By Linda F. Jarrett
A chance meeting 40 years ago at the Missouri Athletic Club
between Louis Sachs and Cubby Baer proved to be the catalyst
for Chesterfield Village.
Sachs, chairman of Sachs Properties, had been developing property
for several years including medical buildings at Delmar Boulevard
and McKnight Road, and Clayton and Big Bend Roads, an apartment
complex, Cypress Village, near the airport, and Town and Four
on Olive Boulevard, to name a few.
However, he wanted more control over the area of his projects.
“Each time I did something,” Sachs says, “Somebody would buy
a tract of land and build something next to me that I was unhappy
with. It disrupted what I was doing!”
Seeing the potential in the area surrounding Clarkson Road and
then-Highway 40, he bought a parcel of land in 1967 slated for
an apartment development, now the site of Chesterfield Mall.
When he heard in 1970 that St. Louis County had designated that
area for future development, he began acquiring more land.
The Lunch
Then came the lunch. Sachs heard that The Jacobs Company was
planning a major mall with Sears Roebuck, and Stix, Baer and
Fuller as the primary tenants. However, the location was targeted
for the northwest corner of Clayton and Clarkson Roads.
As Kathy Higgins, president of Sachs Properties, told it, Sachs
was having lunch at the MAC when he met Baer, who was having
lunch with Dick Jacobs of the Jacobs Company. Baer introduced
the two.
“Mr. Jacobs was in town looking to buy a piece of property at
Clarkson and Clayton Roads” Higgins says. “They were introduced,
and Mr. Sachs convinced Mr. Jacobs that he should be at the
corner of Clarkson Road and Highway 40. We needed that mall
as the nucleus of the Chesterfield Village development.”
Sachs applied for zoning on the four quadrants of the Clarkson/Highway
40 intersection and while St. Louis County accepted their master
plan for the four, they granted zoning for only the southwest
quadrant, the location of the 1.3 million-square-foot Chesterfield
Mall which opened in 1976. The balance was zoned by 15 additional
applications over time.
The Master Plan
The development currently encompasses 1,500 acres and more than
one million square feet of commercial buildings, built to date
with 200 businesses and 2,600 homes. An additional five million
square feet of commercial space and 2,000 more homes are available
and on the drawing board.
“We’ve been working on our master plan for 40 years,” Sachs
says. “This is the first community in the St. Louis area that’s
had a master plan before it started. From the very beginning,
we worked with MoDOT and the St. Louis County Department of
Transportation on what the road system would be like and it
has been built, over the years, exactly to the plan.”
Last Spring, Sachs entered its second development phase with
the groundbreaking of “Downtown Chesterfield,” a pedestrian-oriented
residential, office and retail project.
The 200-acre project will begin with construction of two office
buildings, designed by HOK, totaling 250,600 square feet and
four retail buildings with 26,000 square feet. The development
will also include two lakes, one at 18 acres and another at
12 acres, all part of Downtown Chesterfield.
Sachs wants the area to invite pedestrian activity by including
walkways and paths around the lakes, allowing residents to walk
to the retail and office buildings, as well as the Mall, Library,
and YMCA. New bike paths will give cyclists more access to attractions.
Pedestrian paths and trails will also link to an existing lake
behind new town homes under construction off Justus Post Road,
and another new development of 191 homes, mid-rise condominiums
and luxury villas abutting Baxter Road.
Construction Underway
The first office building in the second phase, Central Park
Square Office I, is a five-story, 100,600-square-foot structure
being built by BSI Constructors Inc. in the 16000 block of Chesterfield
Parkway West, with completion slated for 2008.
Abengoa Bioenergy Corp., the second largest producer of ethanol
in the world, announced in August that it would be occupying
one and a half floors in Central Park Square Office I. This
move will double its office presence in St. Louis.
Abengoa will join AEP MEMCO LLC, the nation’s second largest
dry barge operator, who will double its existing space by leasing
42,000 feet in the office building
“We have 16 office buildings, one retail center and eleven restaurants.
Everything surrounding the Chesterfield Mall area,” Higgins
says. What is unusual about us is that everything we built,
we still own. We have our own leasing department, property management
department, maintenance department and landscaping department,
and I don’t think there’s any other company in town that has
that.”
Of 350 remaining undeveloped acres, 200 are designated commercial
and 150 as residential. This area abuts Chesterfield Parkway,
Highway 40/I-64, Swingley Ridge Road and Clarkson Road.
To date, Sachs Properties has sold approximately 370 acres of
residential land that is developed, and an additional 336 acres
of developed commercial land. The commercial includes sites
for the Dierberg’s Markets headquarters; Pfizer’s Global Research
and Development Division; Chesterfield Mall; Drury Plaza; Doubletree
Hotel and Conference Center, and Homewood Suites.
Sachs, The Visionary
Higgins describes Sachs as a visionary. “He wanted to retain
the history of the area,” she says as she pointed out roads
in Chesterfield named for its early residents.
“Justus Post Road, named after Justus Post, Lydia Hill, Elbridge
Payne, all old-time residents. And when we buy a piece of property,
we ask owners to write a piece of their history for a museum
we will eventually have.”
“He has done things not many developers do,” Higgins says, describing
how he had the idea of burying existing overhead power lines
along Baxter, Chesterfield Parkway, and across Highway 40/I-64.
It was not mandated by governmental entities. It was just another
example of Sachs’ dedication to his vision for Chesterfield—doing
it the “right way.”
Sachs also saw to the removal of a cyclone fence running on
the north and south side of Highway 40. “He asked permission
of MoDOT to tear them down and landscape. People don’t notice
those things, but they do know when an area looks good,” Higgins
says.
Chesterfield Village offers more than retail, office and homes.
Sachs donated land to the YMCA for their facility, and included
a community theatre for residents and office tenants. He also
donated land for the Samuel C. Sachs branch of the St. Louis
County Library, the JCC, Junior Chamber International headquarters,
Seventh Day Adventist Church, Kol Am Temple. Stages St. Louis,
a local theater company now based in Kirkwood, is planning on
breaking ground, and has already opened its own Performing Arts
Academy at the site of the former Casa Gallardo Restaurant across
from Chesterfield Mall. Land donated for charitable organizations
totals approximately 54 acres to date.
Sachs was also instrumental in bringing the Sophia B. Sachs
Butterfly House to Faust Park, as well as the original Forest
Park Highlands Carousel at Faust Park, the Music School at Faust
Park, and landscaping enhancements. He played a pivotal role
in the formation of Chesterfield Arts and Gallery, and the acquisition
of numerous public sculptures throughout the City of Chesterfield.
Adjacent to the YMCA is the 40-acre City of Chesterfield Central
Park where Sachs helped with enhancements, including the wrought
iron fencing adjacent to the pool, and the large brick pavilion.
Higgins says that they want to entice more cultural amenities
to Downtown Chesterfield. “We would like to get an art museum,
or perhaps the Smithsonian, or the Saint Louis Symphony.”
While Sachs does not consider himself a visionary, it is easy
to see why the term is used in conjunction with his name. All
it takes is a drive around Chesterfield Village to realize that
this was not done happenstance. All good things come to those
who wait, and Sachs is watching and waiting.
