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Downtown
dwellers and visitors alike will soon see changes to
the St. Louis Skyline when construction begins in early 2007 on
Ballpark Village.
The $700 million mixed-used retail, entertainment and residential
district will be developed in partnership by The Cordish Company
of Baltimore and the St. Louis Cardinals. The development, which
will cover six city blocks and directly connect to the new Busch
Stadium, will feature 360,000 square feet of retail/entertainment,
1,200 residential units situated in three towers, and 300,000 square
feet of office space.
Bill DeWitt III, senior vice-president of the Cardinals, and Blake
Cordish, vice president of the Cordish Company, say that while they
are still in negotiations with the City over some points of the
development, the project promises to enhance St. Louis’ already
growing reputation as the place to live, play and do business.
The Birth of a Village
DeWitt says that the Village and ballpark had been intertwined from
the earliest point of new ballpark planning. “Our lead architect,
HOK Sport of Kansas City, did a comprehensive site evaluation for
the St. Louis region.” It turned out they did not have to look very
far. HOK saw that when the old Busch Stadium came down and the new
one went up, a nine-acre site would open up to the north beyond
left field. “This created an opportunity to link the new ballpark
to the old stadium site, and we designed the new stadium to open
up to this area to further enhance the development potential,” DeWitt
says.
Ballpark
Village |
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In June 2005, DeWitt and his father, St. Louis Cardinals Chairman
of the Board and General Partner Bill DeWitt Jr. announced that
they had chosen The Cordish Company as the developer for Ballpark
Village.
DeWitt knew the Cordish Company’s reputation for top-notch urban
mixed-use developments. Cordish saw this site as the potential for
a development unlike any they had done before—tying a large mixed-use
project to a sports venue.
“I had noticed a couple of things during my search for a development
partner which were unique to Cordish,” DeWitt says. “One of them
was the fact that they’ve pulled off mixed-use projects before in
urban markets that have been much more distressed than this particular
location. This gave me confidence that they could do something even
more spectacular here.”
Blake
Cordish
Vice President, The Cordish Company |
|
Based in Baltimore, Md., Cordish has an international reputation
for large-scale, urban revitalization projects and high-profile
entertainment districts, such as Inner Harbor and The Power Plant
in Baltimore, the $22 million Bayou Place in Houston, Texas, and
the $500 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Also
now under construction is the Kansas City Power & Light District,
an $850 million mixed-use project which is schedule to open in the
fall of 2007.
“They’ve turned these projects into great areas by creating a critical
mass of residential, retail and office, and we can do the same thing
here,” DeWitt says. “We’ve even got a head start in terms of how
great the site is, with the ballpark drawing in excess of three
million people annually.
“Downtown St. Louis has recently seen a lot of historic rehab take
place,” DeWitt says. “It’s been successful and it’s continuing,
but it takes new construction to really take an urban revitalization
effort to the next level. We are confident that our project will
do that for St. Louis.”
Cordish says that in the case of downtown developments, they always
look at the potential for connecting them to other attractions.
“In real estate, it’s always location, location, location, and in
this case, it’s terrific to be located adjacent to the baseball
stadium. Plus you have Class A hotel rooms, offices, as well as
attractions such as the Savvis Center and the Dome nearby. All of
this speaks to the viability of the site and the potential for this
project to positively influence the surrounding investments that
have already been made downtown.”
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Kansas
City Power & Light District, an $850 million mixed-use
project developed by The Cordish Company, scheduled
to open in the fall of 2007. |
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Demographics played a large part in determining the width and breadth
of the project, and Cordish says that the results were “encouraging.”
“If you look at the fan base of the Cardinals, it’s a true regional
team in a metropolitan city, and part of what we’ve been successful
at in comparable developments is creating developments that draw
from the larger region,” he says.
“We believe that for the health of the project and for downtown,
you have to look at the long term viability. It has to be able to
spill out beyond its borders and act as an anchor for redevelopment,”
he says.
A recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch suggested that Ballpark
Village developers take a look at Petco Park in San Diego, Calif.,
and its surrounding retail and entertainment district in order to
entice visitors.
Bill
DeWitt III
Senior Vice-president, Cardinals |
|
DeWitt says that there is “one big distinction between Petco Park
and Ballpark Village, which is that the development cropping up
in San Diego is pretty much a block or so away from centerfield
and relates more to the convention center district.
“What we’re doing is a step more integrated into the ball park experience,”
he explains. “Clark Street, with its bars, restaurants, and retail,
will be our main high-energy area, which will be unique to Major
League Baseball because of its close proximity and the fact that
it was master planned at the conception of the ballpark design.”
The Advantage for Downtown
Cordish says that what will be done with Ballpark Village will be
particular to St. Louis and emphasize its unique qualities. “This
is the first time this has ever been done by anyone in the United
States, or the world for that matter.
“One of the things we strive for is to show each city’s unique culture
and energy,” he says. “The solutions have to come from that particular
locale and we hope there’s a consistency of quality that will stand
the test of time. We’re creating a sense of place,” he emphasizes.
“It’s that feeling when you walk in an area or district. How does
it make you feel as a patron or visitor or resident? We draw on
those types of emotional powers. The only way it will be successful
long term is to have it authentic and born from what is uniquely
St. Louis.”
While many of the details cannot be divulged for a few months, Cordish
did say that in the early stages of architectural planning, they
decided that there would be no “artificial or faux material,” but
that real brick and stone would be used to give “the sense that
it’s lasting.”
The retail would include boutiques featuring unique and unusual
items, tourist shops, and business such as banks, tailors, and a
grocery store to support the neighborhood.
While anchoring to a professional sports team would seem to be all
the project needs, DeWitt and Cordish emphasize that the rest of
the year beyond the 81 home Cardinals games will demand just as
much attention.
“The question, and opportunity, and the challenge in front of us
is how do we build an engine that is successful the other 275 days
a year,” Cordish says. “We use the stadium traffic like we do connecting
traffic, which is the cherry on top of the sundae, but we think
that day in and day out, it needs to be dynamic enough to be a destination
unto itself.”
He credited the DeWitts for having the vision and foresight to have
master planned this mixed-used development. “When we were presented
with this opportunity, we had the skeleton and foundation in place
to create a world class environment.”
One potential challenge to this development is the pending I-64/Highway
40 construction project, which is due to start early next year and
be completed in 2010.
“We hope that a decent chunk of the construction will be behind
us,” DeWitt says, “given that we’re about to enter into our construction
period when they are. If we come on line in two years with our first
phase and they’re still under construction, we may have people say,
‘You know what, I’m gong to live downtown and forget the commute!’”
A negative, he says, would be those taking a quick trip downtown
on a non-game day in the numbers needed. “It probably can’t help
us,” he says, “but we’re not projecting it will hurt us. One of
the things that Cordish brings to the table is putting on hundreds
of free events such as festivals, wine tastings, live music events,
etc. to get people into the area.” Cordish calls these events “value-added
experiences, and they are the cornerstone of our marketing efforts.”
It Takes a Village
City and county leaders have stressed that the Ballpark Village
was an integral part of the Busch Stadium project as part of receiving
public support.
DeWitt says they are still in financial negotiations with the City.
“The nice thing is that there’s a huge economic benefit to the City
because it’s so retail intensive. We’re confident that the funding
gap, which is primarily due to the fact that the site lacks infrastructure
such as streets and utilities, can be taken care of primarily through
the Tax Increment Finance (TIF) process.”
These negotiations will also determine the Village’s construction
schedule. “We are optimistic that we will reach agreement with the
City shortly, which will enable the first phase of Ballpark Village
to open in 2008,” Cordish says.
Referring to a recent issue of Urban Land Institute, Cordish discussed
an article that analyzed cities, such as Baltimore Md., and Charleston,
SC, who changed their destiny.
“The article concluded that, in each, case, the key to the turnaround
was a major development coming in and spurring it on,” he says.
“One of the exciting things in terms of downtown St. Louis is that
there is a real energy that’s forming. It’s a critical time in a
lot of ways for downtown which is the ideal time for a catalytic
development to anchor and bring the city to the next level.”
ABOUT DOWNTOWN
Busch Stadium guests consume more nachos than any other Sportservice-
operated stadium worldwide.
Some are calling it, the new ‘hot corner’ outside Busch Stadium,
as groups tend to congregate at Westins’ 9th@Spruce bar and eatery.
It’s open two hours prior to, during and two hours after each game.
Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood, a St. Louis landmark for over
20 years, opened its new location in February. In addition to the
main dining room it includes a bar area, an outdoor beer garden,
a terrace for open-air dining, a wine vault featuring chef’s table
dining, and multiple private and semi-private dining areas. The
restaurant also features “the Stan Musial room”, downtown’s first
private dining area with a surround-sound theater system, ideal
for viewing the game.
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