The following report comes from Alex Inhen, nextSTL who has the best scoops on development in the Central West End. I am reprinting part of his excellent report below. There is a link to the entire piece at the end of this post. With gratitude to Alex for allowing me to share this with readers of this blog.
"The next phase of Central West End Development starts now. A proposal by Covington Realty Partners of Clayton envisions razing the existing Optimist International headquarters building at the corner of Taylor Avenue and Lindell Boulevard in the city’s Central West End. A $50M, 14-story, 200-unit apartment building would rise in its place.
Resident parking would be built on several levels and be hidden from the street. The available rendering shows parking access from the existing rear alley. The developer envisions a more contemporary design than recent proposals offering faux historic finishes, or brick facades to mirror the area’s most common building material.
Located along the proposed Lindell streetcar line, the development could add 300 people to a two-block area already set to welcome up to a thousand new residents in the next 18 months. The site of more than a billion dollars in development in addition to the billion dollars of expansion planned by the nearby medical center, the city’s central corridor appears to be starting a new phase of development. To date, infill projects have been focused on vacant lots or underutilized buildings.
The Park East Tower was built on a parking lot. Two apartment buildings with awkward retail space made way for the new BJC headquarters. The Doctor’s Building was demolished, and combined with a large adjacent parking lot to make way for the mixed-use building that will be home to a Whole Foods. Further east, a gas station has made way for apartments. The 4643 Opus project will replace a two-story vacant office building."
Read the article in its entirety on the nextSTL website here.