Dutchtown group sue Clayton investment banker over property

ST. LOUIS — A south St. Louis neighborhood association is suing the owner of a property just north of Marquette Park, alleging the Clayton-based owner let the four-family flat become a fire hazard.
Dutchtown Main Streets said Kevin M. Short and his Cathedral Properties LLC failed to address numerous building code violations at 3135 Osage Street even after the organization warned that he could be sued if the problems weren’t abated, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court.
On Monday, wooden boards — stamped with the St. Louis Building Division insignia dated to 2018 — covered the front doors of the Osage property. At least two front windows were broken, while another two were open and showed the remains of a burned ceiling in one of the units. Stone cladding also hung off a brick pillar.
Dutchtown Main Streets is asking the court to appoint a third-party receiver who will fix the code issues and get the property, which the city condemned in 2018, back in use.
Short, who serves as CEO of investment banking firm Clayton Capital Partners, said in a message that the lawsuit didn’t present the full story. He did not respond to multiple requests for more information.
Neighborhood associations, frustrated with an understaffed, sluggish city building division, are relying less on City Hall to fix problem properties and are instead addressing negligent owners themselves with attorney letters and litigation. Last week, for example, Soulard neighbors sued the owner of a burned church that sits on a prominent corner.
“We have had a lot of success with getting properties fixed up or into the hands of community development corporations,” said Nate Lindsey, Dutchtown’s vacancy litigation specialist.
Lindsey declined to talk about the Osage lawsuit specifically, but said Dutchtown Main Streets has recently focused its efforts on owners of derelict properties near Marquette Park.
Short and his Cathedral Properties company bought the four-family out of foreclosure in early 2008.
Cathedral Properties also owns at least three other South City homes.
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Steph Kukuljan | Post-Dispatch
Real estate and development
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