ST. ANN • A St. Louis developer has stepped forward with a plan to tear down most of Northwest Plaza — once the largest shopping mall in the world — and replace it with offices, big-box stores and restaurants.
NWP LLC, affiliated with Raven Development, responded to St. Ann's request last month for proposals, said city administrator Matt Conley. So far, NWP's is the only proposal received to revive the property, Conley said. The deadline for responding is March 26.
The St. Ann Board of Aldermen will consider the NWP plan and any other proposals at a meeting next month.
NWP proposes tearing down all the buildings at the shopping center except for the familiar office tower and the J.C. Penney building, which NWP would renovate. The Penney's store could become offices or could be used by a trade school. Three big-box stores are in the plan, along with some restaurants, Conley said.
People are also reading…
The estimated redevelopment costs for three phases is $106 million, Conley said. NWP officers were unavailable for comment.
Today, the mall is largely abandoned. The mall interior is closed.
"The mall days are over," Conley said.
When it opened in the 1960s, Northwest Plaza, built by the Zorensky family at 1.8 million square feet, was hailed for its architecture, landscaping and innovation. In its heydey, the mall had four anchors: Famous-Barr, Stix Baer & Fuller, Sears and JC Penney. The mall's decline began about 1999.
In 2007, a development team consisting of Zelman Development and Somera Capital of California proposed to replace a Dillard's store with a Walmart store and convert part the mall into outdoor stores. That plan failed the next year as the construction industry collapsed. The mall fell into foreclosure in 2009.
Two years ago, St. Ann selected developer G.J. Grewe of Crestwood to develop the property. The anchor again was to be a Walmart.
That store instead went to Bridgeton.
Grewe was to assume St. Ann's option to buy the property for $13 million. The city's option expired, and the property is still in the hands of the bondholders from the foreclosure.
"The big difference between Somera and Grewe and this one is the scale," Conley said. "This is almost a complete leveling of the site."
Conley said he believed that Raven, a family-owned company, would be able to provide the needed financing partly because of the greatly diminished cost of acquisition.
One of Raven Development's projects is the old Macy's warehouse, which the company turned into a public library and moving and storage company.
St. Ann intends to seek tax increment financing assistance for the project, and has asked County Executive Charlie A. Dooley to convene a TIF commission to consider the matter. NWP is seeking $17.8 million in TIF funding for the first two phases of the development and $15 million in the third phase.The developer also is asking for $5.6 million in other subsidies.
Under a TIF, developers may use some of the tax revenue generated by a project for development-related costs.
Conley said that the Northwest Plaza property needed help because of its size, infrastructure problems, including asbestos, stormwater issues and the need for new utility lines.
"There's no way a piece of property like this will be developed on its own," Conley said. Without public assistance, he said, "the numbers don't add up."
