Mixed-use project planned in Clayton
Vacant six years since Schnucks departed, the prime commercial corner at Hanley and Clayton roads is slated for a $116 million office, hotel and retail complex to feature what the developer says will be innovative architecture.
"We don’t want to develop a project that looks like every other project — the corner is too important for that," said Ryan Woods, a principal at the St. Louis office of Lee & Associates, a commercial real estate firm, and head of Gateway Real Estate Partners, the project’s developer. "We really want to explore an avant-garde design for the site."
Grocery shoppers grieved when Schnucks allowed its 50-year lease on the 3.3-acre site to expire in 2003. The store, south of downtown Clayton, opened in 1951 as part of the Bettendorf grocery chain. It was among 26 Bettendorf-Rapp stores Schnucks acquired in 1970. By the 1990s, the Clayton store had become known as "the yuppie Schnucks," and people joked that its produce department was the best place in town to make a new business contact or get a date.
After Schnucks left, redevelopment plans for the site came and went. A high-rise condo development was the most frequently mentioned possibility.
Woods said this week that he expects to complete financing this month and begin construction in March after getting the necessary zoning approvals from the city of Clayton. If all goes to plan, construction will be completed by 2011.
Catherine Powers, Clayton’s director of planning and development, said a mixed-use project makes sense at Clayton and Hanley. "Obviously, it’s a corner that’s suitable for development," said Powers, noting that city officials have yet to see details of the project my credit score.
Urban Active, a chain of fitness centers based in Lexington, Ky., will occupy the second and third floors of an eight-story office building, Woods said. The first floor would be set aside for retail. He declined to name other tenants but said he is in talks with potential occupants, some from elsewhere in the area.
"We’re getting close on our last major office tenant," Woods said.
The project is being marketed as the Urban Plaza in Clayton. Woods said the moniker could change if a primary tenant agrees to buy naming rights. A hotel developer from Kentucky is in play to build the project’s 200-room "upscale boutique" hotel. Woods said he will announce the hotel developer and the construction contractor for the entire project in a few weeks.
The project will include a 775-car parking garage with more ground-floor retail. It will connect to the seven-story hotel.
Lipton Realty, which has owned the site for about 25 years, offered the tract for $12.5 million after Schnucks left, according to reports at the time. The firm’s Randy Lipton and Woods declined this week to divulge the purchase price but said the site is under contract.
Lipton said Woods’ plan appears to be coming together.
"It does appear this (project) is going to happen."
Filed under: legal by Fred