ST. LOUIS — The local developer planning a $300 million mixed-use redevelopment of the AT&T tower is the sole developer behind the project and hopes to buy the building from the current owner.
St. Louis-based developer Advantes Development Group hopes to convert the vacant 44-story downtown skyscraper at 909 Chestnut St., the largest office building in Missouri, to The Beacon on Chestnut, a mixed-use “vertical city” with 306 apartments, modern office space, retail and a 300-room hotel, along with shared amenities for use by building tenants.
Advantes, led by President Brian Minges, plans to buy the building from New York-based owner SomeraRoad by January 2024, after a pre-development due diligence phase, said Doug Rasmussen, whose St. Louis-based consulting firm, Steadfast City, is advising Advantes on the project. The most notable projects completed by Advantes have been the rehab of historic buildings into apartments, part of the developer's ongoing plans to revitalize the Laclede’s Landing area on the downtown riverfront.
Rasmussen presented plans for The Beacon Tuesday to the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority, which recommended that the project receive property tax abatement up to 15 years of 95% of the assessed value of the incremental improvements, followed by five years at 75% of the incremental assessed value and then five years at 50%.
SomeraRoad, which bought the building for $4.05 million in April from bondholders, is collaborating with Advantes on some of the due diligence that has to line up ahead of the project, including an effort that got the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September along with other unspecified internal milestones, Rasmussen said. But while SomeraRoad is working “hand in hand” with Advantes to move the project ahead, the New York developer is not directly involved in The Beacon, he added.
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