Why Can’t Developers Remake the Crestwood Mall Site?
Date Posted: June 25, 2020
Posted In: Ideas, Projects,
From St. Louis Business Journal: Vern Remiger has walked every inch of the 47 acres at the site that once encompassed Crestwood Mall.
He and his architecture firm, along with design partner Chris Cedergreen, were part of the latest team to try their hands at transforming the mountainous eyesore at Watson and Sappington roads in south St. Louis County before developer Walpert Properties walked away this week, citing Covid-19’s impact.
Crestwood Mall was an old stomping ground for many in the area before it closed in 2013 and was subsequently demolished in 2016. And it’s that ground that’s been so challenging for the handful of developers who’ve tried to remake it for nearly a decade.
“This isn’t a raw piece of farmland that’s a level site. It’s a challenging site that still has a lot of rubble,” Remiger said. “The site developments costs are high going in.”
Case in point is the 80- to 100-foot drop that stretches east on the property and “is quite a bit lower” than Watson Road along the south property line, said Mike Perry, president of HBD Construction and the firm Walpert Properties tapped as general contractor.
Bob Burk knows all about that drop. He’s managing partner of Chicago-based UrbanStreet Group, which owns the property and tried itself to redevelop before entering talks in 2018 with Walpert Properties to buy it from them. Walpert Properties did not respond to a request for comment.