime and it actually takes away housing for potential residents where we just dealt with the tornado,” Penrose Neighborhood Association and North Newstead Association board member Yolanda Owens said. “We did not even know about this. There has to be a better way to let the community know about these things.”
Harvey said he met with multiple neighborhood groups, attended two Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood meetings and held a community meeting at the Divoll Library. He said he also met with Azariah Missionary Baptist Church representatives to discuss possible additional parking for the museum, though it is not clear whether an agreement has been reached.
Alderwoman Laura Keys, who represents the 11th Ward where the museum would be built, said she supports the project and that Harvey met the necessary benchmarks.
“It’s right down the street from the original hotel where the Black baseball players had to stay,” Keys said. “It’s a historic area that lends itself to having this venue right there.”
Harvey said the plan is to break ground on the museum later this year, possibly by September.
This story originally appeared here.