Plans for a roughly $232 million Downtown West mixed-use development moved forward Tuesday after the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority Board voted to approve the remaining $171 million in bonds for the project and a construction sales tax exemption.
The development by AHM Group aims to transform 12 acres of existing buildings and vacant land on both Locust Street and Washington Avenue just north of CityPark into more than 450 apartment units and tens of thousands of square feet of offices and retail.
“There’s a lot of opportunity in Downtown West,” said Kyle Howerton, a managing principal and partner with AHM Group. “There’s not a lot of other places that you can find an entire city block that’s vacant ground that we can redevelop.”
The project is divided between the redevelopment of two existing buildings and the new construction of three from the ground up, including a 29-story mass timber high-rise, he said.
Tuesday’s votes by the LCRA Board approved three different taxable industrial revenue bond issues and real property tax abatements for each parcel, including the lot set aside for the high-rise. The board had already approved more than $60 million in bonds for two other portions of the project last year.
“All five phases together form a perfect scenario that is all market types,” said Zachary Wilson, vice president of economic development incentives for the St. Louis Development Corporation. “A mix of commercial and office space and residential, so it fits nicely into that neighborhood.”
The board’s move puts the development group in a position to secure more investors as it looks to break ground next year, said Brian Pratt, a managing principal and partner with AHM Group.
“As the (commercial real estate) markets are hopefully thawing on the financing side, we’re positioning ourselves to be ready to move forward with the projects heading into 2025,” he said.
The Downtown West location offers close proximity to a number of anchors including St. Louis University, the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency headquarters, CityPark and Union Station, said Howerton.
“We’re surrounded by demand drivers,” he said. “Our focus is curating the neighborhood, creating a place that people actually want to live, work and hang out in.”
Howerton added the whole project isn’t only about new high-end market-rate housing or office space. He said it also includes at least 100 apartment units earmarked for people making up to 60% and up to 80% of the area’s median income.
“We’re really focused on being able to create a neighborhood that serves everyone, and that’s really driven through diversity of incomes and affordability,” he said.
This development joins others in the immediate area, like the Victor in the Butler Brothers building, which recently opened. To Howerton, it’s an opportunity to develop a healthy and vibrant market that is just underbuilt.
“What we see here is a really strong, diversified regional economy and a market that has bad headlines,” Howerton said. “But the truth does not match up with the headlines.”
