Ready to rock-n-roll at The District in Chesterfield

Developers of The District commercial project are pumped up about Chesterfield, Mo's newest development, as expressed in a recent CREW St. Louis webinar and virtual tour last month.

More than 50 attendees tuned in to learn about the project, described by CREW-SL as a one-stop destination of entertainment — a hub for playing, eating and rocking [that] is powered by The Staenberg Group (TSG Properties), a local real estate development firm who designs, develops and manages shopping centers throughout the United States.

TSG Properties engages in communities through pro-bono consulting, direct philanthropic gifts and volunteering technical expertise to make neighborhoods stronger, healthier and more sustainable.

“Everybody remembers the flood with 11 feet of water that led to the project,” said Michael Staenberg, president of The Staenberg Group.

His company bought The Commons, then the longest strip mall in the U.S. at 2 miles and 2 million SF, from the Todman brothers.

“The Todman brothers realized that two outlet malls in Chesterfield wouldn’t work, so they had to come up with a new strategy,” added Timothy Lowe, TSG’s vice president of leasing and development. 

“The name came from early conversations about a music venue and entertainment district,” Staenberg said. “We’re keeping it simple and easy to remember.”

The project is proof that “retail is emerging, not dead,” he noted. The site encompasses 400,000 SF and the final built space will be 200,000–250,000 SF.

“We thought we could create something unique to St. Louis. There’s nothing like it anywhere in the country. It will have entertainment for all segments of the area.”

“We never intended to develop The District in one phase,” Lowe said. “It will start with Topgolf followed by Main Event Entertainment, with bowling, rope tag, pool tables, laser tag and more, as “barbells” or anchors.”

The Factory section will be a music venue, at 58,000 SF and a seating capacity of 3,000.

“We asked artists what they want,” Staenberg said. “This will allow artists to have an intimate experience and still attract a good crowd. It will be a multipurpose function without short-changing the music.”

Features include adequate parking, high security, easy access, comfortable seats, and top-notch sound and lighting. Events will be cashless, but ATMs will provide attendees access to cash so artists can sell their own merchandise at concerts.

“We’ve made great strides with the number of bars, restrooms, green rooms, truck access — every nuance we could think of,” he said. “We thought about everything to make the customer experience exceed expectations.” 

According to Brian Carp, COO of The Factory and moderator of the CREW-SL event, “The Factory will be a completely different experience. We’ll be able to use some of the existing buildings, which provides flexibility, and will have 2,100 to 2,500 parking spaces at a 7:1 ratio.”

Carp said the plan is to bring in restaurants that are new to the area rather than duplicate those at Chesapeake Commons.

To date, the exterior has been painted. Phase II involves building “that front door, a place to gather” called the Pavilion, with outdoor seating for surrounding restaurants and a stage.

Phase III will feature a 90,000 SF footprint for “experiences” or outdoor activities such as pickleball, sand volleyball and more.

In response to community input, the District will include a sit-down restaurant that will accommodate 650 for nonprofit organization events.

“We’ve been approached by 20 nonprofits to hold charitable events,” Staenberg said.

Phase III will depend on users and could take three to four years to complete.

The west side of the complex will feature parking.

The space would have already opened if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, and July 2021 is now the hoped-for drop date.

Other challenges included “a number of battles to get zoning in place,” recalled Michael Doster of Doster Ullom & Boyle, land use attorney for TSG.

“One problem was signage: Electronic message boards were prohibited, as well as lights and the height we wanted, but you need signage and it has to be big to be effective.”

“The electronic sign was important so people could drive by and see who’s playing,” Staenberg explained.

Lowe called The District and The Factory a chance to put all entertainment use into one place and create a dynamic area that can attract people from all around the area.

Among the decisions as the project evolved was not to include office space.

Looking ahead

Asked about the future, Staenberg said retail had changed even before the pandemic and that traditional huge malls will be torn down.

“People want experiences and a place to hang out. Malls don’t have entertainment and sociability. People like smaller shops. We’ll have to figure out what to with the rest of them, such as converting to residential use.”  

“We are being very selective and are patient — this is a 10-year project. It isn’t going to be sold and we won’t flip it. The District is just magnificent. We thank our partners — we have the A Team!”

Read previous, related MWM article here from October 2020: Current Chesterfield development on par with 2019

Vision for greatness ahead for St. Louis

St. Louis commercial real estate should be headed for great things in 2021, judging by insights provided in “Greater St. Louis and a Vision for Greatness,” a March 9 Retail Spotlight Shift webinar from the St. Louis CCIM chapter.

Tiffany Wiegers, 2021 president of CCIM STL, kicked off the event by thanking sponsors as critical to providing services and resources for the chapter and announcing that scholarships are available for upcoming courses (details are on the CCIM STL website).

Events hosts were Tony Kennedy of Colliers International and Tom Ray of CBRE.

“This is a timely and important discussion about the future of our region,” said Greater St. Louis, Inc. founder and CEO Jason R. Hall, in describing Greater St. Louis Inc. as a combination of five organizations (AllianceSTL, Arch to Park, Civic Progress, Downtown STL, Inc. and the St. Louis Regional Chamber) aiming to reduce historic fragmentation and create one united voice.

“We have to make a decision that we will be a community on the rise or on the decline. We need the same vision, same tenacity, same energy (as in the sports sector) to grow the region.”

“Greater St. Louis brought together eight key growth initiatives from day 1 (January 1, 2021),” Hall said. “It’s all about jobs — retain, attract and create; elevate our regional reputation; and advance common goals. The urban core is essential.”

Among the positive indicators,  St. Louis has seen $8 million in commercial real estate during the pandemic.

“And that has continued to grow. St. Louis can be a global leader in biotech and agtech,” Hall said.

An important example is the 1,400 new jobs coming with Accenture. Other encouraging signs are redevelopment of the Butler Building, which has been one of downtown’s largest vacant buildings, and Green Street Workforce Housing, a partnership for “one of the largest inclusive housing projects in The Grove.

Such place-making projects have a huge impact on bringing business and residential growth to St. Louis.

“We are coming together as a geospatial center of excellence, with a long-term plan in place,” Hall added.

Hall cited entrepreneurship as another incredible force in being re-energized.

“St. Louis is launching new businesses and is first in the country for women-owned businesses,” he said. “We are aggressively back in business.”

Hall quoted Entrepreneur magazine as recently saying that “St. Louis is on the precipice of leading the United States in 21st-century innovation.”

While the St. Louis area hasn’t had a basic jobs plan for more than a decade, “we are now the only metro area to develop one in terms of the pandemic and the new civil rights movement,” Hall said.

“We have to drive inclusive growth. We have got to focus on inclusive growth and close spatial and racial gaps.”

Greater St. Louis is funded by private sector business as investors, and “the business community has to be much more engaged to make (our vision) a reality,” Hall noted.

“We have to make St. Louis better overall and understand the perception of St. Louis in the country. We started STLMade as a way to shine a light on the positive and tell our own story. We will take the story national. It’s a people-centered, data-driven approach.” 

In line with such efforts, the AllianceSTL partnership aims to “accelerate growth by recruiting new jobs and business investments to the 15-county bistate St. Louis region,” according to Chief Business Attraction Officer and president Steven S. Johnson.

“We have an exclusive external focus on business and economic development,” he said. “Our key audiences are site selectors, real estate developers and companies in our main targeted verticals: manufacturing and production; financial and information services; bioscience and health technology; geospatial; agtech; transportation and logistics; and the aerospace, automotive and defense industries.”

Many of those targets are in local commercial real estate because of their current work in location services, Johnson noted.

The Alliance is using social media and related advertising along with traditional advertising to those primary key audiences, along with individual outreach and relationship-building. Marketing is essential — a lesson that St. Louis is learning from cities like Austin, Texas. “Many of the markets we admire have been marketing business attraction for decades.”

Typical projects for the Alliance include “straight-up business development to attract companies and headquarters to St. Louis,” which represents 80% of its focus. Such companies are generally new to the area or have no St. Louis presence yet. Cooperation is vital: “We work with economic development partners; we can do nothing by ourselves,” Johnson said.  “Our relationships and partnerships are as strong now as ever, and that is good for St. Louis.”

To build on those connections, “we ask businesses exactly what they’re look for.” The answer is usually “talent availability and sourcing, business continuity, and the cost of labor. “We are finding that location is as much about mitigating risk as anything else,” Johnson said.

Agriculture technology is another important business sector for St. Louis, thanks to its central location and accessibility to a huge resource of agricultural producers, according to Thad Simons, founder and managing director of The Yield and The Yield Lab Institute, a “cooperative network of venture funds to advance food and agriculture technology globally,” with companies in Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Singapore, France and Luxembourg.  The lab is the company’s nonprofit arm.

When he came to St. Louis in 2014 for a three-year assignment with Monsanto, “I was curious about the agtech space,” Simons recalled. “I realized the difficulty of getting projects off the ground. Part of the problem was understanding what ‘agtech’ means.”

With agriculture as one of the largest elements of the geospatial sector, the advantage for St. Louis is that it is “right in the center of agricultural production and distribution. The strength we bring is less the money that the connections,” Simons said. “The impact of the agriculture sector on St. Louis is tremendous.”

While many large organizations already have a local presence — the largest associations for farmers are all based in St. Louis, “we mentor smaller companies to come to St. Louis.” There is still a need to “find champions of St. Louis and stay in touch with them,” Simons said. He is encouraged by the expectation that “there will be lots of stories of companies coming here through word of mouth.”

Simons sees St. Louis as a “really hot space” that is “fostering research and technology.” Of the company’s 50 global projects, 12 are in St. Louis. Driving new investment and presence in the area are projects and innovations that go beyond traditional uses of agricultural products, such as a commercially viable indoor farm and “a small-scale project along Delmar to address food deserts” (the absence of grocery stores). “It’s intended to be for-profit, so we will sell products to restaurants, but also donate to the community,” he said.

Now getting started in St. Louis is a NASA Challenge to investigate “how growing food in space can relate to growing food on Earth,” Simons added.

While Simons is optimistic about business growth, he sees a need for expanded investment. “St. Louis is strong and getting stronger in human capital, but still not where we should be in financial capital,” he said. 

The hemp industry offers the prospect of growth as an alternative protein and in oils and nutrition, once regulation and legality are in place.

Looking ahead

For St. Louis business and commercial real estate to succeed, it is crucial “to be thinking five, 10, 20 years ahead to create self-perpetuating environment in geospatial and build up an innovation ecosystem,” said Hall. “That will give St. Louis a durable advantage.”

Asked about the impact of a new mayor on commercial real estate and business, Hall said the upcoming mayoral election is a “generational change; both candidates are speaking about growth  and the need for inclusional growth. It’s an exciting time for St. Louis. Magic happens when we have public and private alignment. There will be exciting opportunities to work together.”

“We seem to have two candidates who will be very hands-on and pro-development. We will work with everybody,” Johnson said.

“Whoever becomes mayor will have to realize that there is an urban-rural divide, and a need for much better understanding between those segments of the region,” Simons said.

A recording of the event is available at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ccim-st-louis-metro-chapter/ or

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2uJM-RnLRetiKTNvYAUVA.

S.M. Wilson breaks ground on Winfield Middle School

Construction has officially begun on Winfield R-IV School District’s $16 million building program in Winfield, Mo.

The project includes a new 50,000-SF middle school, a new Vo-ag building and football locker room addition at the existing high school, and minor renovations at the existing middle school, which is being converted into a primary school building.

S. M. Wilson & Co. is serving as the construction manager at risk (CMAR) for the district projects, which passed in a 2020 no-tax-increase bond issue, while incite Design Studio (iDS) is serving as the project architect.

"We have been working with the school board, superintendent, Daniel Williams, and his team for a few years now and we are very proud of the projects we are delivering for the district. Daniel and his team have been incredible to work with throughout the process, as every effort they have put forth has been absolutely student-focused. The phrase ‘what works best for the students’ is what we heard time and time again,” said Mike Hilmes, office director for the St. Louis iDS office.

Since Missouri adopted the CMAR delivery method in 2016, S. M. Wilson has created a strong portfolio of CMAR K-12 building programs for several districts, including Ladue School District, Hallsville R-IV School District and Francis Howell School District.

The Winfield R-IV School District construction will be complete by the start of the 2022 school year.

“We look forward to seeing these projects being brought to life, knowing that they will be making a huge positive impact on the students’ academic future,” Hilmes said.

Riechmann Bros. and Poettker Construction break ground on John Deere dealership

Riechmann Bros. broke ground on a new John Deere dealership location on February 23rd, alongside Poettker Construction Company, who is serving as the design-build contractor for the 15-acre development in Metro East.

“We pride ourselves on having a team of high-quality technicians and the largest parts inventory for same-day services. This new facility will allow greater accessibility for our customers,” said Bill Riechmann, CEO of Riechmann Bros.

The 34,000-SF facility will be located only a few miles from the original Breese, Ill. location built in 1988, providing ample space to accommodate customers, help accelerate training programs and increase employee retention.

The pre-engineered metal building will feature a canopy to match John Deere’s signature brand colors, showcase brick and stone wainscoting, epoxy floor finish and mezzanines for additional storage. The new facility will feature:

- an inside wash bay, providing a location to wash equipment while escaping the challenges of winter and freezing temperatures;

- a corporate training room to host technician and sales training with John Deere;

- private offices for the management and sales teams, allowing for confidentiality amongst customers; and

- two separate vehicle maintenance areas for agriculture and lawn care equipment.

Multiple energy-efficient elements such as LED lighting and extra insulation to control heating and cooling loses have been incorporated into the design.

“Poettker Construction is excited to work on a project that will contribute to the economic development and investment in the Breese community,” said Keith Poettker, president of Poettker Construction Company.

The anticipated completion date for the new Riechmann Bros. location is late 2021, just in time for their 100th anniversary.

Sybrandy sees attractions driving CRE rebound

Since joining Koch Development Co. in 2012, Mandy Sybrandy has built a specialized team of managers and staff to operate SkyWheel® Attractions.

SkyWheel® started as a stand-alone iconic attraction in May 2011 with SkyWheel Myrtle Beach. Over the years, it has evolved into a full-service entertainment venue with a ropes course, Snack Shack and an 18-hole miniature golf course in its Panama City Beach, Fla. location.

Clayton, Mo-based Koch Development, who retains an ownership interest of SkyWheel, became the first company to bring an observation wheel of its type to the United States, with locations in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Panama City Beach.

“Retailers and landlords see tremendous value in such iconic attractions because they attract customers to the location for entertainment and then capture their visit for traditional retail spending, especially as vacations and travel adapt post-COVID,” Sybrandy said.

According to its website, the SkyWheel® is not a carnival ride, but a modern, safe observation wheel towering almost 200 feet in the air with fully-enclosed gondolas offering a safe and secure flight with glass windows and doors for optimal views and photography. The gondolas are heated and cooled, allowing for year-round operation.

Sybrandy, who was recently promoted to vice president of attractions and installed as an officer of Koch Development, said that there are no current attraction opportunities under review in St. Louis.

“SkyWheel® is capitalizing on the power of bringing an experience to locations such as our location at Pier Park in Panama City Beach, Fla., where SkyWheel® enhances the marketability of traditional commercial real estate,” Sybrandy said.

Sybrandy sees great pent-up demand for travel now.

“Staycations and domestic travel within driving distance are accelerating,” Sybrandy said.

As a result, Sybrandy expects the Myrtle Beach and Panama City Beach locations to rebound this year.

Sybrandy graduated from Saint Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in organizational studies and a minor in hospitality management. She is a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions and of the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials, which focuses on operations.

Now entering its second century in business, Koch Development is a St. Louis-based, third-generation, family-owned company that develops, owns and manages a diverse portfolio of commercial real estate and entertainment attractions.