ST. LOUIS — A downtown gas station that residents call the “murder Shell†finally closed its doors for good this week, months after two lawsuits compelled this hub of violent crime to shutter by Thursday.
The Shell gas station, at 721 North Tucker Boulevard, saw at least 21 shootings over the past four years, including a man shot execution-style in broad daylight.
“The Shell is at the heart of all the crime in the area,†said Matt O’Leary, a lawyer and member of the residents group, Citizens for a Greater Downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ, which filed one of the lawsuits. “Anything is an improvement.â€
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Police Department also announced in June it would increase its visibility in the area by relocating its bike unit from North 13th Street and Lucas Avenue to the Globe Building, at Tucker Boulevard and Convention Plaza. The new substation is expected to open next month.
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The closure comes months after two separate court cases — one from the residents group Citizens for a Greater Downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ and spearheaded by O’Leary, and the other from former ºüÀêÊÓƵ alderman James Page. The parties in the lawsuits announced earlier this year that they had settled with the property’s owner, who agreed to close by Aug. 1.
In O’Leary’s case, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer agreed that city ordinances prohibited the gas station from operating in the central business district. Stelzer revoked the Shell’s operating permit but did not order it to close.
The former alderman sued the gas station under a special state statute. Tucker Shell agreed to a deed restriction that meant a gas station or convenience store could not be put in its place, according to a news release.
The Shell station owner could not be reached for comment.
Dan Emerson, the attorney who represented the station in the lawsuits, told the Post-Dispatch he thinks any business that is put on the corner of Convention Plaza and Tucker Boulevard will not be able to prosper. He said the owner tried to enforce security measures and have security in and around the area, but it was not enough.
“They got unfairly targeted,†he said. “It’s more a systemic failure of downtown.â€
Residents skeptical closure will help
Some residents agree.
John Vacca, who lives in the Soulard neighborhood and a ºüÀêÊÓƵ resident for more than 20 years, said he doesn’t believe that the business itself was driving the crime.
Vacca said the Tucker Boulevard Shell station, one of the only gas stations in the central business district, has always been crazy. He said police patrols in the area had been too infrequent to deter crime.
“I just think it’s putting the responsibility of crime on the business owner’s shoulders,†Vacca said. “That doesn’t solve the problem, it just closes the gas station,†he said. “There’s people we pay to make sure the city is safe, and they blame other people.â€
Long-time ºüÀêÊÓƵ resident Demond Burton said he works near the property and frequented the area before crime increased there. He said he prefers to gas up a few miles down the road.
“I used to get gas there all the time,†he said. “I’ll take the extra gas to get more gas, it’s more comfortable there anyway.â€
Burton said he is also skeptical that closing the station will reduce crime in that area, especially with the homeless encampment that surrounds the area. He said people might still use it as a hub for crime, regardless of the fences and boarded-up doors.
“Crime is just going to change locations now,†he said. “But people are still going to hang out there. The gas station itself didn’t have anything to do with it.â€
Maria Clay, who also works near the gas station said she’s never felt unsafe in that area. She said no one bothered her as long as she minded her business. She said she always heard about the crime at the station, but that didn’t stop her.
“I don’t think it’s going to change the crime at all,†she said.
A ‘nuisance’ property
The Shell station gained last year when a man shot and killed 46-year-old David Saldana, with whom he had been fighting, around 10 a.m. Police arrested 23-year-old Deshawn Thomas hours later.
The Post-Dispatch reported at the time that authorities knew the Shell station was a nuisance property. Crime there prompted nearly 450 calls for police or emergency service from September 2019 to September 2020 alone.
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Police spokesperson Mitch McCoy declined to comment over the phone about the site.
National coverage of the murder and reports about other crimes that had taken place in the area fed into the notion that downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ was suffering from what as a “real estate nightmare†that was driving away residents and businesses.
The regional business group Greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ Inc. as “dramatic†and “pessimistic.†But Citizens for a Greater Downtown ºüÀêÊÓƵ it as “largely accurate.â€
Paul Puricelli, who represented O’Leary in the suit, said in a statement that residents need to take action if the city does nothing to respond to their concerns.
“This lawsuit demonstrates that residents brave enough to do that can and should prevail,†Puricelli said.