ST. LOUIS — Five months after flames destroyed nearly everything inside Sk8 Liborius, a historic church turned skate park, the founders looked to the future.
The skate park's founders were joined by architects and community members for a public brainstorming session on Sunday.
Surrounded by a gate with bordered up doors, that has been the picture for the sanctuary on Hogan and Market streets since June.
Bryan Bedwell, Sk8 Liborius Co-Founder, said the community's support has helped them through.
"We're doing pretty good. A lot of work going on over here. We've had a bunch of fundraisers, people supporting us a lot," he said.
The historic landmark turned skate park went up in flames during the summer.
The fire not only destroyed nearly everything inside, but now the rubble is keeping artists and skaters outside, without that safe harbor they had come to rely on.
Gabe McKee said for the last decade, the church had a different congregation.
"It was a congregation of youth that don't always have another place to go or a space to go that is safe," he said.
McKee's architecture firm, V Three Studios, is hoping to breathe new life into Sk8 Liborius, all while knowing the place of peace will never be restored to its former glory.
"The masonry structure is intact and seems to be in good shape overall and able to be reused with a new vision," he said.
That new vision was laid out across tables inside KRe8 Place on Sunday.
Bedwell said they are hoping the blank canvases will be filled with fresh ideas.
"We got a bunch of architect types, people from Ranken, all kinds of places, from all over Saint Louis to come through," he said.
While having the technical players there was key to envisioning what the future could be, Bedwell knew the design meeting had to involve those who looked at the skate park as their home.
"Our whole thing has been community. We're a part of our community here. We try to be the best we can for our community, and that involves having the community come out and tell us what they want to see," he said.
Even though the crime scene tape lingers, and the windows remain open, Bedwell said, one thing the fire didn't destroy was the hope that remains in this North St. Louis community.
"We're not giving up. We're here. We're not leaving this area. We want to keep this thing moving forward and just bear with us and stick with us," he said.
Right now, McKee said, it's hard to give an exact time of how long the restoration process will take. That's because, he said, it all depends on how quickly Sk8 Liborius can raise funds.
Sk8 Liborius is collecting donations here.