Car Dealer, Parking Lot to Anchor TOD Development at Sunnen Metro Station

Since it opened in 1993, MetroLink has been lauded for it's ability to connect so many of the St. Louis area's great activity generators and centers of employment. As the years have worn on, MetroLink has also been the subject of criticism for its inability to generate almost any new transit oriented development near any of its stations. So while news of new development adjacent to the Sunnen MetroLink station is exciting, the details of the proposed project are very disappointing.

According to the Post-Dispatch, the City of Maplewood has cleared the way for a Mini Cooper dealership and commuter parking lot to be built adjacent to the Sunnen MetroLink station. Moving from its location in Clayton, Autohaus Mini of St. Louis will build a two-story 22,400 sq-ft building and 420 parking spaces on 5 acres of the site. Another acre will be for an 80-space parking lot for MetroLink commuters. A rainwater detention pond will occupy the rest of the site.