St. Louis Albion West End

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Chris Stritzel
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St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

This new proposal, named "Albion West End" has been long waited for some time. Really, Sam Koplar first mentioned his desire to do something on this corner way back in like 2001 or 2002. It picked up steam in 2013 when rumors swirled about Koplar partnering with Koman Group and Kohn Pedersen Fox to do something big here, but that eventually fizzled out. It really wasn't until late last summer that things started to move here with soil/geotechnical tests taking place and the parking lot being closed. Group that with the fact that the neighboring One Hundred is nearing 80% leased and you could start to connect the dots that something was coming and coming fast. In December, Koplar submitted a Zoning-Only application to the City of St. Louis, but that has yet to be approved.

That brings us to today's announcement of "Albion West End", a $135 Million, 30-story, 350ft (my estimate) tall tower with 293 luxury apartments, 340 parking spaces (some assumed to be public), two retail spaces, and a 10,000sf lobby. While some on UrbanSTL and my Facebook Group are debating it for "not being tall enough" or "not having a very good design", this is something huge for the neighborhood and for the Koplar Properties family.

Koplar hasn't done too much in recent years. They've done three projects over the past 18 years (Maryland Plaza - 2004, York House - 2012, AC Hotel - 2021). This site was always meant to be the 4th and final "phase" of the Koplar development resurgence in the Central West End. The goals, which are clear now, were to reestablish Koplar Properties as a force in the Central West End development scene by...
- Bringing life back to the formerly vacant Maryland Plaza as a dining, shopping, and workplace environment.
- Introduce new, upscale apartments to support a Euclid/Maryland resurgence and feed continued desirability/demand of the neighborhood (York House & Albion West End).
- Bring hospitality back into the Koplar portfolio (AC Hotel).
- Establish a new legacy icon just south of where the 1st generation Koplar, Sam, built the Park Plaza Hotel (Albion West End).

But the impact the Koplar family has left on St. Louis, and the Lake of the Ozarks is a big one. Previous business ventures include...
- Build bungalow homes throughout the city in the 1920s.
- Build the Powell Symphony Hall (formerly St. Louis Theatre) in Midtown
- Develop the Congress Hotel, Embassy Apartments, and Branscome Apartments north of Forest Park.
- Develop the Forest Park Hotel on Euclid at West Pine.
- Develop the Park Plaza Hotel and then buy the neighboring Chase Hotel to create the Chase-Park Plaza.
- Develop the Lodge of the Four Seasons at the Lake of the Ozarks.
- Build the first satellite uplink television station in the United States (KPLR-TV).
- Create a highly successful children's TV show in the 1980s (Voltron: Defender of the Universe).

Everything mentioned above was sold throughout the later parts of the 1900s. KPLR-TV sold for $150 Million in 1997. So, when you throw that huge chunk of change into the mix of the sales for the other business ventures in their previous portfolio, you get a company with both the money and ambition to see projects of this scale through. And by partnering with someone like Albion Residential, the responsibility no longer falls on just one family/group, it falls on two and could see future investments by Koplar Properties emerge in the future.

For now though, the Albion is a big step for Koplar Properties and truly does reestablish the family-owned company as a force in Central West End development. It's something to celebrate.
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Last edited by Chris Stritzel on Wed Feb 23, 2022 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by brewcrew1000 »

There sure is a lot of legacy high dollar families in the St Louis metro that actually want to invest in the city and still doing so to this day. Just the top of my head you have the Busch Family, Taylor's, Rex Sinquefield, Koplers, the ones in KC all seem to be dying out or already left their mark and have been kind of quiet over the last decade.
We should all be rooting for Mahomes because it seems like he wants to invest more in this city then the Hunt Family
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Cratedigger »

brewcrew1000 wrote: Wed Feb 23, 2022 5:05 pm There sure is a lot of legacy high dollar families in the St Louis metro that actually want to invest in the city and still doing so to this day. Just the top of my head you have the Busch Family, Taylor's, Rex Sinquefield, Koplers, the ones in KC all seem to be dying out or already left their mark and have been kind of quiet over the last decade.
We should all be rooting for Mahomes because it seems like he wants to invest more in this city then the Hunt Family
Hunts have always been a Dallas family anyway. They have a vested financial intrest on the industrial side but I wouldn't bet on Clark ever being a Stanley Durwood level downtown champion.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

normalthings wrote: Tue Mar 22, 2022 6:56 pm more renderings

https://www.4974lindell.com/#community
A community meeting was held tonight. No real NIMBYs there tonight, just people offering feedback (which Andrew Yule of Albion encouraged).
- 154 bike parking spaces
- 30-story tower that's just slightly shorter than the roofline of 100 Above the Park
- Stormwater detention garden will be included on the back of the building
- Project should be green building certified
- Bird-friendly glass
- Bike and car share program (to allow residents to leave their cars behind)
- 400% property tax increase over the current amount
- Creation of 450 union construction jobs across the duration of construction (26 months)
- $37 Million in minority-owned and woman-owned contract work
- Vocational training partnerships will be provided
- Local business partnerships to drive revenue for local dining and retail options
- A tax abatement will be sought.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by alejandro46 »

10 EV chargers too which is great. We need more buildings with quicker 32 amp chargers and/or garages pre-wired for 110 sockets in most spots to trickle charge. Way cheaper and easier to get it done before than to wire it up after.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by alejandro46 »

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Last edited by alejandro46 on Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

alejandro46 wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 7:05 pm 10 EV chargers too which is great. We need more buildings with quicker 32 amp chargers and/or garages pre-wired for 110 sockets in most spots to trickle charge. Way cheaper and easier to get it done before than to wire it up after.
More EV chargers will be added too according to Andrew Yule of Albion. 4 of those will currently be accessible to the public. I agree that they should have more potential hookup spots for trickle charge, but a few fast charging stations would be good too.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by FangKC »

Developers need to begin planning to add chargers to garages from now on. Office and residential tenants will begin to demand them and it will be cheaper to plan now for them than to retrofit them later.

Ford, GM, Mercedes-Benz, and others, along with 30 nations, signed a pledge to eliminate sales of new gas and diesel-powered cars by 2035 in leading markets, and globally by 2040. That means you won't be able to buy a new gas vehicle in the USA from most major brands after August 2034. There are already companies working on gas-to-electric conversion kits for those who want to continue using vehicles they presently own (mostly the classic car market).
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

Update: the project is chugging along nicely where a fall groundbreaking is entirely possible.

Previously, the project needed a total of 13 variances (8 major and 5 non-major). Now it’ll need 10 (5 each). The issues that have been addressed are the setbacks. Due to the Form Based Code rules and Central West End Historic District rules, the setback on Lindell needs to match the St. Regis condo building. The rear setback was also too close to the St. Regis and too far back from Kingshighway. Although a special exception on the Kingshighway side is likely to have been granted. Renderings and site plan showing these changes are expected to be posted soon. For the record, here are the other major variance requests…
- Parking garage is too short (currently planned to be 5 floors. Code calls for 6).
- Curved facades aren’t allowed in the city.
- Glass curtain wall is not an allowed facade type in the CWE Historic District or Form Based Code.
- Metal accents are not an allowed facade type in the CWE Historic District or Form Based Code.
- The terraces on the building are located too close to the Lindell and Kingshighway intersection.

The tax abatement request has been dropped this leading to Tina Pihl (17th Ward Alderwoman) to support the project. She was previously only in support of a sales tax exemption for construction materials and I expect that incentive will still be sought. But a tax abatement is not going to be sought anymore. This will be a huge thing for the Central West End as means that basically any project proposed there in the future that seeks a tax abatement will be laughed out of the LCRA and Mayor’s offices for obvious reasons.

Lastly, the St. Regis Condo Co-op board endorsed the project since the setback issues were addressed and assurances on access to their parking lot during construction were made.

All of these were major hurdles that have been addressed. Only real major steps are to get it approved by the Cultural Resources Office (likely to do so despite it breaking with historic district rules on facade) and the Board of Adjustment/Zoning Office. Final approvals are expected to be issued by mid-July.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by daGOAT »

Chris Stritzel wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 3:33 am - Curved facades aren’t allowed in the city.
*looks at Shell building suspiciously*
somethings not right here
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

daGOAT wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:11 pm
Chris Stritzel wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 3:33 am - Curved facades aren’t allowed in the city.
*looks at Shell building suspiciously*
somethings not right here
That’s the strange thing but the building and zoning codes were changed decades after the Shell Building was completed leading to that odd rule.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by daGOAT »

Chris Stritzel wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:21 pm
daGOAT wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:11 pm
Chris Stritzel wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 3:33 am - Curved facades aren’t allowed in the city.
*looks at Shell building suspiciously*
somethings not right here
That’s the strange thing but the building and zoning codes were changed decades after the Shell Building was completed leading to that odd rule.
Was there a specific reasoning and did it happen before or after the Millennium Hotel?
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

daGOAT wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:38 pm
Chris Stritzel wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:21 pm
daGOAT wrote: Sat May 07, 2022 1:11 pm

*looks at Shell building suspiciously*
somethings not right here
That’s the strange thing but the building and zoning codes were changed decades after the Shell Building was completed leading to that odd rule.
Was there a specific reasoning and did it happen before or after the Millennium Hotel?
I believe after the Millennium Hotel. That was built in the 60s and I recall hearing Mary Hart Burton, the Zoning Administrator, saying that the codes were last updated in the 70s. Not sure if there’s a specific reason.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Karambit25 »

That's a fine looking building.

The very top looks a bit funky.
Would love to see something like this in the 1200 block of Broadway to extend the skyline west.
https://goo.gl/maps/r3iZZjdfdah2hCVU6
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

The project's variances were approved at the City's board of adjustment meeting day. That's despite the attempt by the Alderwoman to insert an unknown "good neighborhood agreement" which caught the developers off guard. When she was asked to present that as evidence, she couldn't find it. With the project not seeking incentives, the next step is bidding and applying for building permits.
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

Due to rising interest rates and material costs, the development team had to break away from their plan to do this project without a tax incentive and instead seek one. The SLDC-LCRA approved a 10 year, 75% tax abatement in December. A stipulation with that abatement is that $1.3 Million would be put into a special fund that would subsidize rent for City and school district employees.

The Planning commission approved the blighting study on a 7-1-1 vote this evening. 28th Ward Alderman Mike Gras, who doesn't represent the Ward the project is in, is introducing the Board Bill this Friday to the Board of Aldermen. This isn't the first time an Alderman outside of the 17th Ward, currently represented by Tina Phil, had to step in to push a project forward. Recently, 19th Ward Alderwoman Marlene Davis had to introduce a Board Bill to push an edit to the TIF for the Armory District ahead. Mike Gras is running for reelection against Tina Pihl for the new 9th Ward (Ward reduction from 28 to 14).

Tina Pihl has been a problem since she took office in 2021. She rarely responds to constituents requests, added another "review board" for new projects in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood portion of her Ward, reopened incentive negotiations, has very public meltdowns at city meetings that are reviewing projects in her ward if she doesn't support the project, and has slowed down new development proposals because of her actions.

The Alderwoman isn't the nicest to work with either. I've met with her before and she had an attitude that did not make you feel welcome. I know the developer on this project and he says Tina treated him and his family as if they were criminals. She berated him at every moment she got and trashed hum and the Koplar family behind his back. Apparently, she was oblivious to the fact that the Koplar's have owned property in the neighborhood for 100 years now.

Seeing the Albion West End project advance despite the opposition from Tina, and minimal opposition from others, is a relief because that means the project could actually happen.

If the Board of Aldermen approves the blighting study and the tax abatement request, and Mayor Tishaura Jones signs the bill, the goal is for the $145 Million (+10% cost since February 2022) project to begin construction in Q4 of this year.

Below are some more diagrams of the project and images from documents uploaded throughout the year. Note that some of the elevations show the building shifted south to be closer to the alley and 100 North Kingshighway. Those are the accurate elevations and site plan. I also included the facade material precedents. This will be a very high quality building.
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Chris Stritzel
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Re: St. Louis Albion West End

Post by Chris Stritzel »

After a lengthy debate, the tax abatement bill passed the Board of Aldermen 18-8 with 1 member absent and 1 vacancy. Tishaura Jones is likely to sign off on the abatement.

I'm happy this one is advancing.
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