The largest development around Centene Stadium in Downtown West has been announced and this one is sure to please.
The AHM Group, known for their apartment building development at 3172 Morgan Ford (the MoFo) and the presently under construction 3201 Morgan Ford (The Y|O), has proposed a massive, $200 Million development on roughly one full city block in Downtown West. Current plans, which could change, call for a series of 5 investments with the breakdown of those investments being.
Historic redevelopment of 2101-7 Locust (The Lambert Building and addition) into 30,000sf of creative office space.
Historic redevelopment of the two buildings at 2109-15 Locust (Lambert Pharmacal and Columbia Incandescent Lamp Company buildings) into 40-45 apartment units (targeted mix being affordable and workforce housing).
Infill building of 50-65 apartment units at 2125 Locust (present day gravel lot).
Infill building with 100 apartment units and 400-space parking garage on the entire 2100 block of Washington Avenue (present day parking lot with single-story commercial building).
29-story high-rise at 2011-23 Locust Street with between 270-280 apartments, 350+ parking spaces, and retail/restaurant space (present day parking lot).
While all components are a big deal, as they fill in present-day parking lots with extremely productive land usages and reuse historic buildings, the 29-story apartment tower might just be the project the neighborhood, and St. Louis development scene, has been looking for.
This is no ordinary apartment tower. It'll be among the tallest in the world constructed with mass-timber. Mass-timber is a fairly new building material. It's extremely sustainable as the wood used to build this building would be replenished by North American forests within 11 minutes. It's also sustainable in the way that the wood has trapped over 3000 metric tons of CO2. On the construction side of things, the lighter characteristic of the wood, up to 50% lighter than a concrete building, means that foundations don't have to be as intense to support the tower. Construction will also move about 20% quicker than a standard concrete building as the mass-timber pieces are assembled similarly to Legos on site.
The only other development in town that'll utilize mass-timber as a construction material is the office component of City Foundry's second phase. That project was widely regarded as Missouri's first mass-timber building. Now it'll be joined in good company by the tallest mass-timber building in the United States, beating out Milwaukee's 21-story "Ascent" tower by 1-story. If a 7-story concrete parking podium is included in the overall height of the building, then the mass-timber structure would make this building the tallest in the world to utilize this material, beating out a proposed mass-timber structure in Switzerland by just a few feet. The building will also likely be the tallest between Tucker and Euclid in the City.
Mass-timber construction on this scale will require a change in the City's building codes.
The apartment tower, which doesn't have a name yet, would rise at the northeast corner of 21st and Locust with the other developments being built on the block bounded by 21st, Locust, 22nd, and Washington. It is being designed jointly by Milwaukee-based Korb & Associates and St. Louis-based Trivers.
On the 2100 block of Washington Avenue, the proposed building there would conceal a parking structure with 100 apartments. This planned building, while not yet fully designed or detailed, will include street-level retail, stretching Washington Avenue's retail and restaurant scene further west. Like the infill building at 2125 Locust, Arcturis is designing this component.
The 2101-7 Locust redevelopment is being designed by Trivers while 2109-15 Locust are being designed by StudioDVLP. StudioDVLP is a fairly new architecture firm in town, and they worked with AHM previously on the redevelopment of a 2-story building just west of here at 2206 Locust. That building was merged with the building next door to create, "The 22", a loft community. Construction on that should be wrapping up this September.
Back on the overall Downtown West development plan, AHM received preliminary approval on a 10 year, 90% tax abatement for all components of the master development. The City's LCRA board approved of the request at the Tuesday, June 28th meeting. The request still has to be introduced at the Board of Aldermen for approval before heading to Mayor Tishaura Jones's desk. Whether or not the request is signed there is uncertain.
The developments are just a few of the many beginning to sprout up in Downtown West. In the past year and a half, Downtown West has seen...
The completion of the Lofts at the Hupp at 1822 Locust (Screaming Eagle Development).
A concert venue at 2225 Washington Avenue (Marathon Live).
Brick City Cider expansion.
What else will Downtown West have in store as a result of the soccer stadium and team? Only time will tell, but things are certainly looking up.