ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – One year after a tornado tore through north St. Louis, the work to rebuild is still very much a work in progress.
In some places, buildings have been shored up and people have moved back in. But in many neighborhoods, the recovery process is just beginning or hasn’t even started.
Within the last month, work began at Soll’s Gateway Market on Kingshighway after it took a direct hit from the tornado. The grocery store has been a staple in North City for decades and was one of the only remaining places to get quality food in all of North City.
Tornado left market at crossroads
Ed Shuman, the store director of Soll’s Gateway Market, said the May 16 tornado is still fresh on his mind.
“I started pounding on the back of the building, saying ‘let me in!’ As soon as they opened the door, I was blown in,” Shuman said. “The roof came off here and blew through the top part of the building here and out the side. So it was pretty scary.”
Shuman said customers went downstairs to the basement to stay safe.
The 24,000-square-foot building that’s been standing for more than a century lost part of its roof, and bricks were peeled off the front and back of the building. The extensive damage forced the store’s closure, cutting off a critical resource for people in North City.
“Soll’s Gateway Market is basically in a food desert. It provides a lot to the Fountain Park, Academy communities,” Shuman said.
Shuman said community members have asked repeatedly when the store will reopen.
“I can’t tell you how many times we’re in and out of the building doing different things on a day-to-day basis, ‘When are you opening back up? We miss you, we want you back.’ So, yes, the community embraces us and the want us back full force, no if, ands or buts about that,” he said.
Repair work started a month ago
Work to reopen is now happening. Crews were working to repair the exterior walls and roof. But that work only started about a month ago, nearly a whole year after the tornado hit.
Shuman said insurance is paying for 80 percent of the rebuild.
“The rebuilding process is not easy. We struggled with the insurance company and we still are, trying to rebuild the store. It’s one small task at a time,” he said.
Shuman said seeing nothing happening week after week was frustrating and tiring.
“When water comes in, the first thing you want to do is react to get it back out, you don’t want it damaging anything else that is sitting in there because it just creates other problems,” he said.
Calls for more city help
Shuman said the people and his business need help and wants more from the city.
“The city has the opportunity of those Rams funds, they could be using those to really help stabilize the community. Look around here, we lost a lot of members of the community because they can’t afford to rebuild, so they had to move on. That’s tough, that’s really tough,” he said.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen set aside $30 million in interest from the Rams settlement for tornado recovery. But Shuman is joining a growing number of people who want the $250 million of Rams funds to go primarily to rebuilding North City.
Mayor Cara Spencer recently said in her State of the City address the Rams money should be split into three buckets: recovery in north St. Louis, economic development downtown and improving the city’s water system.
“You see so many people that are struggling and everything and you think there would be a faster process instead of everybody dancing around figuring out what needs to be done, how can we immediately help the individuals, like a store like ours,” Shuman said.
He said the city has not reached out to help the store get back up and running.
“We’re knocking on the doors asking for help and trying to see what they can do to help us move forward,” Shuman said.
Future uncertain for grocery store
Shuman said the next chapter of Soll’s is going to look different because of the tornado.
“I think it’s important that we understand what it is that they need. Because, like I said, most of the people have left. A grocery store may not be something they need right now, maybe it is, maybe it’s the hardware store, I’m not sure,” he said.
Other ideas for the space include a storage facility or a flea market.
“We looked at a possible antique/flea market area, to where these can be broken into small booths, which would help the community because they can come in, they could sell items too, so it would help them rebuild,” Shuman said.
After the roof is repaired, Shuman said they’ll work to clear out the store shelves to help them better figure out what’s next. He said the store is at least four months from opening.
In the meantime, he hopes the city develops a better plan to help the thousands impacted by the disaster.
“I just think the city is so much more powerful than that, that they could move faster,” Shuman said. “They need a lot of help. Anything that can be done by the city to help them move forward, I think is only going to benefit the city in general by having this community thrive again.”
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