Still no renderings though...



Housing panel OKs plan to turn nursery into condos, townhouses

By Theresa Tighe

Of the Post-Dispatch

12/13/2004



Aldermanic panel OKs

development plan





Plans to build townhouses and condominiums at the former St. Louis Public School Nursery were approved last week by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen's Housing and Urban Development Committee.



The $25 million proposal now goes to the full board for consideration.



Lawless Homes wants to build a gated community of 11 townhouses and 96 condominiums on the 11-acre site in the Boulevard Heights neighborhood just north of the River Des Peres and south of Carondelet Park. The homes would range in price from $170,000 to $300,000.



Alderman Fred Heitert, R-12th Ward, introduced the proposal. He said the development will turn an eyesore of Quonset huts and overgrown bushes and grass into a "tremendous" project.



Heitert said the developer, and not the city, will provide street maintenance, trash collection and street lights. He also said that no tax abatements or other incentives were involved in the project and that none of the townhouses or condominiums will be rental units.



The schools once used the site to grow plants and trees.



Some neighbors had supported the project, while others had said they would rather have single-family homes built on the site. No one spoke against the proposal at the committee meeting last week.



Mike Lawless, president of Lawless Homes, said some of the site's familiar features would be saved, including a sunken garden, a greenhouse designed for floral display and the powerhouse.



The proposal will come before the Board of Aldermen for a final vote at 10 a.m. Friday at City Hall.

Is this the greenhouse site? Also, 'gated community' is code for 'we dont like your type'. They dont add anything to a neighborhood.

Yep, it is the greenhouse site.



I don't like the idea of a gated community either.



Here's another article on the development. For some reason, the alderman's comments that this development is giving south side home buyers "a different option" worries me - makes it sound like the project will be very suburban. Anywho...



Aldermen expected to OK Cascades development

Jim Merkel

Of the Suburban Journals



The Board of Aldermen may take final action Friday on a planned $25 million residential development in the Boulevard Heights neighborhood.



Alderman Fred Heitert, R-12th Ward, said he planned to seek preliminary and final passage of a zoning bill for the 107-unit development at Friday's meeting. Taking both actions in the same meeting would require suspension of the board's rules. The meeting is the last planned for this year.



The developer, Lawless Homes, wants to start grading after the first of the year, Heitert said. The Board of Aldermen's Housing Urban Development and Zoning (HUDZ) Committee last week unanimously voted to recommend passage of the zoning legislation, following a hearing in which nobody spoke in opposition.



The area of the development, which is bounded by Blow Street, Robert Avenue, Field Avenue and Coronado Avenue, is now zoned single family.



"It was a first and as far as I can think the only large scale residential development that is being done without any kind of tax subsidy, any kind of tax abatement," said Alderman Fred Wessels, D-13th Ward, HUDZ Committee chairman.



The Planned Unit Development District established by Heitert's bill gives much more control over the multifamily development, Heitert said.



The city has control over the type of construction that goes into the project, Heitert said.



Heitert's legislation requires the developer to submit a detailed development plan to the city planning commission.



The proposed gated development would be on 11 acres formerly used by the St. Louis Public Schools as a greenhouse and tree nursery. The developer would build 12 eight-unit buildings containing condominiums and 11 attached townhouses.



The average size of the condominiums is to be about 1,220 square feet, according to Heitert's bill. The townhouses will have an average size of about 2,000 square feet.



The smallest condominium is to be a one-bedroom unit of about 905 square feet, not including garages, patios or balconies. The largest condominium unit is to be about 1,522 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths, not including garages, patios or balconies.



The base sales prices are expected to be $170,000 to $200,000 for the condominiums and the base prices of the townhouses will be $200,000 to $230,000.



Two historic structures, commonly called the Power House and the Palm House, will remain and a garden area of cascading pools will be retained as a landscape feature.



The development will maintain all landscaping and will provide the public opportunities for access to the open space within the development.



The aldermanic housing committee was impressed with the development, Heitert said.



"They were amazed that there was any kind of land like that available," Heitert said.



"This was, I felt, an important step forward in giving people on the South Side, residential home buyers, a different option," Wessels said.



"I think it's important that the city offer a variety of residential properties," Wessels said. "This is a niche that is currently unmet."

I'll buy it from them for $13,000 (What I currently have). If they don't go for that, maybe the forum could do this as a project together, forming urban St. Louis Development. Then we can develop it properly.

Citylover wrote:Vatterott, Rolwes Homes, Inc. and Greater Missouri Builders want to develop a mix of 117 homes, including 40 single-family detached homes, 29 attached townhouses and 48 condominiums on the tract in the Boulevard Heights Neighborhood.

Has anyone seen renderings for the revised development? I haven't seen anything since the renderings of the old Lawless proposal were released.



Thank God that plan was squashed- a gated community full of garden-style apartment/condo buildings would've been dreadful. It's bad enough that Loughborough Commons is rising nearby- if this area gets any more suburban-style crap it'll begin to look like Oakville.



Since I've seen no renderings and I've heard no details about the design of the homes, I wonder how the single-family and attached homes will look. I hope and pray that these homes don't have front-loading garages, as they would defnitely clash with the intact row of gingerbreads and bungalows along Blow Avenue- on this property's northern edge.



I can't take a position on the issue of condo parking just yet. I'm inclined to agree with the alderman about underground parking, but again its design shouldn't be a compromise IMHO.



I'm excited to see new development here- and I think there's strong demand for new move-up housing in the immediate area. Still, I hope this isn't another case of an alderman endorsing a sub-par design simply to bring development to his ward. Saint Louis has reached a point where we must start demanding more of developers- and our leaders. It's time to stop settling for uninspired suburban designs plopped in the middle of our city- I think we deserve better. Hopefully this plan takes my concerns into account...I guess we'll have to wait and see!

^Sounds like you need to move. I live near the area and have exactly the opposite opinion.

I live in Carondelet and also feel like Boulevard Heights is an area of tremendous unmet potential. Especially now that this area is getting connected to the ever expanding trail system, it would make a great location for updated housing. Most people don't find post WW II housing developments attractive. Homes are too small and lack the architectural character needed to make them potential renovation or remodeling candidates.

An update from "Mayor Slay's" Blog

A Nabe Changes





A torrid market for City real estate and changing demographics pose a challenge for some current residents: staying in the old neighborhood after you?ve out-grown your current home can be tough.



Here?s one solution:



Vatterott, Rowles Homes, and Greater Missouri Builders are moving forward with their plans to develop the ex-SLPS nursery site in Ald. Fred Heitert?s 12th Ward into 125 new single-family homes, townhouses, and condominiums. These plans, which include a significant number of homes, are a big improvement over the development plan originally proposed by Lawless Homes, which emphasized condos, rather than single-families.



The new homes, two blocks from Carondelet Park, will provide opportunities for growing families to remain in this attractive neighborhood, while the senior condos with underground parking will provide opportunities for empty nesters to remain in their beloved Immaculate Heart of Mary parish without the burdens of snow shoveling, grass cutting and gutter cleaning.



Meanwhile, the City?s development staff continues to schedule meetings with groups of prospective applicants for the Healthy Home Repair Program. The program offers a mix of grants and loans for home maintenance and essential repairs to residents willing to invest time in learning home ownership skills and financial management. In addition to emphasizing remediation of housing maintenance code violations, the program also teaches residents about the importance of making existing homes lead safe.

Nothing about how accessible it will be, but it doesn't sound like it will be gated anymore. The designs will probably improve a little with Vatterot involved. It is probably nothing special to marvel at, but it sounds improved at least.

Good job residents!



By pushing developers to have underground garages the neighborhood gained more density and more people who will move in with possibly higher than the neighborhood's median income backgrounds. More money = more services

Alderman expects OK for 125-home project near Carondelet Park

Jim Merkel

Of the Suburban Journals

South Side Journal

05/10/2006



Alderman Fred Heitert expects easy passage of a bill allowing construction of a 125-home development on 11 acres south of Carondelet Park.



Heitert, R-12th Ward, introduced legislation in the Board of Aldermen April 28 calling for the creation of the Boulevard Heights Homes Planned Unit Development.



The aldermanic Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee will hold a hearing on the project at 10 a.m. May 17 in Room 208 of City Hall. Heitert said he expected the bill would pass out of the HUDZ committee easily and that the Board of Aldermen would finally pass it May 26 or June 2.

Article

Good job by Ald. Heitert and the Planning Commission in getting the developers to commit to basement parking.

^ I'm glad to see that as well. All this time has passed, though, and I still have yet to see a rendering of what's being offered.

From the Rolwes - Boulevard Heights Web Site:

Hmmm. examination



It appears that nearly the entire site is built on. No yards. At least it is dense without street fronting driveways. Glad to see rear garages, and street frontage. I guess the greenspace factor is made up in walking proximity to Carondelet Park.



Two good things, there is an east-west and north-south pedestrian cut-throughs. The north-south one converges with the parking lot where the east-west one is nearly separated and includes two commonspace sections.



I'm surprised this is only 10.4units to the acre when it could be higher density with more commonspace of higher quality.

While I am glad to see some of the urban elements you mentioned like rear garages, I almost wonder if it is too dense, especially compared to the existing neighborhood. I think this would have been a perfect area to build something more appealing to families--which would have included either a yard or at least single family homes actually fronting green/common space. Despite being in the city, it isn't exactly near the city center and probably has more in common with an older inner ring suburb (I believe Carondelet used to be an independent village at one point)

What streets border this development?

Here is an aerial of the proposed project, it's located about a half mile west of I-55 and a couple blocks south of Loughborough.