McKelvey Homes Plans Subdivision on Surplus Resurrection Cemetery Property
Date Posted: January 23, 2020
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Local homebuilder McKelvey Homes is proposing a 190-house subdivision on an unused portion of Resurrection Cemetery — an oasis of woods near the region’s urban center.
But in a nod to preservationists and neighbors concerned about the plan, McKelvey Homes President Jim Brennan said his company’s proposal for the 70 acre site would keep 20 of those acres common ground via a a trail network, two lakes and preserved old growth trees.
On top of that, Brennan said McKelvey has been in discussions with the site’s owner, Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, as well as the Missouri Department of Conservation, on a plan to preserve and maintain another 23 acres of the wooded area to the west of the planned subdivision.
“Our plan is to make efforts to preserve the natural beauty of the site while creating the best residential community in Affton,” Brennan said.
The Archdiocese was approached by several homebuilders interested in the site near Watson and MacKenzie roads, McKelvey homes said. No grave sites would be disturbed in the cemetery’s 200-plus acres. The $80 million development, branded as “The Preserve,” would also include Payne Family Homes as a builder on some of the lots.
The unused wooded portion of the cemetery is just north of Tower Tee, the beloved south county golf and batting cage complex that homebuilder McBride Homes had under contract as part of its own subdivision proposal two years ago. Following months of opposition from neighbors, McBride backed out of the proposal when a new buyer stepped forward to purchase and reopen Tower Tee.