ST. LOUIS 鈥 Despite the coronavirus shutdowns and uncertain economic outlook, developers across the region are teeing up or starting work on new projects, from a midtown music venue to a St. Charles subdivision.
In St. Charles County, Payne Family Homes broke ground on a sprawling O鈥橣allon, Missouri, subdivision that it has planned for years. The homebuilder, the region鈥檚 second largest, plans to build 657 single-family homes and townhomes on 153 acres near the intersection of Route DD and Highway 40 (Interstate 64).
Payne initially said its project, dubbed Streets of Caledonia, would break ground in 2018, but Payne did not close on the land until February. The real estate was owned by a company affiliated with shopping center developer and Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke.
鈥淲e are very excited to break ground on this project,鈥 said Ken Kruse, Payne Family Homes president. 鈥淭his is a large project, and over the past two years, we have been working hard to get everything in place.鈥
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Payne says home sales will start in the fall and build out of the lots, which back up to O鈥橠ay Park, will occur over the next five years. An additional 93 acres will be marketed for retail, office and medical developments beginning next year.
最新杏吧原创 city development suffered during the shutdowns. Builders applied for less than 150 construction permits in April, more than 200 fewer than average for the month. Still, permits rebounded in May, to more than 260, about 100 less than an average May. And several projects in the city are progressing:
The Kansas City developer behind the rehab of the historic Monogram building into apartments is eyeing another residential project in downtown 最新杏吧原创. Michael Knight said he aims to acquire the building at 1808 Washington, occupied by James Mulligan Printing. There, he plans a $13.5 million renovation into 72 apartments, aiming for a more affordable price point of $800 a unit compared to the higher end Monogram apartments.
鈥淓specially in economic downturns, having access to this kind of price point housing is more important and more sustainable than maybe those higher-end luxury style apartment buildings,鈥 Knight recently told the city鈥檚 Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority.
The authority board recommended five years of tax abatement worth 90% of improvements and another five years worth 85%.
And developer Steve Smith of the Lawrence Group is planning to put a 1,200-person concert venue in an unoccupied building at 3306 Washington Boulevard. The $4.3 million project would put a music venue across the street from the new Kranzberg Arts Foundation literary arts venue High Low and the Urban Chestnut Midtown brewery.
Smith, the developer behind City Foundry in Midtown, said during the LCRA meeting he had a financing commitment from Great Southern Bank and 鈥渨e see the opportunity and the need for a venue like this in Grand Center.鈥 The board recommended the project receive 10 years of tax abatement worth 95% of improvements.
Asked by the board whether the coronavirus crisis would impact plans for a venue, Smith said it would only in 鈥渢he immediate term.鈥
鈥淏ut unless we believe that the Fox (Theatre) will never reopen, or Powell (Hall) or the Pageant 鈥 so we would imagine that when those facilities reopen, and it might be next year, that we will open as well,鈥 Smith said.
In the Hill neighborhood, Chicago developer Draper and Kramer returned to the LCRA to seek a sales tax exemption 鈥渋n light of current market conditions鈥 for a 225-unit apartment building it plans along the neighborhood鈥檚 Kingshighway border. The project, in the works for over three years, already received a decade of full tax abatement on new construction.
Much of the 11-acre site, formerly occupied by American Stove Co., has been cleared, and construction has started on 58 single-family houses being built by McBride and Sons.
The $40 million apartment component is slated to break ground in September and be complete by the end of next year, according to a city report.
Janelle O鈥橠ea of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
