(Dozes of meetings led to this final verdict that I wrote for West Newsmagazine more than a week ago.)
Three bills paving the way for the 96-acre Olia Village mixed-use project, to be located on the former Bayer Campus in Creve Coeur, were passed by the City Council on April 8, despite pushback from residents.
The first bill uses Missouri Chapter 353 to designate the area as blighted for tax abatement purposes. The second creates a Community Improvement District (CID) designation for the development site, and the third bill allows the city to issue Taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds in an amount not to exceed $135 million to aid in the construction of the project.
During the April 8 meeting, City Administrator Mark Perkins addressed prior concerns made by residents – a major worry brought forward had been the use of incentives to offset development costs. While the city has provided very few incentives over the last 25 years, he said Olia Village is a particularly unique development opportunity for the city – one that fits with Creve Coeur’s comprehensive plan.
Perkins said Olia Village compares favorably to other major developments in the St. Louis region, comparing it to the Streets of St. Charles, Chesterfield downtown TIF and the Brentwood/Manchester corridor project.
Those projects offer 9-14% of incentives per the total investment, Perkins said, while the St. Louis average is about 17%. He stated that Olia Village’s incentive rate is just 6.7% and added that they couldn’t locate any projects of this size in St. Louis that have not had some form of incentive.
The developer of Olia Village is seeking a reimbursement value of $61.8 million in discounted incentives and also requested a tax abatement for real property tax revenues of $86 million. The total cost of the project is $984 million.
Regarding the possibility of taxing districts losing money, Perkins said that answer is “no” because there are 130 townhomes within this development that are not being provided any tax abatement. The abatements apply to the rest of the development, which are apartments, retail, hotels and offices.
The other major question raised by residents regarding Olia Village was the “blighted” designation. Fears expressed included that the designation could devalue property value near the site.
Perkins said a large vacant or underutilized property, whether it is called blighted or not, is not beneficial to the city or its surrounding neighborhoods.
“The key is to have a plan to address the blight, to address the conditions, and that’s what this is about,” Perkins said. “It’s about a major investment that will certainly be an overall asset to the entire community, certainly to those that are in close proximity.”
However, as was the case in previous meetings, residents shared concerns on the project.
Mara Diaz-Granados felt the city was giving away too many incentives and was still concerned about the potential loss of revenue for the Ladue School District. She has a school-aged son and was concerned potential lost revenues could equal the loss of several teachers, assistants, computers and other equipment.
Resident Linda Rezny thought the tax abatement was excessive, but proposed a middle ground.
“We keep bringing up the premise of either all or nothing is going to happen, which is ridiculous,” Rezny said. “I would suggest a compromise here. If we’d cut out the Chapter 353, they’d still have the sales tax and the Chapter 100.”
Resident Elizabeth Link said the property is a prime location that will be developed with or without the benefits.
“It seems like you’re just adding whipped cream with a cherry on top at the expense of current citizens of Creve Coeur and the school district,” Link said.
Following citizen comments, Matt Pfund of Jack Matthews Development addressed the “blighted” label for the property and noted the challenges and issues with the site. Pfund said the planning process with the city was collaborative, and “included much give, take and compromise.”
“The end result is a development with results that far outreach the boundaries of this site alone,” Pfund said. “The development creates many new jobs and provides many new public amenities and builds synergies that benefit the future of 39 North, offers new housing options, an innovative and accessible Main Street destination, slows stormwater flows through and exiting this property, maintains 30 acres of green space, and achieves every component of the Creve Coeur 2023-2025 strategic plan development.”
Prior to the vote on the bills, Ward 1 council members Mark Manlin and Heather Silverman explained why they planned to vote “yes” on the project, which is based in their Ward.
Manlin recalled his evaluation of Olia Village throughout the process. He said he considered priorities for the city, and the citizens’ concerns.
“For me, the analysis boiled down to a handful of key, critical considerations and questions,” Manlin said. “First, do the merits of this development from a social impact perspective warrant the potential cost of granting incentives? In more basic terms, can this campus provide the community with a meaningful place to gather with friends, family and in the community as a whole? Is this a project that the community needs and desires? I believe the answers are yes.
“Second, does this development provide a significant amount of long-term, enhanced revenues, employment, and other financial benefits as the result of its development and in light of the incentives? My answer is yes. Finally, are the requested incentives proportionate to the scale of the project? My determination was that it does warrant the incentives.”
Silverman followed with her assessment; she said when she was knocking on doors in Ward 1 during her run for office, she overwhelmingly heard that residents care about the redevelopment of the East Olive corridor.
“Stagnation, which is what we have at best right now, leads to this,” Silverman said. “We are probably already in decline. With what we’ve negotiated, I don’t believe the students in Ladue schools would suffer or leave the district. It will end up with more income than what it currently has per student. That’s something I care about because I have three children in the school district.”
The bill to designate the area as blighted passed 6-1, with Council member Dan Tierney (Ward 4) opposed. The bill approving the CID was approved 7-0, and the bill allowing the city to issue Taxable Industrial Revenue Bonds passed 7-0.
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