ST. LOUIS — Citing COVID-19’s economic impact, a respected developer has walked away from a $334 million office, restaurant, apartment and hotel project in the heart of ºüÀêÊÓƵ University’s campus.
Cullinan Properties, the developer behind Streets of St. Charles and the Lofts@Euclid rehab in the Central West End, said plans for its “Iron Hill†project at the northwest corner of Chouteau Avenue and Grand Boulevard was no longer feasible. Prospective tenants for the development opted not to expand in the wake of the pandemic.
â€The project we initially envisioned and the timeline for completing the project were greatly altered by COVID-19,†a Cullinan spokeswoman said in a statement. “We could not commit to meet the initial timeline and pricing we agreed to before COVID-19 with such an unexpected interruption in new store openings and business expansions, which had a great financial impact on the project.â€
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ºüÀêÊÓƵ University has for years owned the vacant 14-acre site, one of the largest pieces of open ground in the Central Corridor.
In 2019, SLU announced it had tapped Cullinan as the prospective developer after a committee of students, faculty and administrators reviewed nine proposals to develop the site.
“SLU has long served as a catalyst for progress in the city we proudly call home,†university President Fred Pestello said at the time. “This investment by Cullinan Properties will transform an empty lot into a unique and lasting development that will serve the SLU community and our neighbors for many years to come.â€
Pestello called the investment “significant†and said the development would accelerate the “dynamism taking place in the central corridor.â€
Last week, the university said it was disappointed in the project’s collapse.
“SLU will continue to seek other redevelopment opportunities that will benefit the university community and neighboring residents,†SLU said in a statement.
Cullinan’s plan envisioned 140,000 square feet of office space, 400 to 500 apartments, a 250-room hotel, plus restaurants and retail. Last April, just as the pandemic shut down events and other activity around the country, the city’s tax increment financing commission recommended up to $60 million in TIF subsidies, which allow future increases in tax revenue from development to be applied to project costs.
The developer initially hoped to begin construction last year. A bill at the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Board of Aldermen authorizing final approval of the TIF was introduced but never advanced, suggesting the project’s urgency waned amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.
The site is within the Midtown Redevelopment Corporation, approved by ºüÀêÊÓƵ officials in late 2016, an entity that gives SLU significant sway over what is developed in the area surrounding its campus, including whether to offer property tax abatement to developers.
SLU officials saw the project achieving a longtime goal: tying together its southern medical campus and its main campus to the north.
The land is one of the last big tracts of undeveloped real estate SLU owns. It sits just across Chouteau from the under-construction $550 million SSM Health ºüÀêÊÓƵ University Hospital and is a short walk from the Grand MetroLink station.
Cullinan started work on the project two years ago, lining up tenants, financing and government approvals, but construction never started.