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UM–St.
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COMEBACK KID
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NORTH COUNTY
IS UNDERGOING A REMARKABLE RESURGENCE WITH 2.5 BILLION IN CONSTRUCTION.
BY PETER DOWNS
After being written off as the next step in urban blight, north
St. Louis County is undergoing a remarkable resurgence. With new
housing and new infrastructure, the area is attracting the attention
of local and national retailers and seeing a boom in retail construction.
North County, which stretches from Page Avenue to the rivers and
encompasses 47 municipalities, is in the midst of a $2.5 billion
construction boom, according to the St. Louis County Economic Council.
Construction began on 1,000 new homes in 2002, and Rebecca Zoll,
executive director of North St. Louis County, Inc., estimates that
another 1,500 will be built in 2003 and 2004. That’s approximately
the same number of residential building permits issued in O’Fallon,
the metropolitan area’s fastest growing community, in 2001.
Ten years ago, north St. Louis County seemed down for the count.
Only one major homebuilder remained in the area, and it was struggling.
Home prices were sagging and the population was heading west. Retail
construction was virtually nonexistent.
In 2003, at least three major homebuilders and three custom homebuilders
are now active in the area, and new retail construction dots the
landscape, from older communities to newer ones.
McBride & Son is finishing up two new home developments and opening
three more in 2003. Jost Farm, north of Florissant, will have approximately
160 single-family homes and 66 villas, says Jeff Bernstein, general
manager of McBride. Prices will range from $160,000 to $400,000.
Behlman Estates will have 280 to 300 home sites. Another site in
Hazelwood will have about 40 home sites.
Robbins Mills Estates and Robbins Mill Commons, which are near completion,
have a total of 50 single-family homes and 38 villas.
Bernstein says McBride was the only major homebuilder to stay in
North County through the tough times in the early 1990s. Since surviving
that drought, “We’ve been as successful there as in any other area,”
he says.
“The growth in North County over the last few years shows that people
want to stay in North County. Our sales have increased each year.”
Bernstein adds that though McBride’s 2003 plans for North County
are the most aggressive the company has ever had, they are justified.
REBECCA
ZOLL
executive director,
North St. Louis County, Inc. |
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“Are we pretty confident about the next few years? Absolutely,”
he says.
Meanwhile, Taylor Morley Homes has two major developments underway:
Alexandria Place and River Roads. Alexandria Place, on the site
of the old North Twin Drive-In in Jennings, will have 200 homes
and townhomes. River Roads, on the site of the old River Roads Shopping
Center in Jennings, is a mixed use development that will include
88 single family homes, 37 villas, 40 townhomes, and a 100-unit
apartment building, as well as an office building, a day care center,
and 12 acres of shops and restaurants.
And DePaul Hospital is building more senior housing for its assisted-living
village.
Significant new retail construction ranges from the $18 million
St. Johns Crossing, rising on a formerly built-up site in an older
suburb, to the $250 million St. Louis Mills, rising on a greenfield
site near the Missouri River in Hazelwood.
Walpert Properties is developing St. Johns Crossing, a big box center
anchored by a Shop ’n Save supermarket. Walpert is also competing
against a Schnuck’s-led team to develop another such shopping center
in Florissant.
“Clearly, there is more development happening in North County than
has happened in decades,” says Mark Pearl, vice president of Walpert
Properties.
Florissant Marketplace, for example, recently got a 26,000-square-foot
addition, and Northland Shopping Center in Jennings is undergoing
a $38 million redevelopment and will be anchored by a Target Greatland.
The old Cross Keys Shopping Center in Florissant is in the midst
of a $55 million renovation that will make it The Shoppes@Cross
Keys, anchored by Schnucks Markets and Home Depot, and Barnes &
Noble. The 350,000-square-foot center was 100 percent leased before
construction began.
The Sansone Group, the developer at Cross Keys also developed a
50,000-square-foot state office building in Jennings. Jim Sansone,
principal, says the development would not have been possible without
tax increment financing.
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Ground
breaking at the Cross Keys development. (Left to
right): Douglas Sansone, Timothy Sansone, Anthony
Sansone Jr., Florissant Mayor Robert Lowery, County
Executive Buzz Westfall, Anthony Sansone Sr. and James
Sansone. |
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“We think North County has had nice demographics for some time,”
he says, “but development in older areas is cost prohibitive without
a subsidy. You just can’t buy the property, abate asbestos, demolish
existing buildings and build and lease new ones in today’s rental
rates. We looked at this project five to 10 years ago, and it wasn’t
feasible, because we didn’t have the subsidy.”
Sansone also has received development rights for a retail power
center at Page Avenue and Woodson Avenue that will be called Overland
Trail. The company is pre-leasing space at that development.
“The
growth in North County over the last few years shows
that people want to stay in North County. Our sales
have increased each year.”
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Jeff
Bernstein
general manager,
McBride & Son
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“We’re happy to be involved in the area. We’re looking for more
opportunities,” Sansone says.
Then there are plans for a $51 million dollar redevelopment project
along Natural Bridge in the Normandy area. The plans call for a
mixed-use development consisting of retail, residential, and other
commercial uses that complements what UMSL has on their South Campus
along with the Metro-Link station. The intent is to tie the development
in this area to other future development in the area around “The
Wedge” which will become a pedestrian oriented “urban-village” that
addresses the needs of the University and the Normandy community
as a whole.
In other signs of the renewed retail vitality of North County, 24
new stores opened in Jamestown Mall and Westfield Shoppingtown Northwest
(formerly Northwest Plaza) in 2002, and the City of Ferguson is
working on a plan to use tax increment financing to help small merchants
redevelop downtown Ferguson.
MARK
PEARL
vice
president, Walpert Properties
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In February 2003, Westfield moved its regional headquarters to the
office building at Westfield Northwest. The company will oversee
management, development, and marketing of all Westfield properties
in Missouri and Florida from those offices.
Westfield also has drawn up preliminary plans for reconfiguring
the shopping mall at Westfield Northwest. Meanwhile, it is adding
family restrooms and a children’s play area, and resurfacing parking
lots.
The biggest project, a mega-sized project in any region, is the
1.3 million square foot, $250 million St. Louis Mills outlet mall
at Park 370 in Hazelwood. Scheduled to open in October 2003, it
will have 12 anchor stores, 200 specialty shops, theme restaurants,
and entertainment.
Why all the development all of a sudden?
“North County is densely populated,” Pearl says. “It clearly was
under served for quite a while.”
Add to all the housing and retail the plans for a new 500-acre commerce
park near expanded Lambert–St. Louis International Airport, the
University of Missouri’s ongoing construction and research park
near Interstate 70, the redevelopment of Christian Hospital Northwest,
the small business incubator and MET Center in Wellston, and the
huge new Confluence Greenway park plan, and North County looks very
much alive indeed.
Peter Downs is a St. Louis-based freelance writer. |
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