CREVE COEUR — Residents here are asking the Creve Coeur City Council to reject tax breaks for developers who say they need the incentives to build a mixed-use “Main Street” development on half of Bayer’s former campus.
The $985 million project, called Olia Village, calls for apartments, townhouses, retail, hotels and offices on 96 acres at 10300 Olive Boulevard, part of what was Bayer’s North American headquarters, which the company sold to Edwardsville-based Fireside Financial in 2022.
Fireside and partner Jack Matthews Development told the city council Monday that the campus is blighted and poses “extraordinary costs” to redevelopment. They asked the city to abate nearly $86 million in future real estate taxes for 25 years and approve two special sales taxes on the site to fund a maximum $61.8 million in costs — incentives they said are necessary for the project to be successful. The project would generate an anticipated $127 million in real estate tax revenues over the abatement period.
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The city would put in “zero up-front public investment” and only deliver incentives as the project is completed, said Matt Pfund, president of Jack Matthews Development.
But residents who attended the hearing were not convinced. They said the former Bayer campus, which was in use up until the COVID-19 pandemic, is far from blighted. And they argued redevelopment was possible without tax breaks that could otherwise help pay for government and public school services.
“All taxpayers should be treated fairly, and this project should stand on its own economic merits,” said Raphael Schein, one of 10 residents who spoke against the incentives.
Fireside and Jack Matthews are asking the city to abate 75% of real estate tax due on new construction and improvements to the site for 10 years and then abate 50% of the tax for the next 15 years.
The abatement would divert an estimated $85.7 million in tax revenues to 16 taxing jurisdictions, including $45 million from the Ladue School District and nearly $1.9 million from the city. No taxes would be diverted from the Creve Coeur Fire Protection District.
Fireside and Jack Matthews also asked the city to establish a Community Improvement District to levy a 1-cent sales tax and a Transportation Development District to levy a half-cent sales tax to pay for on-site improvements.
The developers’ blight argument cited asbestos in three buildings planned for renovation, including an underground cafeteria with extensive water damage and no working HVAC or fire suppression system; deteriorated curbs and sidewalks with no wheelchair ramps; above-ground power lines that need to be buried; and incidents of trespassing, vandalism and theft.
Site work costs include construction of public utility connections, new roads and sidewalks, challenging topography and the need to work around three water mains running through the site.
Residents on Monday said the conditions didn’t rise to the level of blight.
“The evidence I saw for blight strikes me as normal maintenance issues,” said Rex Couture.
And they are urging the council to capture as much of the revenues as possible. Without abatement, Olia Village would generate an estimated $213 million in real estate tax revenues over the next 25 years, according to developers estimates.
Brett Berger, a parent with two students in the Ladue School District, said he was in favor of the redevelopment but wanted to see the abatement rejected or negotiated down.
“What’s alarming a lot of neighbors here is just the magnitude of the abatement and the numbers that could be withheld from the school district,” he said.
Barry Glantz, a former longtime Creve Coeur mayor consulting Fireside and Jack Matthews Development, told the council rejecting incentives for Olia Village would put the site at risk of long-term vacancy, he said.
“Please remember that vacant properties serve no one,” Glantz said.