urbanSTL

Any movement on this HOK development? Haven't heard anything in a long time.

bwcrow1s wrote: ↑

Oct 03, 2018

Any movement on this HOK development? Haven't heard anything in a long time.

I contacted Christine Ingrassia about this a few weeks ago. This is her response...

Hi, Chris:

The neighborhood, development group, SLDC, and I are at the negotiation table. I feel confident we'll have some legislation with plans soon.

Best,
Christine

Based on this, it appears to have movement behind the scenes. On top of all of this, Balke Brown is leasing it with signs up on site.

Awesome! Thanks!

The upcoming Preservation Board agenda has a section related to revisions to Lafayette Square's historic district standards that seem relevant. It is item H, starting on page 39: Revised Standards for the Lafayette Square Historic District. Some relevant excerpts:

Title 24 of the City Charter requires that standards for each locally-designated historic district be re-evaluated and revised every five years, taking into consideration economic and developmental changes within each district. This amendment to the current Lafayette Square Standards is made to comply with this requirement, and to clarify a number of situations that have arisen since the Standards were first adopted. It is also intended to respond to the expanding development occurring within the Square, and to plan for future development, particularly in the northeast quadrant.

(I wonder if they meant northwest?)

In areas with very large sites areas that have little or no adjacent historic context, the standards allow much more flexibility in design, while retaining compatibility in setback, orientation and primary facade materials.

Sounds like good news to incorporate a workaround.

I do think the townhouses proposed for the southern edge of the site would look great integrated with the historic nature of the homes around there. The larger developments closer to Chouteau should have some flexibility though. The townhomes down there do at least to some degree.

Abatement for this passed out of HUDZ today w/ a "Do Pass recommendation"

I have a connection within the team leasing this (Balke Brown) and he is saying that the developer is eyeing an early 2019 start on the first phase. The way he described it, it will involve site clean up, prep work for future buildings, demolition of the warehouse at Jefferson and Chouteau along with the construction of an apartment building and a small office building. He says that some tweaking in the layout was done, but nothing major. As for renderings, he had no comment which leads me to believe that the general massing will be used for sometime til the project breaks ground.

I am going to email Christine Ingrassia tomorrow for a more comprehensive update, if she has one.

good thing all the QT humpers that argued this intersection will never be urban were right.

now we're stuck with a f*cking QT indefinitely.

Looks like you were right on the timeline Chris:

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 0865d.html

A key panel of St. Louis aldermen on Wednesday endorsed a package of property tax breaks to assist a $152 million development of houses, apartments and commercial space near the corner of Chouteau and Jefferson avenues in Lafayette Square.

The 13-acre project led by former HOK principal Bill Odell, who spent over 30 years at the architecture firm, could take as long as eight years to fully build out. But Odell said if aldermen sign off on zoning changes and tax abatement, the first phase of town houses and apartments along Hickory Street could start this spring.

The hearing at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee also provided new details on the density and scope of the project that the developers have been hesitant to share.

Plans call for 500 residential units and 120 condominiums in the area along Chouteau Avenue, along with some 84,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

urban_dilettante wrote: ↑

Nov 29, 2018

good thing all the QT humpers that argued this intersection will never be urban were right.

now we're stuck with a f*cking QT indefinitely.

Here is the email about it I got from Ingrassia back in the day:

"Thanks for the email. Please know this was a difficult decision for me to make. I decided to support the alley vacation for the following reasons:

Just as I do in all neighborhoods, I sought the input of residents and business owners in Gate District East to guide my decisions on development proposals.In this case, I spoke about this issue at two neighborhood meetings (QT presented their proposal at one), wrote about it in their newsletter and did an online survey. There was overwhelming support of the QT going in.

Most of the land was a former gas station and the land is contaminated. QT is doing a total environmental clean up and is required to remediate the land should they choose to leave at some point in the future.

Land was being assembled and the two buildings left had owners bought out before I took office. There are only two historic buildings left on all four corners. The area not in an historical district and the Preservation Board previously made the following conclusions on an appeal for buildings demoed in 2011 (the buildings do not qualify for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places, nor is there sufficient existing context for a historic district in the area; the condition of the buildings have deteriorated and their demolition would have little affect upon the Chouteau streetscape, which is already quite varied).
Streets, QT and I worked to ensure access points to the store are in the safest place possible and we will monitor after store is built. QT is willing to pay for public infrastructure improvements if needed for pedestrian and cyclist safety.

It's a good company. They hire union construction workers, pay employees well and even PT workers get benefits. They are hiring from the surrounding neighborhoods. They recycle anything allowed by their refuse company. None of their stores are nuisance problems.

Generally speaking, I tend to be a preservationist and am supportive of smart growth principles. QT will be a valuable financial partner as I move forward with planning corridor redevelopment along Chouteau. I can assure you this is the only gas station I will allow in the 6th ward.

Please let me know if you have additional questions."

pdm_ad wrote: ↑

Nov 30, 2018

Looks like you were right on the timeline Chris:

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... 0865d.html

A key panel of St. Louis aldermen on Wednesday endorsed a package of property tax breaks to assist a $152 million development of houses, apartments and commercial space near the corner of Chouteau and Jefferson avenues in Lafayette Square.

The 13-acre project led by former HOK principal Bill Odell, who spent over 30 years at the architecture firm, could take as long as eight years to fully build out. But Odell said if aldermen sign off on zoning changes and tax abatement, the first phase of town houses and apartments along Hickory Street could start this spring.

The hearing at the St. Louis Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee also provided new details on the density and scope of the project that the developers have been hesitant to share.

Plans call for 500 residential units and 120 condominiums in the area along Chouteau Avenue, along with some 84,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.

I think that this would be better if they were to have focused on the corner of Chouteau and Jefferson as originally brought up in my conversation, but it;s a start and plans change. But I wish they would release renderings of this.

^^ i've seen the email. this is why aldermen and "the neighborhood" shouldn't be involved in urban planning. this is why the city desperately needs a city-wide form-based code and a plan that doesn't date back to the 1950's. a gas station is the worst possible use of this land in terms of revenue/productivity per sq. ft., in terms of future reuse, and in terms of transitioning the city away from car dependence (which would be infinitely more socioeconomically beneficial than 10 or 15 slightly-above-minimum-wage jobs). when this controversy was making its rounds on social media, the refrain was--in typical St. Louis fashion--"this intersection will never be urban anyway". now we have a massive office and residential development going in at this intersection that "will never be urban anyway" (adjacent to one of the most desirable neighborhoods in St. Louis) and we're stuck with a massive waste-of-space gas station that backs up to a fairly dense, well-preserved, and rebounding historic neighborhood (The Gate) across the street. *giant shrug*

The LCRA reviews the tax abatements on January 22nd. According to the document, plans were submitted on January 16th, but didn't specify if they were knew or not. Other than that, future phases will have to be passed by the LCRA. Other numbers...
- $186 Million price tag
- 500 apartments
- 120 condos
- 20 townhomes

But no word on retail and office space.

Tax breaks approved:

https://www.constructforstl.org/186m-de ... abatement/

framer wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2019

Tax breaks approved:

https://www.constructforstl.org/186m-de ... abatement/

This one ranks right behind NGA and the new MLS stadium as most exciting project that we don't know much about how it will look. Really would like to see some design renderings

beer city wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2019

framer wrote: ↑

Jan 29, 2019

Tax breaks approved:

https://www.constructforstl.org/186m-de ... abatement/

This one ranks right behind NGA and the new MLS stadium as the most exciting project that we don't know much about how it will look. Really would like to see some design renderings

I think you will see renderings soon. Construction should begin in the Spring and renderings should be released before then. I was told the design will have a historic look near the back of the project and the design transitions to modern along Chouteau. Further, I was told that the building's massing has moved away from the preliminary massing that we saw last year. No word on whether height was increased or decreased.

On top of this, if any of you are a Lafayette Square neighbor, a future neighborhood meeting will give the residents their first look at the project with renderings and such. Following this meeting, the general public gets a look.

The first building of this project is going to be going in front of the preservation board on the 22nd -

5 story mixed use at 2300 LaSalle

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/d ... 2019-3.pdf

beer city wrote: ↑

Apr 12, 2019

The first building of this project is going to be going in front of the preservation board on the 22nd -

5 story mixed use at 2300 LaSalle

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/d ... 2019-3.pdf

Took them long enough

Whats' the deal with that little factory up the hill from this. Always felt it would make amazing lofts. 2115 Hickory St.

ImprovSTL wrote: ↑

Apr 16, 2019

Whats' the deal with that little factory up the hill from this. Always felt it would make amazing lofts. 2115 Hickory St.

The owner applied to demolish it back in 2016 but was denied. Not sure what's happened with the property since then.

I wonder when the Preservation Board full agenda will be posted since it will most likely give us our first look at the proposed 2300 LaSalle Building.

Isn't it usually like the next week?

Looks like some renderings and phase details in this KMOV article

https://www.kmov.com/news/construction- ... 15b33.html

That parking garage is a YIKES. An event will be held today at 5PM to celebrate this project’s start. The event will be on site. Site work starts today so all is good!