Vacant Lots in North St. Louis: How They Become New Homes
Module Building Systems
Vacant lots in North St. Louis become new homes when three things line up: land from the city's land bank, a neighborhood plan that welcomes new houses, and a builder who can put a fixed price on one lot or fifteen. Module Building Systems (MBS) builds the panels for those homes in our North St. Louis plant.
The supply of empty lots keeps growing. The Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), the city's land bank, owns 8,000 vacant lots, and the May 2025 tornado is adding more. On Oct. 1, 2026, St. Louis Public Radio reported city data showing only 2% of an estimated 2,674 homes in need of repair had been completed, with 1,000 to 1,200 homes still waiting for demolition.
Every demolition leaves one more empty lot. What goes up on those lots next will shape these blocks for decades.
How many vacant lots are in St. Louis?
The city's land bank owns about 8,000 vacant lots on its own and looks after 2,000 unoccupied buildings, by the LRA's count in October 2026. About 85% of LRA properties are lots rather than buildings, and the LRA says it is the oldest land bank in the U.S.
Nearly all of those lots are infill sites. Infill housing is a new home built on an empty lot inside an existing neighborhood, on streets and utility lines that are already in place. The block is there. The house is missing.
Can you build a new home on an LRA lot?
Yes. The LRA's New Construction Program sells lots for new residential construction: one building with up to six units. Larger projects, such as more than one residential building or more than six units, go through the Development Program instead. The LRA lays out the path in four steps:
- Search the LRA property list, then visit and assess the lot.
- Choose the purchase program that fits the project and submit an offer with the required forms.
- For a Development Program offer, gather input and support from the neighborhood.
- The LRA Commission reviews the offer and can accept, counter or deny it.
A neighbor whose house sits next to a lot too small to build on can buy that parcel through the Side Lot Program for under $200.
Building on the lot is the hard part. One house on one lot carries the same permit work and site supervision as a much bigger job, and that overhead is where many infill plans stall.
What does the Stronger Northside plan mean for The Ville?
It gives The Ville, Greater Ville and Kingsway East the first new neighborhood plan adopted in the tornado zone, and it points straight at vacant LRA land. The St. Louis Planning Commission adopted A Stronger Northside on Dec. 17, 2025, and the City of St. Louis announced it on Jan. 6, 2026. The plan pairs strategic use of LRA-owned property with layered incentives to restore existing homes and build new ones. Plans for five more North City areas, covering 16 neighborhoods, were in progress at the time.
The same announcement points to a city pilot to build factory-built homes on vacant LRA sites in The Ville. That pilot is our work. MBS was selected through the City of St. Louis Infill RFP to build 15 single-family and row homes on city-owned land in The Ville, using The Malone and The Malone Rowhomes, our three-bedroom infill designs. The project is in production at our plant now. The board vote is covered in St. Louis approves MBS to build on city land.
Other work in the city is moving too. A 21-unit walk-up in The Ville is in design for a private developer, and we priced two-story homes for Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis as closed panels, delivered and installed. Our projects page tracks each one.
Why do factory-built homes fit vacant lots in North St. Louis?
Factory-built panels fit scattered city lots because the cutting and framing happen in one plant instead of on 15 separate job sites. One approved plan can repeat across many lots. We quote a fixed price from permit-ready plans, valid for 30 days, and the factory panel price holds from contract through delivery. That matters when a house runs on a grant or a tax credit with no room for overruns.
The work also overlaps. Our plant builds the panels while the site crew pours the foundation, the same overlap that makes panels useful for disaster relief housing. Panels ship flat-packed on standard flatbed trucks and are set in sequence, so a narrow city lot does not have to hold a lumber pile for weeks. Factory framing produces up to 90% less construction waste, which means fewer dumpsters on blocks that have lived with demolition crews since May 2025.
At MBS, the agreed package defines factory completion. We supply framing subcomponents, bare framed panels and sheathed panels. More complete assemblies may include windows, doors, cladding, insulation or MEP rough-ins when specified. A nonprofit builder with its own volunteer crew can take sheathed panels. A city program that wants every house closed in fast can order closed panels.
The finished house is conventional wood framing on a site-built foundation, not a manufactured home or a modular box. The Nest, one of our catalog designs, puts two bedrooms and 2.5 baths in 1,412 sq ft on a 27 by 32 ft footprint, with a single-car garage off the rear alley.
Homes and jobs on the same blocks
Our plant sits at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis. On the line, the CNC crosscut saw cuts studs and plates to length, the CNC subcomponent nailer builds headers and door legs, and the multi-bridge nails sheathing and routes the window and door openings. At the MEP stations, crews add windows, cladding and MEP rough-ins when a package calls for them.
We train for that work with Ranken Technical College and SLATE, the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment. Details are on our workforce training page.
A house framed on North 20th Street for a lot in The Ville keeps the work and the home in the same part of town.
About Module Building Systems
Module Building Systems (MBS) is a panelized offsite construction company founded in 2023 and based at 921 N 20th Street in St. Louis, Missouri. We build wall, floor and roof panel packages in a 40,000 sq ft CNC manufacturing facility and ship them flat-packed within 1,000 miles. Projects run up to 30% lower in cost and up to 50% faster, with up to 90% less waste. Actual schedules depend on project scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics. Learn more about MBS.
Frequently asked questions
How many vacant lots does the LRA own in St. Louis?
The Land Reutilization Authority owns about 8,000 vacant lots and looks after about 2,000 unoccupied buildings, according to its website in October 2026. About 85% of LRA properties are lots rather than buildings. The LRA is the city's land bank and sells abandoned and foreclosed property back into productive use through set purchase programs.
How do you buy a vacant lot from the LRA?
Search the LRA property list, pick the purchase program that fits your plan, and submit an offer with the required forms. Development Program offers also need community input. The LRA Commission then accepts, counters or denies the offer. Owners next to small lots that cannot hold a house can buy them as side lots for under $200.
What is the Stronger Northside plan?
A Stronger Northside is the neighborhood plan for The Ville, Greater Ville and Kingsway East in North St. Louis. The St. Louis Planning Commission adopted it on Dec. 17, 2025, as the first new plan in the tornado zone. It calls for restoring existing homes and building new ones on LRA land, with more paths to affordable homeownership.
Is a panelized home a manufactured home?
No. A panelized home is conventional wood framing built from factory-made wall, floor and roof panels and set on a site-built foundation. It has no chassis and is not a HUD-code manufactured home or a volumetric modular unit. Financing, appraisal and inspection follow the site-built path, so talk with your lender about the classification early.
How long does it take to build a home on a vacant lot?
Permits, foundation readiness and the delivery sequence drive the schedule more than the house does. Our plant builds the panels while the site crew pours the foundation, so the two jobs overlap instead of stacking. With closed panels, the house can be weather-tight in days, not weeks, once panels arrive. We confirm the project schedule at contract.
Bring us a lot and a plan
Send the lot address and your plans to info@modulebs.com, or get an estimate for a fixed factory price. To see the line first, book a factory tour any weekday.
Vacant lots in North St. Louis become new homes when three things line up: land from the city's land bank, a neighborhood plan that welcomes new houses, and a builder who can put a fixed price on one lot or fifteen. Module Building Systems (MBS) builds the panels for those homes in our North St. Louis plant.
The supply of empty lots keeps growing. The Land Reutilization Authority (LRA), the city's land bank, owns 8,000 vacant lots, and the May 2025 tornado is adding more. On Oct. 1, 2026, St. Louis Public Radio reported city data showing only 2% of an estimated 2,674 homes in need of repair had been completed, with 1,000 to 1,200 homes still waiting for demolition.
Every demolition leaves one more empty lot. What goes up on those lots next will shape these blocks for decades.
How many vacant lots are in St. Louis?
The city's land bank owns about 8,000 vacant lots on its own and looks after 2,000 unoccupied buildings, by the LRA's count in October 2026. About 85% of LRA properties are lots rather than buildings, and the LRA says it is the oldest land bank in the U.S.
Nearly all of those lots are infill sites. Infill housing is a new home built on an empty lot inside an existing neighborhood, on streets and utility lines that are already in place. The block is there. The house is missing.
Can you build a new home on an LRA lot?
Yes. The LRA's New Construction Program sells lots for new residential construction: one building with up to six units. Larger projects, such as more than one residential building or more than six units, go through the Development Program instead. The LRA lays out the path in four steps:
- Search the LRA property list, then visit and assess the lot.
- Choose the purchase program that fits the project and submit an offer with the required forms.
- For a Development Program offer, gather input and support from the neighborhood.
- The LRA Commission reviews the offer and can accept, counter or deny it.
A neighbor whose house sits next to a lot too small to build on can buy that parcel through the Side Lot Program for under $200.
Building on the lot is the hard part. One house on one lot carries the same permit work and site supervision as a much bigger job, and that overhead is where many infill plans stall.
What does the Stronger Northside plan mean for The Ville?
It gives The Ville, Greater Ville and Kingsway East the first new neighborhood plan adopted in the tornado zone, and it points straight at vacant LRA land. The St. Louis Planning Commission adopted A Stronger Northside on Dec. 17, 2025, and the City of St. Louis announced it on Jan. 6, 2026. The plan pairs strategic use of LRA-owned property with layered incentives to restore existing homes and build new ones. Plans for five more North City areas, covering 16 neighborhoods, were in progress at the time.
The same announcement points to a city pilot to build factory-built homes on vacant LRA sites in The Ville. That pilot is our work. MBS was selected through the City of St. Louis Infill RFP to build 15 single-family and row homes on city-owned land in The Ville, using The Malone and The Malone Rowhomes, our three-bedroom infill designs. The project is in production at our plant now. The board vote is covered in St. Louis approves MBS to build on city land.
Other work in the city is moving too. A 21-unit walk-up in The Ville is in design for a private developer, and we priced two-story homes for Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis as closed panels, delivered and installed. Our projects page tracks each one.
Why do factory-built homes fit vacant lots in North St. Louis?
Factory-built panels fit scattered city lots because the cutting and framing happen in one plant instead of on 15 separate job sites. One approved plan can repeat across many lots. We quote a fixed price from permit-ready plans, valid for 30 days, and the factory panel price holds from contract through delivery. That matters when a house runs on a grant or a tax credit with no room for overruns.
The work also overlaps. Our plant builds the panels while the site crew pours the foundation, the same overlap that makes panels useful for disaster relief housing. Panels ship flat-packed on standard flatbed trucks and are set in sequence, so a narrow city lot does not have to hold a lumber pile for weeks. Factory framing produces up to 90% less construction waste, which means fewer dumpsters on blocks that have lived with demolition crews since May 2025.
At MBS, the agreed package defines factory completion. We supply framing subcomponents, bare framed panels and sheathed panels. More complete assemblies may include windows, doors, cladding, insulation or MEP rough-ins when specified. A nonprofit builder with its own volunteer crew can take sheathed panels. A city program that wants every house closed in fast can order closed panels.
The finished house is conventional wood framing on a site-built foundation, not a manufactured home or a modular box. The Nest, one of our catalog designs, puts two bedrooms and 2.5 baths in 1,412 sq ft on a 27 by 32 ft footprint, with a single-car garage off the rear alley.
Homes and jobs on the same blocks
Our plant sits at 921 N 20th Street in North St. Louis. On the line, the CNC crosscut saw cuts studs and plates to length, the CNC subcomponent nailer builds headers and door legs, and the multi-bridge nails sheathing and routes the window and door openings. At the MEP stations, crews add windows, cladding and MEP rough-ins when a package calls for them.
We train for that work with Ranken Technical College and SLATE, the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment. Details are on our workforce training page.
A house framed on North 20th Street for a lot in The Ville keeps the work and the home in the same part of town.
About Module Building Systems
Module Building Systems (MBS) is a panelized offsite construction company founded in 2023 and based at 921 N 20th Street in St. Louis, Missouri. We build wall, floor and roof panel packages in a 40,000 sq ft CNC manufacturing facility and ship them flat-packed within 1,000 miles. Projects run up to 30% lower in cost and up to 50% faster, with up to 90% less waste. Actual schedules depend on project scope, approvals, site readiness, materials and logistics. Learn more about MBS.
Frequently asked questions
How many vacant lots does the LRA own in St. Louis?
The Land Reutilization Authority owns about 8,000 vacant lots and looks after about 2,000 unoccupied buildings, according to its website in October 2026. About 85% of LRA properties are lots rather than buildings. The LRA is the city's land bank and sells abandoned and foreclosed property back into productive use through set purchase programs.
How do you buy a vacant lot from the LRA?
Search the LRA property list, pick the purchase program that fits your plan, and submit an offer with the required forms. Development Program offers also need community input. The LRA Commission then accepts, counters or denies the offer. Owners next to small lots that cannot hold a house can buy them as side lots for under $200.
What is the Stronger Northside plan?
A Stronger Northside is the neighborhood plan for The Ville, Greater Ville and Kingsway East in North St. Louis. The St. Louis Planning Commission adopted it on Dec. 17, 2025, as the first new plan in the tornado zone. It calls for restoring existing homes and building new ones on LRA land, with more paths to affordable homeownership.
Is a panelized home a manufactured home?
No. A panelized home is conventional wood framing built from factory-made wall, floor and roof panels and set on a site-built foundation. It has no chassis and is not a HUD-code manufactured home or a volumetric modular unit. Financing, appraisal and inspection follow the site-built path, so talk with your lender about the classification early.
How long does it take to build a home on a vacant lot?
Permits, foundation readiness and the delivery sequence drive the schedule more than the house does. Our plant builds the panels while the site crew pours the foundation, so the two jobs overlap instead of stacking. With closed panels, the house can be weather-tight in days, not weeks, once panels arrive. We confirm the project schedule at contract.
Bring us a lot and a plan
Send the lot address and your plans to info@modulebs.com, or get an estimate for a fixed factory price. To see the line first, book a factory tour any weekday.