Another sore thumb property in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood is showing signs coming unstuck. 4101 Manchester at Sarah near the eastern end of the Grove commercial strip owned by Spencer Development LLC is listed for $2.2M by CBRE.
The land was a surface parking lot owned by the city’s land bank, the LRA, until the city ran a development request for proposals in 2016. Spencer Development was selected. The Board of Aldermen and Mayor Slay passed 10 years of property tax abatement in early 2017. They acquired the land for $175k in 2017 and did piering for their proposal in 2019. Then nothing happened for years, leaving neighbors and visitors alike wondering while other buildings were built in the surrounding area. The terms said the project had to be complete within two years. The LRA could have clawed back the property, but it would have had to pay for the piering work Spencer had done. Spencer has not paid property taxes for years 2021-23.
At 19,254 square feet, the list price is $114/sf. Maybe they saw that WashU paid $153/sf for another prominent vacant lot, the southeast corner of Delmar and Skinker. The St. Louis Assessor has appraised the lot at $288,400 since 2019. The property is zoned G. Local Commercial and Office. THE FPSE Form-Based Code overlay puts the property in the Neighborhood Center Type 1 category. This sets the minimum height at 3 stories and the maximum height at 12 stories and 150 feet since it si on Manchester within 150 feet of Sarah. What might be viable here considering the acquisition cost and high interest rates?
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