ST. LOUIS – A former St. Louis ministry has become a neighborhood danger, according to residents.  

Across the street from the Baden neighborhood gem, Dickman Park, is the former City to City Ministry. The building, located on the 1200 block of Switzer Avenue, is now considered to be a fire hazard.

The site of the ministry includes crumbling fire-damaged buildings, rotting mattresses and furniture, discarded garbage, and construction debris. Illegal dumping and rampant gunfire are evident at the location.

On Christmas Eve, the building was in flames. Still, there is no suspected cause, according to the St. Louis Fire Department.

Residents suspect vagrants started it, trying to stay warm in the abandoned complex.   

“The heat from the building—you could feel it all the way over here,” Demondria Howard, a resident across the park, said.

According to the owner of the complex, there are people routinely scrapping metal at the site, dumping garbage, or firing guns without permission.

One building has dozens of bullet holes with bullet fragments outside.

“I get scared,” Howard said. “I had to get down on the floor; they were like right outside. I was like, ‘Oh my God!’”

The owner of the ministry offered new, heavily discounted furniture to people in need as he has been battling health issues.

“We want it gone,” Tashara Earl, president of the Revitalization of Baden Association, said.  

City records show unpaid property taxes over the past three years, totaling just under $39,000.

The owner said the property is a disaster, but blames the city of St. Louis for failing to address all the criminal activity.

Sharon Tyus, the neighborhood’s alderwoman, suggested fencing off the complex to keep unwanted visitors out.

But according to Earl, it is too late for that.   

“We want this building to be torn down so we can turn it into a community asset. We care about our community,” Earl said. “That is something I really want people to know—we are really working to revitalize our neighborhood and we have a lot of people over here who do care.”

Earl has reached out to Legal Services of Missouri and Washington University’s Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic for help.  

“Maybe they could put something else over there, something they could use it for that’s good, something we could actually use,” Howard said.  

The owner hopes to sell the building and pay off taxes quickly so residents and the neighborhood can move forward.