Tower Grove mixed-use development to be first-ever Fitwel-certified property in St. Louis
An ambitious mixed-use development in St. Louis’s Tower Grove neighborhood promises innovative design, upscale amenities and the area’s first-ever Fitwel-certified building enhanced for health and well-being, according to info presented at a project tour of Terra at the Grove hosted by the St. Louis chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) this week.
Speakers and tour leaders included: Paul Giacoletto, president of Green Street Building Group; Joel Oliver, managing director and senior vice president of development, Green Street Real Estate Ventures; Douglas McElvain, architect, Rosemann & Associates; Michael Mahoney, senior vice president, Green Street Management Group; and Olivia Graff, interior designer, Arcturis. O’Toole Design Associates is also providing interior design.
“It’s been an interesting process to see such a project through from the cradle to grave,” Giacoletto said. “We’re on target to finish. We will open 120 units in early June.”
The $60.2 million mixed-use development is located at at 4500–4540 Swan Avenue, near the Cortex Innovation District and BJC/Washington University medical campus. It will offer a mix of 307 studio, one- and two-bedroom units, with four levels of secure garage parking; 52,000 SF courtyard and pool (about the size of a football field); elevated terraces, barbeque areas and a playground.
The cost of supplies and materials increased multiple times over the life of the project. According to Giacoletto, even creative approaches were no guarantee of cost savings.
“Shipping cabinet materials flat in containers saved money, but assembling them locally canceled most of that advantage. It might have been less expensive to host the overseas craftspeople for a year and have them assemble the cabinets onsite. Containers alone went from $6,000 to $39,000,” he said.
“The biggest hurdle was assembling the site,” Oliver noted. The majority of financing for Terra at the Grove has come from outside St. Louis. His department’s side is to “give colleagues the tools needed to market the project and bring people in,” he said.
Other amenities include a walking/bike paths and bike storage/bike repair area; dog park and pet washing stations; electric car charging stations; business center; club and movie rooms, game room; convenience store, social/demonstration kitchen; fitness and yoga studios; onsite remote working areas; and privately leased office spaces.
For the interior spaces, such as lounges, recreational rooms, social kitchen and hallways, Arcturis used nature as “our first jumping-off point,” Graff said.
“We aimed for a cohesive overall design guided by Terra -meaning earth. Our goal was bringing the outside in and celebrating spaces such as the courtyard and terraces in earth tones and refined natural materials that evoke wellness and provide calm and inviting spaces.”
According to McElvain, a substantial challenge was to “design such a large project — almost half a million square feet — and still keep the character to be respectful of the neighborhood — to humanize it despite the size.”
Speakers agreed that the goal of the project is to be an anchor in the neighborhood. The developer, builders and other team members made several presentations to the neighborhood to refine the project and build support for it.
“It took a lot of collaborative work,” McElvain said. As result, Terra at the Grove will be a “big contribution to the neighborhood and helps accelerate regeneration in the area.”
Characteristics and improvements essential to the project reflect a focus on people, products, price and promotion, according to Mahoney. For people, “our demographic will be mostly the medical profession over age 30,” he said. “We also will be hospitality-minded.”
Project details can be found at HERE.
________________________________________________
Feature photo: SMPS event speakers with Terra at the Grove renderings (left to right): Paul Giacoletto, Green Street Building Group; Joel Oliver, Green Street Real Estate Ventures; Douglas McElvain, Rosemann & Associates; Olivia Graff, Arcturis; and Michael Mahoney, Green Street Property Management. Rendering credit: CG Studios; Photo credit: MWM STL | Ruth Thaler-Carter.