Chicago YIMBY continues its Sister Cities series with a look at three major projects underway in St. Louis, Missouri. The sprawling Midwestern city has experienced a wave of development in recent years, especially around Busch Stadium and with the addition of Jeanne Gang’s 100 Above The Park.
This round-up highlights three significant projects: a major redevelopment near the Gateway Arch, one of the country’s tallest mass timber towers, and a modern counterpart to Gang’s tower.
Rendering of the Riverline Apartments via Cordish Companies
Millennium Hotel Redevelopment – 200 S 4th Street
Situated in the heart of downtown, directly across from Gateway Arch National Park, the long-vacant Millennium Hotel has stood empty since 2014. Once the rounded towers are demolished, the 4.2-acre site will be transformed into one of the tallest buildings in St. Louis.
Diagram of the Riverline Apartments via Cordish Companies
The redevelopment is spearheaded by the Gateway Arch Park Foundation, which recently selected Baltimore-based Cordish Companies to lead the two-building project. The centerpiece will be a 41-story residential tower, the Riverline Apartments, featuring 585 units, multiple terraces, and a rooftop deck.
Rendering of the Riverline Apartments via Cordish Companies
A shared podium will link the tower to a smaller commercial structure on the site’s northern edge. The $670 million development will span 1.3 million square feet and include retail space, an amphitheater, public art, a food hall, and potential facilities for the Gateway Arch National Park archives.
Rendering of The 314 by Korb Architects
The 314 – 2100 Locust Street
Across from the new soccer stadium, Energizer Park, The 314 is part of a larger $232 million effort to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. This 29-story mass timber tower will stand at roughly half the height of Milwaukee’s planned 1001 N Water Street—the future tallest timber tower in the world.
Rendering of The 314 by Korb Architects
Led by AHM Group and designed by Korb Architects, The 314 will feature 15,000 square feet of commercial space, including a restaurant overlooking the stadium. A 373-space parking garage will serve both residents and visitors, while the tower itself will house 287 apartments and a rooftop deck. Developers aim to break ground later this year.
Rendering of Albion West End by LJC
Albion West End – 4974 Lindell Boulevard
Located across from Forest Park and adjacent to 100 Above The Park, the Albion West End has gone through several design iterations. The project is a collaboration between Albion Residential, Koplar Properties, and Clayco, with architecture by Lamar Johnson Collaborative.
Rendering of Albion West End by LJC
The 30-story tower will feature rounded corners and a chevron-patterned facade. On the ground level, 1,500 square feet of retail space will sit beside the entrance to a 308-car parking garage located in the rear podium. Above it, 305 apartments will rise, topped by an amenity deck. The $145 million development is expected to break ground this summer.
These three projects represent just a fraction of the current momentum in St. Louis, with a broader downtown revitalization leading the charge. All of the towers will include affordable housing components, with most funding already approved.
We’ll continue to provide updates as construction progresses. Let us know which other cities you’d like us to cover next.
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This is what West Loop needs, stop with the cookie cutter podium boxes! Would it kill architects to use something other than right angles once in a while? This is a great looking set of buildings, can’t believe I’m saying this but I am jealous of St. Louis for once!
Just took the Amtrak from Chicago to St Louis last weekend and had a blast. That city (where it hasn’t been “urban-renewaled”) has a huge volume of great historic architecture. Great to see some contemporary infill, just hopefully not at the expense of the history. That said, the Millennium Hotel complex is hideous and glad to see it’s being replaced.
I grew up in St Louis and my family still lives there so I visit often. The flowery language used to describe the state of affairs in a bit much…
Quite excited to see this as a current St Louis resident planning to move to Chicago!
There are so many great things about St. Louis but a vibrant, healthy, “urban” downtown is not one of them… It’s kind of missed the boat as urban cores of other once-thriving cities have been revitalized over the past 20 years. The city just has so much land area, and the neat little urban pockets (Central West End, Soulard, Tower Grove, Fox Theater/Grand Center area, The Loop, etc.) are all separated from one another by long stretches of blight, industry, highway, or some other barrier.
Even the amazing Forest Park doesn’t feel connected into the urban fabric of the city, but rather and island you drive to (partly due to its location over miles west of downtown and the riverfront).
The stadium area and revitalization of the Arch area have been a huge boon but there aren’t really any big downtown employers anymore and no colleges downtown. So when fans/tourists aren’t around it’s a wasteland. And Crime/Safety has been a big issue downtown there…moreso then Chicago where a lot of those (very real) issues are occurring in various underprivileged neighborhoods.
I wish the city well but there’s a lot of work to be done!
With the hostility of state politics, many demographics don’t feel safe in St. Louis either, and I don’t blame them. The ability to attract such populations is crucial to city success. As a newsflash, the five-kid family soccer mom type going to church every Sunday is incompatible in most urban environments, and Missouri overfocuses on that lifestyle.
Cities will continue to be refuges in polarizing environments, but Missouri’s antagonism is shooting its capital in the foot.
F’ed up capitals, 2nd grade used to know all the them… Was thinking Indiana with biggest city + capital. Unsurprisingly, Indianapolis is even worse.
Missouri’s LGBTQ Policy Tally: -1.5/49
Indiana: -2.75/49
I thought you meant “capital” like an asset or investment and that actually works in terms of where Missouri’s potential growth lies.
However, if you look at Kansas City, it’s in the same state but seems to be doing a lot better from a growth/vibrancy perspective. So while I agree with your points, it’s not quite that simple.
And downtown Indianapolis is like an urbanist’s utopia compared to downtown St. Louis.
Indiana’s downtown has a really nice grid, and if they ever pedestrianize monument circle, that could be a wonderful urban space. St Louis has really nice neighborhoods, but unfortunately the downtown has just been lagging behind. I myself am a St. Louis (county) resident, and last year, after attending the 4th of July fireworks at the Arch, there were people in parking garages shooting fireworks into the streets at the crowds of people leaving the event, really felt like a war zone. I give my best wishes to St. Louis, and really hope for it to improve, but the amount of urban renewal separating the downtown from the neighborhoods really poses a major challenge to creating the vibrancy that you would want in the downtown. In the meantime, I am planning on making my way to Chicago, which while it of course isn’t perfect, it is so many steps ahead of St Louis.
In Kansas City, it seems that the streetcar has really brought a lot of life into the downtown of the city. They also have some mends to the urban renewal planned, with the south highway loop being due to be capped soon, and the north loop potentially being removed or at a minimum having the footprint shrunken. St. Louis has the green line, a north-south streetcar planned that will better connect a lot of the vibrant neighborhoods and north St. Louis neighborhoods to the downtown west area, which is has recently been seeing some growth catalyzed by the construction of the quite nice new urban soccer stadium, which took the place of a former highway exit and parking lots. But it doesn’t really do that much for the main downtown area.
Seems that another city can have buildings rising in spite of tight money , but our Chicago can not .
None of these projects are currently active construction sites…
Quit it with the idiocracy. This week alone, there have been five major construction and development updates for TOWERS for Chicago. Towers, let’s repeat that. Towers. Two are actively under construction, and one is building its sales office for the approved development. One was fully approved, and the last was just recently proposed.
All three developments are ‘good vibes’ unless shovels are in the ground. Funding approval only made the Spire a hole. So, how about we stop with the juvenile trolling?
Did I miss something? Has this project been approved by the city, with financing ready to break ground?
Sounds good. Repeat, “it sounds good”…