Spitzberg-Lassen Holdings of St. Louis and Tailwind Group of Mankato, MN have teamed up to propose a new 12-story, 158-foot tall mixed-use building with student oriented housing at 3800 Laclede Ave in the Midtown neighborhood. Saint Louis University currently owns the land, which is under contract. St. Louis-based Design Alliance is the architect.
Spitzberg-Lassen has done developments around St. Louis for a over a decade. A recent redevelopment is The Square on Delmar apartments near I-170 in University City. This will be their biggest development yet. Tailwind has built and operated many student-oriented developments in 19 states, including two in Columbia by the University of Missouri.
“St. Louis University has seen a dramatic increase in graduate program enrollment over the last 18 months,” owner Sean Lassen describing the opportunity in the area, “We believe the project will help serve that need. It will provide a car-free option for those students who do not own cars or who do not want to transport their cars and belongings from home – in or outside the US.”
The area is hot with City Foundry, Armory STL, the Element Hotel, and the Steelcote developments, including the Edwin with the Target under construction as well as City Foundry Phase II and The Marshall, and the Famous-Barr warehouse redevelopment in the pipeline..
The building has a C shape with the opening facing north. At 12 stories it won’t be the 5-over-1 wood frame on top of a concrete parking podium we’ve seen a lot of lately, rather it will be a steel structure in order to reach those heights. It would have 314 apartments meant to meet the needs of graduate students. The unit mix is 34 one-bedroom, 216 two-bedroom, and 64 three-bedroom for a total of 658 bedrooms. Apartments would be furnished. Amenities include a fitness center, study spaces, a deck with a shallow pool, indoor and outdoor lounges, and a community room.
Retail space of about 3,000 square feet and the lobby face Laclede. There are two levels of structured parking totaling 178 spaces accessed from both the alley and Laclede. That’s a parking ratio of 0.57 per dwelling unit and 0.27 per bedroom. The city mandates one parking space per dwelling unit, so they will need to apply for a variance from the Board of Adjustment. #parkingsmartstl
The St. Louis Planning Commission meeting materials show that some of the parcels (3800, 3802-4, 3808 Laclede) that will be combined (with 3818) are currently zoned J. Industrial, so they are petitioning the Planning Commission to change the zoning to H. Area Commercial. The Planning Commission meeting is Wednesday June 14th and 5:30pn.
They are not seeking any tax incentives. Though the site lies within the St. Louis Midtown Redevelopment Corporation area, so the Chapter 353 corporation has the power to grant property tax abatement on its own, again the developer won’t be seeking any. Unlike the gas station proposed at Grand and Lafayette, this proposal meets the goals set forth in the Midtown Redevelopment Plan to create a more vibrant and attractive urban environment via increased density and ground-level retail. The meeting materials includes support letters from SLU, the Midtown Development Corp, Midas (owner of the Element Hotel), the Humphry’s owner, and 11th Ward Ald Keys.
No estimated project cost was given. I wager it will be north of $80M, assuming at least $250k per unit.
They hope to break ground in early 2024 and to be finished in the summer of 2026.
The parcels are currently vacant, though 3818 Laclede was once Laclede Street Bar and Grill, later The Shack Pubgrub. The building was demolished by SLU in 2019.
And a two-story building at 3802-4 Laclede was demolished in 2019 also by SLU.
