The St. Louis region is now home to a new transit-oriented development (TOD) community that raises the bar for TOD projects not only in the bi-state area, but for other developments around the country as well.
Expo at Forest Park, a new $90 million multifamily, mixed-use development sits adjacent to the existing Forest Park-DeBaliviere MetroLink Station in the historic SkinkerDeBaliviere Neighborhood in the City of St. Louis — and residents are flocking to it.
Leasing rates during the first nine weeks have surpassed expectations, with 72 leases signed, and only 36 (50 percent) of those residents have a car.
“St. Louis TOD is taking off,” said Kelly Annis, executive director of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) St. Louis. “There are other projects along the alignment that have been developed with an eye toward transit and the benefits it can bring, but this is the first that is fully embracing transit and orienting the entire development around it. The way they incorporated the station into the built environment makes this project unique and exciting for St. Louis and provides a model for great Transit-Oriented Development across the line.”
For Jeff Tegethoff, CEO of Tegethoff Development, the developer who delivered the Expo at Forest Park, the success of the development is rooted in the project team and the commitment to collaboration among the many external stakeholders involved from the very beginning.
“None of the success surprises us, because we were very deliberate in working with Bi-State Development, Great Rivers Greenway, Citizens for Modern Transit, Forest Park, our architects at Trivers, the City of St. Louis, the alderwoman for this ward and other neighborhood associations,” said Tegethoff. “The multiple voices at the table improved the offering.”
Tegethoff said his company knew the site was special from the outset. While the broader area was densely populated, the intersection had been underdeveloped. With multiple modes of transportation coming together -- vehicles, light rail, buses, pedestrians, cyclists, and greenway users, this development is re-establishing the intersection as a gateway to the neighborhood.
Tegethoff said this is the first TOD of this scale in St. Louis. In his opinion, there was no better spot to create the development given the MetroLink ridership and activity at the Forest Park-DeBaliviere MetroLink Station with two to three stops in either direction connecting directly to Forest Park, as well as to world-class educational and medical institutions, the Cortex Innovation Hub and significant job opportunities.
Another key contributor to the success of the TOD project is the progress Bi-State Development has made to create a safer, more secure public transit system.
“I think our efforts were instrumental in that safety and security is an everyday tenant of successful community life, whether it be on a transit system or in an exciting development like this,” said Taulby Roach, Bi-State Development President and CEO. “When a developer like Jeff is looking at marketing this property to retail investors and the folks who will live here, they want to know they are going to be in a safe and secure community that is rigorous and growing. Being able to relate a comprehensive safety and security plan that includes not only our law enforcement partners, but also our community partners, is one of the things that motivates a developer like Jeff to say, ‘It is worth investing here.’"
Bi-State Development operates the Metro Transit system that serves eastern Missouri and southwestern Illinois. Roach said safety and security on an everyday basis is about presence on the street.
Designed to enhance connectivity to the St. Louis region’s Metro Transit system and the St. Vincent Greenway, Expo at Forest Park includes two multifamily buildings with 287 apartments, parking, amenities and 30,000 SF of retail space, all accessed through a front door that is also the front door to the public transit system. A grocery store is moving into the north building on the ground level, which also includes space for a taproom serving local beers.
Residents began moving into the north building in August 2022. The seven-story south building will open in the next few weeks. It includes an amenity deck featuring extensive vegetation, bocce ball, a pool, fitness center, lounges and a pet wash.
Many of the top-floor units are two stories and include private patios and views of Forest Park, a 1,300-acre urban park where five major cultural institutions are located including a zoo, art museum, history museum, Muny opera, and science News Release center.
The park is a prime area for walking, running and cycling so some of the residential units at Expo at Forest Park have bike mounts designed into the floor plans. More than half of the new residents do not own cars so the close proximity to public transit is an important option. Amenities such as a grocery store; covered parking for residents, customers and transit riders; and transit security improvements also benefit anyone who is accessing the transit system via the Forest ParkDeBaliviere MetroLink Station.
Trivers principal Joel Fuoss, AIA, LEED AP, was a key partner for architecture, planning, urban design and interiors for the development of the Expo at Forest Park and the firm played an important role in making sure it was seamlessly integrated into the existing neighborhood.
“Since even before the 1904 World’s Fair, the Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood developed as a dense, diverse residential community along the former Wabash Rail Line,” said Fuoss. “This new transit-oriented development designed to accommodate nearly every mode of modern transportation will help create an active node of energy at the convergence of these transport pathways.”
Trivers collaborated with associate architect HOK on the project, and Brinkmann Constructors is the general contractor for the Expo at Forest Park.
For others looking to replicate the TOD success of the project elsewhere along the 46-mile MetroLink system that operates in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County in Missouri and in St. Clair County in Illinois, Tegethoff shared some advice.
“Engage early and often. Be willing to be flexible and look at other markets for additional inspiration. The team at Bi-State (Development) is very thorough and very engaged and definitely needs a seat at the table for any future TOD in the region. There’s good infrastructure here. The tracks are laid, and Taulby and his team are the right team to address safety and security on the system.”
“We have been working to break through with a true transit-oriented development, and here is one that we can hold up as an example nationally,” Roach said. “As we look to projects like the Expo, we can use them as an example of how we can create a foothold or a new future for the neighborhoods around our transit stops. We’re going to see an evolution around the neighborhood at the Forest Park-DeBaliviere Station.”
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Feature photo: Taulby Roach and Jeff Tegethoff at Expo at Forest Park. PHOTO CREDIT: METRO TRANSIT.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned next week for MWM’s Mixed-Use Summit recap article and photo album. The event was held at the Forest at Expo Park Apartments on Nov. 30th and Jeff Tegethoff was one of the panelists.