ST. LOUIS — New apartments and offices in the Central West End’s Cortex tech district, stalled for months amid negotiations with political leaders, finally took a step forward Tuesday after winning an endorsement from an aldermanic committee.
Developers disclosed that 32 units of “workforce housing” — apartments with some measure of rent control — would be part of the 161-unit apartment building planned as part of the project. The units were added as part of a loan a real estate fund affiliated with Greater ӣƵ Inc. plans to extend to the project.
On the drawing board for years, developer KDG began moving forward with the project at the southwestern corner of Sarah Street and Clayton Avenue in April. But its request for subsidies as part of the Cortex tax increment financing district came just as Mayor Tishaura O. Jones took office on a platform promising tougher negotiations for development incentives. The area’s new alderman, Tina Pihl, was elected on a similar platform.
People are also reading…
By May, a hearing for the project at the city’s TIF Commission was canceled as Jones and Pihl re-entered negotiations with the developer and Cortex on the project’s incentives.
Tuesday’s vote at the ӣƵ Board of Aldermen’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning committee was the first action on the project since June, when the city’s Planning Commission recommended rezoning for the now-vacant corner.
Under the board’s tradition, the alderman representing the area where a development is proposed must introduce and carry zoning and incentive bills. Pihl introduced the rezoning bill in November, five months after the Planning Commission vote.
A hearing on the Cortex bill had been scheduled for Dec. 7, but it was abruptly pulled the day before.
On Tuesday, Rob Lochner with KDG said developers still plan a seven-story, 161-unit apartment building and a four-story office building with about 120,000 square feet of space. They would also develop a 550- to 650-space parking garage, which would be sold to Cortex, a nonprofit formed by area universities, hospitals and other institutions.
Pihl said the project will include about 30 units of “workforce housing,” deemed affordable to someone making 80% of the area’s median income, . Affordable annual rent is calculated based on 30% of that figure.
Incentives for the project still need a hearing at the TIF Commission, where KDG and Cortex initially sought $14 million for the then $100 million project. The TIF assistance, which redirects new taxes generated by an area’s development, would come out of a limit of $167.7 million in TIF the city granted to Cortex in 2013. About $135 million of that has been allocated so far.
“We’re working closely with Alderwoman Pihl to finalize the subsidies and they’re well within what was anticipated in the master TIF,” Cortex general counsel Mike Sullivan told the committee.
Jones’ spokesman Nick Dunne said the mayor’s office is part of the Cortex negotiations but that Pihl is “taking the lead” on this particular project. The push for workforce housing in Cortex, he said, is generally in line with other development deals the mayor’s office has negotiated.
“We’re grateful to Alderwoman Pihl in this case for making this happen,” Dunne said.
Editor’s note: The rent-controlled apartment units in the residential structure planned for Cortex are part of a proposed loan agreement between the developer and a real estate financing affiliate of Greater ӣƵ Inc. outlined in the spring. Tina Pihl, the 17th ward alderman, was not part of the negotiations to add those units to the project.
