"Tesson Ridge" - Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for 100-acre MetLife site in South County

Trololzilla · PostApr 22, 2021#12021-04-22T21:13+00:00

Apologies if this has been mentioned already, but saw this pop up on my news feed today.

Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for 100-acre MetLife site in South County; town hall held next week

An in-person town hall will be held next week at the MetLife campus in South County about a proposed 100-acre mixed-use development at the 100-acre site that would include two new subdivisions with more than 170 single-family houses, a 210-unit apartment building, nearly 8 acres of commercial development fronting Tesson Ferry Road and public spaces like a plaza and amphitheater.

The land size and scope of the project, called “Tesson Ridge,” makes the mixed-use project one of the largest developments in South County history — larger in size even than the Crestwood mall site, which is also the subject of a pending mixed-use redevelopment proposal. The Crestwood site is roughly 47 acres.

The developer is Propper Construction Services, which bought the property from MetLife in December. Propper is based in St. Charles and is affiliated with Propper International, an international designer of tactical military clothing and gear with revenues of more than $400 million annually, according to Propper Construction’s website.

The town hall about MetLife/Tesson Ridge will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 29 inside the former MetLife building, 13045 Tesson Ferry Road in Concord, 63128. The town hall is sponsored by the developers of the project and 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, who lives near one of the borders of the development along Tesson Ferry and Butler Hill roads. Since the campus is in unincorporated South County, approval for any zoning would go through St. Louis County and Trakas.

[...]

Propper proposes four areas in the 100 acres: A 110-home single-family subdivision with detached houses called “The Manors at Tesson Ridge,” on a total area of 57.43 acres with a buffer area of 8.68 acres; a 210-unit apartment complex called “The Residences at Tesson Ridge” in the rehabbed MetLife Building itself, over an area of 21.62 acres; 60 single-family residential attached or detached villas that would cover 9.87 acres and be called “The Villas at Tesson Ridge,” and two separate commercial areas called “The Shops at Tesson Ridge” facing Tesson Ferry Road, one covering 5.11 acres and one 2.79 acres. Access would be from Tesson Ferry Road and a spur road that would connect to Butler Hill Road, with several roundabouts inside the property included on the renderings.

Pretty blah if you ask me.

brianadler6545 · PostApr 22, 2021#22021-04-22T21:38+00:00

Trololzilla wrote:Apologies if this has been mentioned already, but saw this pop up on my news feed today.

Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for 100-acre MetLife site in South County; town hall held next week

An in-person town hall will be held next week at the MetLife campus in South County about a proposed 100-acre mixed-use development at the 100-acre site that would include two new subdivisions with more than 170 single-family houses, a 210-unit apartment building, nearly 8 acres of commercial development fronting Tesson Ferry Road and public spaces like a plaza and amphitheater.

The land size and scope of the project, called “Tesson Ridge,” makes the mixed-use project one of the largest developments in South County history — larger in size even than the Crestwood mall site, which is also the subject of a pending mixed-use redevelopment proposal. The Crestwood site is roughly 47 acres.

The developer is Propper Construction Services, which bought the property from MetLife in December. Propper is based in St. Charles and is affiliated with Propper International, an international designer of tactical military clothing and gear with revenues of more than $400 million annually, according to Propper Construction’s website.

The town hall about MetLife/Tesson Ridge will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 29 inside the former MetLife building, 13045 Tesson Ferry Road in Concord, 63128. The town hall is sponsored by the developers of the project and 6th District Councilman Ernie Trakas, R-Oakville, who lives near one of the borders of the development along Tesson Ferry and Butler Hill roads. Since the campus is in unincorporated South County, approval for any zoning would go through St. Louis County and Trakas.

[...]

Propper proposes four areas in the 100 acres: A 110-home single-family subdivision with detached houses called “The Manors at Tesson Ridge,” on a total area of 57.43 acres with a buffer area of 8.68 acres; a 210-unit apartment complex called “The Residences at Tesson Ridge” in the rehabbed MetLife Building itself, over an area of 21.62 acres; 60 single-family residential attached or detached villas that would cover 9.87 acres and be called “The Villas at Tesson Ridge,” and two separate commercial areas called “The Shops at Tesson Ridge” facing Tesson Ferry Road, one covering 5.11 acres and one 2.79 acres. Access would be from Tesson Ferry Road and a spur road that would connect to Butler Hill Road, with several roundabouts inside the property included on the renderings.

Pretty blah if you ask me.

Kind of blah but also kind of better than what's already around their imo. Some density too. I feel it's a *marginal* step up at first glance.

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chriss752 · PostApr 23, 2021#32021-04-23T02:47+00:00

It's a decent project. I didn't even know that MetLife vacated the space.

wabash · PostApr 23, 2021#42021-04-23T03:28+00:00

Would make for some nice parkland for South County.

sc4mayor · PostApr 23, 2021#52021-04-23T03:39+00:00

^ The “Winter” parks aren’t that far.

I honestly don’t hate it. Definitely blah...but look around the rest of the area (no offense). It’s just a bunch of sprawl...I don’t really see the point for a “drive to urbanism” type development. I wouldn’t be against a park either truth be told. But converting the large office buildings to apartments and building a few hundred single family homes (some attached, mostly detached) plus some commercial space seems perfectly appropriate for this site.

MetLife moved to Creve Coeur. HBE Building I think...

framer · PostApr 23, 2021#62021-04-23T11:50+00:00

There's a large demand for housing in South County, but it's the kind of place where people say "I've got mine, now you go somewhere else to get yours". I expect a large opposition to this "overly dense" project, which will "cause traffic problems".

bwcrow1s · PostApr 23, 2021#72021-04-23T12:02+00:00

Too bad it doesn't take out the hidden drive just to the north where the county brownies hide to ticket you for going 5 over.

Also, pleased that my childhood Imo's isn't going anywhere. Well, originally in Lamplighter, but you get it.

imran · PostApr 23, 2021#82021-04-23T12:56+00:00

A little part of my soul died looking at that rendering. Baby steps sure but I’m not certain this one is worth taking.
(Apologies to those who love it)

How do we make sure we build places that uplift and nourish the human spirit? Not just here but everywhere.

pdm_ad · PostApr 23, 2021#92021-04-23T13:48+00:00

framer wrote: ↑
Apr 23, 2021
There's a large demand for housing in South County, but it's the kind of place where people say "I've got mine, now you go somewhere else to get yours". I expect a large opposition to this "overly dense" project, which will "cause traffic problems".

That describes 80-90% of America. I have a place in FL where development has been crazy since the 70's and it's interesting listening to public hearings where people who live in brand new condos will vehemently oppose just about any proposal that adds traffic.

Black02AltimaSE · PostApr 23, 2021#102021-04-23T13:50+00:00

I'm glad to see them rehabbing the old office building into apartments. Hopefully, they can find some way to make it look less institutional as they go.

symphonicpoet · PostApr 24, 2021#112021-04-24T05:10+00:00

imran wrote: ↑
Apr 23, 2021
A little part of my soul died looking at that rendering. Baby steps sure but I’m not certain this one is worth taking.
(Apologies to those who love it)

How do we make sure we build places that uplift and nourish the human spirit? Not just here but everywhere.

I'm not sure I understand your objection. Sure, it's a typical 80s suburban office building, but it's going to be in the middle of 170 new single family homes, which is about twice as many homes as I counted in the rest of the photograph combined. (I came up with 88, so let's say 90. Not counting apartment or commercial property. This development will have that too, after all.)

If this were going to just be the office park as apartments surrounded by acres of trees I would be disappointed. But the building isn't actually bad at all. Maybe sort of hum-drum, but it's pleasant enough in a rendering at least. The acres of parking are awful, but smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood it could actually be kind of nice. If I had one wish for this it would be for some mixed use in the middle of the site and not just single use commercial at the perimeter. As it stands now the neighborhoods businesses will be sited more for outsiders driving in and less for people that live there walking over, and that's a shame. But this looks to be about twice as dense as what's there now. Maybe more. It's not a huge step, but I don't see it as soul-sucking at least. Seems quite a lot better than typical suburban. Better than the current plan for Crestwood Plaza, for instance. Loads better than anything in Chesterfield. (After all, it reuses a structurally sound building and ads density.)

imran · PostApr 24, 2021#122021-04-24T06:31+00:00

Ive come to the conclusion that not everything that is denser is good. There are details and nuances. A mockery of urban design to me is just not worth it.
We have plenty sad apartment complexes around the county already

Sure it might be better than some places but is that really saying much?

symphonicpoet · PostApr 24, 2021#132021-04-24T08:51+00:00

^Would it be fair to say you don't care for that style of architecture? That's honest and fine. None of us like 'em all. If that's the case we can chalk it up to a difference of opinion.

As to the urbanism business, I wouldn't say it's even attempting to be urban, honestly. It's just garden variety suburban land use. No questions there. And I don't really care for that. I don't think it's sustainable. But that's mostly down to the lowish density housing and single use zoning they plan, not the adaptive reuse at the core of the thing. That may be the part that surprised me about what I was reading in your argument. I feel like you're comparing it to a blank slate rather than wat's already there, which is basically what's in the rendering, but surrounded by asphalt and grass instead of trees and houses. So I see this as a way to demolish surface parking lots once and for all.

(Well . . . if it weren't for the fact that the insurance company is building an even more idiot office park further into nowhere to replace it. Probably. That's bad. But that's not on the development, it's on the insurance company vacating. And the St. Faraway Countipality Commissioners handing out TIFFY treats to every suit like they were a masked child on Halloween. If you hate that . . . well, I hate that too. Just not sure what to do about it. I don't think it would be ethically defensible to send Metro PD out there like a conquering army to strongly encourage consolidation. Though that would be a better use of force than some of what they actually do.)

I think it's a pretty enough building and I like adaptive reuse. I'm not quite sure if "new international" would be an appropriate descriptor, but whatever you want to call it I'd say the office is a decent example of a style that was common from the 60s or 70s into maybe the early 90s or so. I guess I grew up in schools and churches that looked something like that, so it's pleasant to me. And the views into the interior courtyard with the lake look like they'd actually be nice. So in short I'd be quite content to live in that building were it not in the middle of south nowhere.

And I will guess you would not be content to live in it even if it were smack in the middle of Dogtown, say. And that's okay.

imran · PostApr 24, 2021#142021-04-24T15:11+00:00

It’s true that I think the design is lazy but that’s not the biggest issue. The ?Lindell Terrace building at Lindell/taylor is similarly repetitive but is less of an eye sore because it tries to fit into the urban grid and form.

Poor siting that puts unnecessary dead zones into communities, celebrated surface parking are big turn offs for me. The squat repetitive rectangles do nothing to compensate either.

Maybe I should not have said anything. I may ( unintentionally) be trolling this thread.

sc4mayor · PostApr 24, 2021#152021-04-24T16:02+00:00

^ I’d hardly say you’re being a troll...

But the squat rectangles are already there (that’s the old MetLife office building they’re retrofitting...which seems like a wise idea) and the vast majority of existing surface parking is getting removed for new homes.

No disagreement from me on the boringness and lack of urban density or design...but as much as we hate it...that’s what these communities want in these parts of the region. What we see as “dead zones” they see as “green space.”

symphonicpoet · PostApr 25, 2021#162021-04-25T01:48+00:00

^^No worries Imran. I don't think you're trolling. I was just confused a bit. I'm just trying to understand. I think I agree with everything you said except the bit about the repetitive rectangles, which is basically a style judgment so we can disagree politely. (I hope. I'll try. I can be a troll myself sometimes. Working on it.)

As to how it's going to connect to . . . anything at all I can't really say from the few renders I've seen. The big colored shaded areas are about as useful as "Here be dragons!" I doubt they'll be red brick dragons on tidy connected treasure grids, but I can't disprove it from what's there. Anyway . . .

You're okay Imran. I hope I haven't been too awful.

sc4mayor · PostOct 26, 2022#172022-10-26T22:31+00:00

Construction starts, homebuilder chosen for Tesson Ridge, the $200M redevelopment of former MetLife campus in South County
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... illas.html

pattimagee · PostOct 27, 2022#182022-10-27T16:07+00:00

Half garage - half home.

Bart Harley Jarvis · PostOct 27, 2022#192022-10-27T16:21+00:00

pattimagee wrote: ↑
Oct 27, 2022
Half garage - half home.

Are those houses 5 times deeper than they are wide?

Chris Stritzel · PostAug 28, 2023#202023-08-28T04:32+00:00

JEMA posted these renderings on their website for the retail portion that'll front 21.

WHAT ATTRACTS BEST IN CLASS?

If you’ve ever visited San Gimignano or Verucchio or Roca Madour in Europe, you will find the most inviting of retail experiences..and not because of the specific stores, but because of the scale and proportion of these historic villages. The richness and beauty of the space pulls you into a different world. JEMA’s design for the new Shops at Tesson Ridge, a mixed-use development located on Tesson Ferry Road in St. Louis, MO, is organized like a small European village from earlier eras. The buildings are angled and positioned next to each other to create a lively combination of outdoor spaces, nooks and plazas. The non-orthogonal geometry creates a unique series of retail environments where the shopping experience is rich, warm and inviting. The new retail village is integrated into the development along with new residences and an adaptive re-use of an existing office into luxury apartments. The mixed-use development also incorporates the natural features of the site: a lake, walking trails and woodlands.

https://jemastl.com/what-attracts-best-in-class-retail/

MarkHaversham · PostAug 28, 2023#212023-08-28T13:40+00:00

What am I up to? Oh not much, just playing violin at the Tesson Ridge plaza, like a very normal person.

pop_scientist · PostAug 28, 2023#222023-08-28T17:02+00:00

Tesson Ferry Road and the huge parking lot definitely captures the ambiance of a small historic European village.

sc4mayor · PostAug 28, 2023#232023-08-28T19:48+00:00

The marketing fluff is ridiculous...but it looks nice enough for a suburban strip center.

Overall progress as of May 31st:

symphonicpoet · PostAug 29, 2023#242023-08-29T05:56+00:00

MarkHaversham wrote: ↑
Aug 28, 2023
What am I up to? Oh not much, just playing violin at the Tesson Ridge plaza, like a very normal person.

Don't make me go down there with a violin. I'm really more of a pianist, but . . . I do have one. (And it's in eminently playable condition.)

All joking aside, yeah, it's a strip mall, but it really is a better one than most. I can see where they're coming from with the use of space. It doesn't need to be wonky angles and pseudo historicist stylings, mind. But having some things facing inward towards a courtyard, and having some useful pedestrian spaces can make a big difference. And this is in conjunction with a pretty good sized residential re-use, so there's some potential for foot traffic. It's not perfect, and they probably won't have too many busquers, but it beats the Dierbergs thing in Crestwood, which is honestly better than a lot of other developments around town.

MarkHaversham · PostAug 29, 2023#252023-08-29T16:16+00:00

Yeah I'm just making fun of the silly marketing these sorts of things always get, it's better than I would expect. I'd love if they eliminated parking altogether and everyone went everywhere by train like it's Thomas the Tank Engine, oh well.