ST. LOUIS — The fire that destroyed a massive, five-story warehouse north of downtown a week ago is the latest in a string of blazes in the area over the last two years, and it has drawn the attention of a federal law enforcement agency.
Two property owners near the site of the fire at 1230 North Second Street said an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spoke with them this week and sought any surveillance footage they had from the morning of Feb. 3, when the fire broke out. An ATF agent was on-site Friday morning and a spokeswoman confirmed the bureau was making inquiries of business and property owners in the area.
The spokeswoman, Lisa Storey, said the ATF is “independently looking at the fire†after receiving an anonymous tip through the regional Crime Stoppers tip line that the fire was suspicious. But she said no formal criminal investigation had yet been opened.
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The ATF’s inquiry follows at least four other fires in or near the North Riverfront area in the last 18 months. Over the years the area has attracted development interest, and in 2015 was proposed as the site of new NFL stadium to entice the Rams to stay. The city recently paid to update the area’s redevelopment plan.
But the area is also a draw for homeless people due to its open space and vacant buildings. And while several property owners have invested in their buildings and added or maintained their restaurants and offices, large-scale redevelopment has yet to take off.
Two of the warehouses that burned in the last 18 months are owned by members of the McGowan family, whose company also owns another, still-standing warehouse in the North Riverfront. Their McGowan Brothers Development has for years been a major property owner and rehabber along Washington Avenue, but it has recently sold off a chunk of its downtown portfolio as it pivots to a focus on its restaurant business.
In October 2022, a McGowan-owned warehouse — adjacent to the one that burned last week — caught fire and was destroyed. Tim McGowan, one of the brothers, said neither that warehouse or the one that burned last week was insured.
“It’s hard to really insure a vacant building,†McGowan said.
McGowan, who said there is no surveillance video of the fire, said ATF investigators spoke to his brother, Seamus, on Thursday.
“We just assumed it was a homeless person that was trying to stay warm, but it seems like there’s some real investigation from ATF,†McGowan said. “Every day we battle with homeless breaking in and out of these buildings. We’ll board it up and an hour later they’ll have gained entry again.â€
The last tenant in the building left a year or so ago. Just about everything of value in the building had been “scrapped,†including rail from elevator shafts and sprinkler pipes, he said.
“It’s a blow, it’s not fun to wake up in the morning and have 28 texts on your phone saying ‘hey I think your building’s on fire,’†McGowan said.
He said it appears the ATF is looking at whether someone is intentionally setting the fires.
“Certainly, if someone’s going around lighting fires in warehouses you’d want that person to be caught,†McGowan said.
Other recent fires in the area include an October 2022 blaze that happened the morning after the one in the McGowan-owned warehouse. That destroyed the historic ºüÀêÊÓƵ Stamping Co. buildings owned by nonprofit Justine Petersen, which demolished the remainder late last year due to safety concerns.
Another warehouse just on the other side of the highway from the North Riverfront, owned by Paul McKee’s NorthSide Regeneration, burned in May 2023. And last January a car was lit on fire in the open-air lower level of the Cotton Belt Freight Depot, the graffiti-covered landmark where homeless people are known to congregate. The Cotton Belt building is still standing.
McGowan said the cause of the October 2022 fire in the family’s other warehouse was never determined. All three of the family’s buildings in the North Riverfront were under contract around the time of that first fire, but the potential buyer, Ashley Energy, pulled out, McGowan said.
Preservation review required
Both of the former warehouses owned by the McGowans are in the North Riverfront Industrial Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. That means any demolition of the buildings would have required special approval from the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Preservation Board, which often opts against allowing demolition of historic properties.
The company that had the warehouses under contract, Ashley Energy, owns the old Trigen plant, which powers the downtown “steam loop†that provides steam heat to many of downtown’s buildings. Ashley bought the plant and steam loop in 2017 and has for the last several years weighed plans for a redevelopment of the area into an energy and technology park known as “Energy Square.â€
An Ashley executive was connected to an odd February 2022 incident where a demolition permit was filed for the Cotton Belt building. But the owner of the Cotton Belt building, nonprofit Justine Petersen, said it did not file the demolition permit.
The name that appeared on the application to the city, Brandon Costello, is head of finance and business development for Ashley Energy and its affiliated company, Confluence Power.
Justine Petersen said Costello was not affiliated with their nonprofit and questioned why a demolition permit application would have been filed by a company that didn’t own the building.
Ashley Energy CEO Mason Miller said Friday by email that the application for the permit was filed accidentally by a demolition contractor.
“It had only been prepared in connection with a tax credit application and was not intended to be filed if and until those tax credits were awarded, the property acquired and any other necessary permissions granted,†Miller wrote. “If my memory is correct, the demolition contractor withdrew that permit once he was advised that the permit application was solely for the purposes of a tax credit application.â€
Miller confirmed that the company continues to move forward with the “Energy Square†redevelopment concept and is “actively seeking potential site tenants.â€
Ashley Energy’s option to purchase the McGowan warehouses expired “well before†the fires, both of which “caused significant damage to our plant and substation.â€
“Fortunately, our team is very experienced and our plant is equipped with multiple layers of redundancy, so we were able to repair the damage without a single service interruption to any of our customers,†Miller said of last weekend’s fire.
On Friday, demolition contractor Bellon Wrecking was taking down what remained of the historic warehouse, finished in 1906 and once used as a warehouse for the Shapleigh Hardware Company and the J. Kennard & Sons Carpet Company.
During demolition, a falling wall hit a power line, disrupting electricity service for some in the downtown area.