urbanSTL

Some more info in PD article. I misunderstood the MoDOT excess property/right of way sale as I thought it was secured by Drury Family in its entirety a few years ago. Instead, the article notes that both Wash U real estate arm and Drury have secured MoDOT excess right of way property in the area.

A bunch of speculative thoughts. Did Wash U real estate arm pull a fast one and put in a favorable bid? Did Drury assume that it would be easy pickings to assemble all the properties so low balled MoDOT? Did MoDOT change things up and broke out its excess properties into multiple parcels?

https://www.stltoday.com/business/colum ... 9cdf9.html


Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation's Forest West Properties recently acquired the excess right of way from the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The 1.7-acre site is at the norhwest edge of the rapidly redeveloping Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, and just south of the highway from the BJC Hospital and Washington University Medical Center campus.

The Washington University real estate company acquired the property from MoDOT in early June.

...

However, it's no secret Drury Development, an arm of the hotel company, has been interested in the area. It owns the stretch of vacant houses along Kingshighway in between Arco and Oakland avenues as well as several properties just to the east within the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood. Charles L. Drury, the CEO of the company, also owns two properties to the north, just south of Gibson Avenue and the former MoDOT right of way.

I am hoping someone submits a good proposal for this site other than the Drurys. They have not been very communicative with the neighborhood, but the latest report I have heard is that there would be substantial demolition of existing houses in the neighborhood in addition to the ones they own fronting Kingshighway. Hard to say for sure how many since they have not released an in-depth rendering, but the picture from an old Nextstl article gives a good sense.

Basically all of their properties except for the the two on Gibson and eastern most one on Arco, as well as the intervening properties many/most of which they have an option on. They need to build an access road (too hard to use Kingshighway with the interstate on ramps, and the residents on Gibson and Arco did not want to serve as their driveway), and the parking area would be a surface lot.

I am not opposed to a dense development on the site, or a hotel (I don't know how many more hotels the local market can support, but I am sure the Drury's have research on that), but I think the amount of demolition and surface parking is out-of-step with where the neighborhood is going. If they had executed this plan 10 years ago I think the neighborhood would have been happy to accept the investment, a la the Aventura. Intervening projects have raised the bar of what the neighborhood expects (Chroma, Woodward Lofts, 4400 Manchester, 4321 Manchester, Adam's Grove/Vista at Newstead), and I don't think the Drurys have a plan that reflects the new standard.

Nextstl - Drury’s Demolition by Neglect in FPSE

https://nextstl.com/2019/03/drurys-demo ... t-in-fpse/

With recent hotel developments in the immediate area not sure that's what will wind up here. You'd think they would have started by now if it was a serious proposal. Does Drury develop anything outside the hotel realm?

pattimagee wrote: ↑

Mar 20, 2019

There's been updates to this project:

https://twitter.com/DruryHotelsSTL

Quality update! So frustrating that they are allowing buildings to literally fall down with apparently only positive consequences.

pattimagee wrote: ↑

Mar 20, 2019

There's been updates to this project:

https://twitter.com/DruryHotelsSTL

this is amazing. a big round of applause to whomever is behind that account.

urban_dilettante wrote: ↑

Mar 20, 2019

pattimagee wrote: ↑

Mar 20, 2019

There's been updates to this project:

https://twitter.com/DruryHotelsSTL

this is amazing. a big round of applause to whomever is behind that account.

Darn, that account has been suspended. I'm guessing they had some not so nice things to say about Drury?

Might be more effective if a neighbor contacted one o the TV stations. 5 On Your Side did a story tonight on a building Ameren isn't taking care of.

^ i many be wrong but i feel like this has been on the news before. the neighbors have been battling it for years. it's absolutely insane. i really hope they get together and sue the crap out of Drury.

Michael B posted this link to FPSE community associate Feb meeting minutes and the comments below on Nextstl. Thought it was a pretty good post. Anyone with insight what WashU Redevelopment & Drury might be working on and if it is something that will move the area forward in the near future?

I also believe you got at four hotel proposals floating in the area starting with Drury at this location for a while obviously, Koplar's York Ave hotel (has construction started?), Armory development and the new comer in SLU/Iron Hill. This is on top of the Residence Inn built not too far away, the mid town botique hotel opened in old health building and now two under construction on FPP. Any takers on what gets built and what doesn't?

http://www.forestparksoutheast.com/fore ... y-minutes/

"Properties at 4577 and 4579, 4581 Manchester were sold to Drury on January 31, 2019 and were told that Barnes Jewish will enter long-term lease; early proposal to build a hotel, but Drury does not have a design for the hotel; the hospital said Drury must get approval from the city and the neighborhood before proceeding."

Source is Jes from Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation

dredger wrote: ↑

Mar 21, 2019

Michael B posted this link to FPSE community associate Feb meeting minutes and the comments below on Nextstl. Thought it was a pretty good post. Anyone with insight what WashU Redevelopment & Drury might be working on and if it is something that will move the area forward in the near future?

I also believe you got at four hotel proposals floating in the area starting with Drury at this location for a while obviously, Koplar's York Ave hotel (has construction started?), Armory development and the new comer in SLU/Iron Hill. This is on top of the Residence Inn built not too far away, the mid town botique hotel opened in old health building and now two under construction on FPP. Any takers on what gets built and what doesn't?

http://www.forestparksoutheast.com/fore ... y-minutes/

"Properties at 4577 and 4579, 4581 Manchester were sold to Drury on January 31, 2019 and were told that Barnes Jewish will enter long-term lease; early proposal to build a hotel, but Drury does not have a design for the hotel; the hospital said Drury must get approval from the city and the neighborhood before proceeding."

Source is Jes from Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation

A few things about all of this here...

• I was told, it was a few months ago, that Wash U and Drury were planning a hotel here and some research buildings for the main campus. A parking garage was in the mix at the time.

• We will definitely see Koplar's AC Hotel get built. construction hasn't started yet as design revisions are pending. The Armory was never a definite "yes" on a hotel but the idea has been floated. The most recent master plan has residential, retail and more office planned. A hotel could come back if the office portion is deemed not profitable. The hotel at Iron Hill is still a ways off.

• Continuing on the hotels, The Residence Inn is more suited for Downtown rather than Midtown/CWE. From asking some people, the Residence Inn's crowds generally tend to stay there for sports games and other city events. CWE/The Grove's guests stay at Home2 and the Holiday Inn. The Parkway Hotel is majority used for hospital visitors and the Chase is a mixture of everything. The Angad Hotel recently opened, so not sure what's going on there. I assume that a majority of the people staying there are family members visiting students at SLU, people going to shows at the Fox, Powell Hall and other theaters and those who want to explore St. Louis. The Element Hotel will be a key component in addressing the need for hotel space in Midtown and by the City Foundry. The Aloft Hotel will be for Cortex and the Grove. So for whether or not demand is being taken away from another, none are. I do think that the Holiday Inn on Lindell will close up shop if a major renovation isn's completed before the AC Hotel on York opens. I know Abbott Properties is planning to renovate the building into a Hotel Indigo but they are split from a simple renovation or to a full-on renovation with exterior alterations. Another idea, that has been floated, is to demo the hotel and neighboring dental building but those plans were shelved and build a fancy new hotel. So we will see what happens on the Hotel Indigo/Holiday Inn front.

• The addresses mentioned are for that wedge lot near Kingshighway. I don't expect anything to be built there.

Build the hotel on Manchester? The Science Center Foundation previously owned those parcels.
If it's going there. then what does Drury want with the Kingshighway, Arco, Gibson, Oakland parcels?
If it's not going on Manchester, then way did Drury buy them?

Some of you may have seen the Landmarks Association survey of McKee properties. We will be doing a similar survey of the Drury Properties in FPSE. I wouldn't say we're in NEED of volunteers but if you're passionate about this effort and would like to be involved, we're meeting in FPSE at 10 a.m. on the 18th. I'll post an update here when we've chosen a meeting location.

The North Side survey was able to drum up some media attention of McKee's widespread neglect. We hope this will be as/more successful. 

pattimagee wrote:
What type of volunteers are you looking for? 

As was the case in the North Side survey, we'll have a form you can fill out on your phone.
Is the house inhabited? Is it habitable, in your opinion? Is the yard maintained? Is the building weather tight? Have any exterior walls collapsed? Is it sufficiently sealed from intruders? Etc. And then finish it off with 1 to 4 photos. 
It's very important that all of these observations are only taken from the public rights-of-way. No trespassing will be tolerated. 

The form submission will only function on Saturday and the data will be aggregated next week so we'll tackle the entire neighborhood on Saturday morning. 

Still in limbo

Looks like the parcels along Kingshighway are for sale:
https://savoyproperties.com/property/10 ... hway-blvd/

Anyone know what kind of shape these are in on the inside?

Terrible shape. There’s a thread around here somewhere about this. It’s land banking by Drury corporation

mklein49 wrote:Looks like the parcels along Kingshighway are for sale:
https://savoyproperties.com/property/10 ... hway-blvd/

Anyone know what kind of shape these are in on the inside?

Very rough shape. A couple I would certainly expect to be a tear down.

If you go to the alley behind them, you can see significant amounts of damage. One is fully exposed and open. Many have brick falling. Their stone foundations are crumbling too.

I cannot imagine most could be rehabilitated since they just have seen no maintenance whatsoever. I bet cheaper to build new.

Drury never intended to keep them in the first place, so they went for demolition by neglect.

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