Perhaps the second set should have gone first considering the title of the thread.
I'm just saying......
Also, although it has been said already, it bears worth repeating that the first set are of some of the most depopulated, poor areas of the city. The first set is below and borders N. Grand Blvd. Lower North St. Louis - Old North St. Louis, Jeff Vander Lou (which is huge and economically diverse), Hyde Park, College Hill, and St. Louis Place - is older. The vacants lots aren't necessarily pleasant to look at, but they are better than looking at once decaying structures, which were beyond repair. Vacant lots or dilapidated homes and structures. Take your pick.
Furthermore, the farther west you go (or above N. Grand Blvd.), as demonstrated in the second set of pictures, the more intact the neighborhoods are structurally.
FYI, Lower South St. Louis -Lafayette Square, Soulard, the Benton Parks, LaSalle Park and what is now known as The Gate District -faced some of the same depopulation and erosion below South Grand Blvd. They too are older parts of the city. Structural perservation - despite depopulation - was more of a priority in this part of town. In many instances, it is hard to tell new construction from the old in Lower South St. Louis because of city and neighborhood ordinances. Also, these neighborhoods have infilled and rehabbed at a rapid clip unlike Lower North St. Louis, which is just beginning to see rehabs and infills.
As people in the metro moved west, southwest, and northwest the older 'hoods were among the first to go.
With that said, neighborhoods in Lower North St. Louis and The Ville, which is an old neighborhood and was known as St. Louis' Harlem, are seeing new homes developed and lots of rehabs. Some of the activity is identifiable in the first set of photos.
In the Ville, there are a lot of new market rate home developments under construction or planned. A new one was just announced yesterday. Although it will be a big challenge, mostly African-American developers are trying to bring The Ville back to its glory days.
Hilton Heights in The Ville: Check out the video