The St. Louis City Soccer Club (SLCSC) is paving the way for new commercial real estate activity downtown, according to presenters at “Spirit of a New St. Louis,” an event recently hosted by CCIM-St. Louis at the Saint Louis Club in Clayton, Mo.
“It’s all about capturing the spirit of the region,” said Matt Sebek, chief experience officer for SLCSC. “To see our massive stadium just stops you in your tracks. We’re creating a central space for the neighborhood. We wanted to create a connection — something that looks like it belongs in the neighborhood.”
The team will hold 17 games a year once it’s operational, and will use the space for community events such as youth soccer, training and practice, and more when soccer is not in season.
“We’re more than a soccer club — we’re a new Spirit of St. Louis,” said Khalia Collier, SLCSC vice president of community relations. “We will work with the St. Louis public schools and community organizations,” said Collier.
“There will be so many things to do that it will become a mini Disney World through modern technology. It’s a next-generation experience,” said Sebek.
To create mobility and access, the stadium has been built without a back door — “every door is open to St. Louis, from the north, south, east and west,” he said. Everything will come into the stadium from underground via Market Street. A canopy roof will keep sound in and be energy-efficient.
The club is rehabbing the Union Square building as team headquarters. Placing the stadium, training facility and offices together downtown is a unique aspect of the club.
The City of St. Louis is building on the energy created by SLCSC.
“We are making infrastructure improvements relevant to the soccer team,” said Rob Orr, deputy executive director of the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC). These include major rebuilding at Interstate 64 at Jefferson.
“This is a $30 million-plus project to create a full-access intersection,” said Lori Goerlich, major project manager-infrastructure for SLCD. It’s fully funded with completion estimated for early 2022. Related projects with completion estimates are:
• $17.5 million for city streets work”; 2023
• $28 million for curb-to-curb rebuild of the Jefferson Avenue Corridor going north toward Natural Bridge; 2023
• $10.9 million for a 20th Street multimodal project from Market to St. Louis Avenue, with a bike facility and track; 2025
The combined elements will create what Goerlich called one of the largest public infrastructure projects in the country.
In conjunction with the SLCSC and city infrastructure activity, Renaissance Development Associates and the Tower Real Estate Group are creating new business and residential space around the stadium district, according to partner/business development Jassen Johnson.
Their JC Midtown project is creating a “work, unwind, sleep” brand in Midtown Alley, Johnson said. The area has become “kind of a mecca for creative agencies,” with about 65 such businesses in place. That success led to adding residential projects. So far, about 50 buildings have been developed.
“Mixed-use development is very important. We’re figuring out how to bring in restaurants and retail because those are essential,” he said. “We’re looking for tenants for some of those projects.”
Phase 1 features the Martin Office Building, 2315 Locust; Twain Financial Office, 2200 Washington; and Vivent HealthCare, 2653 Locust, for a development cost of $19.1 million. Phase 2 will include 75 apartments in the old AT&T building, along with 10 maker spaces for artists’ studios; as well as restaurants and bars and multifamily housing along Locust, at $35.5 million.
“We’re now into the startup world in creative office space,” Johnson said. If an agency outgrows its original space, they can move into a larger one in the same area.
In recognition that parking is essential to successful commercial real estate, Johnson said he is most excited about creating about 500 spaces for the area, in part through the first teardown piece of the Cooper multifamily housing project: the Sam Light Loans building at Jefferson and Locust.
“We might partner with Wells Fargo and other properties on parking.
New condo construction is also underway. Plans include a retail village using 10 shipping containers. The Boxyard will become the Midtown Sporting Club. Costs will be around $90 million.
Planned projects and developers include:
• Butler Brothers Building, 385 apartments and retail space; Gary Prosterman, Olive Street Partners LLC
• 21c Museum Hotel (former YMCA building); Locust Street Property|STL
• Lofts at the HUPP; Screaming Eagle—Matthew Masiel
• 1801 Washington, 184 apartments, commercial space, 220 parking spaces; King Realty Advisors
• 2840 Clark Avenue Surgery Center/AXIS
• GreenStreet St. Louis, with a hotel on the Wells Fargo campus
“I think we’ll have a corridor that all of us can be proud of as the area is fully developed,” Johnson said.