There will be 33 luxurious balconied condominiums with access to underground parking, a fitness center, clubhouse and roof-top pool all planned for residents. In addition, the ground floor has been set aside for retail space that is suitable for rest

Fleurs-de-Lis at Benton Park
3109 S Jefferson
St. Louis, MO 63118

Millenium Restoration and Development Corporation is planning a mixed-use complex of 5 floors at the corner of Jefferson and Arsenal, 4 floors in the rest of the complex. The three-building development connected with glass-enclosed walkways will include 34 units on top of about 19,000 square feet of retail space. The condominiums will be a mix of 1 and 2 bedroom units, some of 2 floors.
Underground parking for the tenants and rear surface parking off Arsenal for commercial clients will be provided.

The project, across the street from Benton Park, should be a catalyst for rebuilding Jefferson and provide much needed new residents to help build a local commercial market. It will effectively tie the success of Benton Park with the up-and-coming development in Benton Park West, becoming a key anchor to both neighborhoods.

The project was first proposed in 2003, but has changed form several times. Now, TIF is proposed as part of the financing package. The site includes a former Hardee's restaurant, donated by Hardee's Corporation after its tenant, a Chinese restaurant, was closed after a robbery in which the owner was killed; as well as the former gas station known in more recent years as Sunny's store. Both buildings have been demolished, as well as two houses facing Arsenal owned by LRA.

A small building formerly occupied by the dental clinic of the late Dr. Joseph Erondu at the NW corner of Jefferson and Arsenal will be included in the development as well.

Developer Millenium Restoration & Development Corporation
Owner LRA
Square Footage 19,000
Project Cost $ 15,000,000
Funding Source(s) TIF, Hardee's property donation, brownfields tax credits
Status Pre-Development
 

There will be 33 luxurious balconied condos with access to underground parking, a fitness center, clubhouse and roof-top pool all planned for residents. In addition, the ground floor has been retained as retail space suitable for restaurants, a dry cleaners, coffee shop and even a gourmet grocery store.

Typical of a Millennium project, these condominiums will feature such desirable amenities as ten- to 12-foot ceilings, custom-milled crown molding, hardwood floors, ceramic tile floors, wood windows, distinctive custom stained glass windows, spacious kitchens with granite countertops, stainless appliances, and plenty of storage space throughout not to mention the off-street, underground parking.

Imagine it! Stroll around the pond or practice your serve in historic Benton Park, just steps away. Dine with friends in the on-site restaurants. Meander through the Plaza, do some window shopping, pick up your dry cleaning. Enjoy a petite touch of France right in your own back yard!

The Fleurs-de-Lis will be located at the southwest corner of South Jefferson and Arsenal Streets, directly across from the park and only minutes away from Downtown, Soulard, Cherokee Street's Antique Row, South Grand, Union Station and just down the street from the Anheuser-Busch brewery. There are numerous restaurants and shops in the area as well as plenty of public and private schools. Interstates 64, 44, 55 and 70 are all easily accessed from this location.

 

Millennium snaps up parcels for Benton Park condo project
St. Louis Business Journal - December 30, 2005by Lisa R. Brown

A residential development in the Benton Park West neighborhood is moving forward.

Millennium Restoration & Development Corp. of St. Louis closed Dec. 22 on five of the six parcels it is purchasing from the city to build the $19 million Fleurs-De-Lis development at 3109 S. Jefferson. The developer expects to close on the final parcel after the Land Reutilization Authority meets in January.


Millennium primarily does residential rehab and restoration in the Tower Grove East, Benton Park and Benton Park West neighborhoods. Millennium's principals are Tim Vogt, vice president, and his mother, Claire Vogt, who is responsible for sales and marketing.

Construction on the Fleurs-De-Lis project is expected to begin in April. The developer is still waiting to receive a no further action letter from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which is necessary to secure financing. The site once housed a service station.

Millennium has begun pre-selling the 31 condos in the project, to be located in three attached buildings above 18,000 square feet of retail. The development will be five stories facing Jefferson and scale down to four stories on the opposite side. The condo units will sell for $85,000 to $400,000 each.

Killeen Associates is the architect. A general contractor has not been selected.

The Fleurs-De-Lis will have underground parking units for each condo and the building will be built to achieve LEED certification. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary national standard for developing environmentally friendly buildings.

Millennium originally proposed building five single-family homes on the site. The developer changed its plans in the past year to meet market demand.

Rollin Stanley, director of the Planning & Urban Design Agency of the city of St. Louis, said he worked with Millennium on a new mixed-use design that he hopes will become a model for future developments in commercial corridors throughout the city. "Jefferson is a major north/sourth arterial," Stanley said. "The market for large single-family homes is not there. The site is the perfect location for this kind of mixed-use development. It will have retail that will create jobs and it will provide needed services for not only tenants, but the surrounding residents as well."

Other development is also under way in the area. A block north of the Fleurs-De-Lis, Edu Erondu is in the early stages of developing a mixed-use building at 3029 S. Jefferson. Erondu's father, Dr. Joseph Erondu, purchased the property in 2005 after moving a dental practice from the old Gaslight Square neighborhood. After his father's death in June, Edu Erondu said his family wants to redevelop the property. "The lower level will be commercial, with residential on top."

Ninth Ward Alderman Ken Ortmann said developers are increasingly contacting him for information about development opportunities in his ward. He's increasingly referring developers to Benton Park West, which is bordered by Jefferson, Gravois and Cherokee, and the Gravois Park neighborhood, which is south of Cherokee and bordered by Jefferson, Chippewa and Grand.

Ortmann said one of the reasons the LRA chose Millennium's proposal for the Fleurs-De-Lis was the homeowners it will bring to the area. "Anytime you take a vacant lot and bring it to life, I think it will be great for Benton Park West and the neighbors that surround it," he said.

 

"This'll be nicer than anything that's been built in the whole area," said Tim Vogt.

"I think it's going to be hugely successful and no doubt is going to stimulate the development of Jefferson from I-44 to Cherokee," Tim Vogt said. "All the people that come to this location will help to market all the businesses on Cherokee west of Jefferson and east of Jefferson."

Most of the buildings will be four stories while a corner of one building will be five stories.

The first floor is to be stores, including an upscale grocery, a coffee shop, a dry cleaner, a restaurant and fitness center.

The Vogts chose the stores after surveying residents of the neighborhood. "There's definitely a need for a gourmet grocer," Tim Vogt said. The closest grocery store is at South Grand Boulevard and Gravois Avenue, he said.

The condominium units will range from 1,100 to 2,600 square feet and from two bedrooms to four bedrooms. The price range will be $180,000 to $600,000.

Part of the development cost will be underwritten by tax increment financing. In a TIF, part of the new taxes from a development are used for specific costs of the project.

The amount of the TIF isn't yet known, Tim Vogt said.

The company consulted residents of surrounding areas to get their full support, Vogt said. It worked closely with Alderman Kenneth Ortmann, D-9th Ward, the city Office of Cultural Resources, the city Community Development Administration and Rollin Stanley, director of the city Planning and Urban Design Agency.

Ortmann said previously there was an empty gas station and a closed Chinese restaurant on the property. The Chinese restaurant had been a fast-food restaurant.

The city received a Brownfields grant to remove the gasoline storage tanks from the service station area and clean up the property, Ortmann said. If the city hadn't received the grant, the property might not have been reused, Ortmann said.

"In the 9th Ward, you don't get this much space," Ortmann said.

The city issued requests for proposals from developers and received three responses. The Benton Park West Housing Corp. chose Millennium's proposal

In a meeting involving representatives of the Benton Park West, Benton Park, Gravois Park and Marine Villa neighborhoods, the Millennium proposal proved popular, Ortmann said. "When we asked for support, it was overwhelming," he said.

There was one comment about one of the buildings going up to five stories, Ortmann said. But there is another building on Jefferson that also reaches five stories, he said.

"The retail spaces will provide businesses and jobs, so there's so many more pluses," Ortmann said.

Last updated: Friday, November 14, 2008