ST. LOUIS — The developer behind a $335 million mixed-use development in Midtown has nixed the project, citing COVID-19.
Peoria, Illinois-based Cullinan Properties confirmed to the Business Journal on Monday that it is no longer pursuing the project it called Iron Hill, saying the 850,000-square-foot mixed-use development with office, retail, multifamily and hotel "just isn't feasible" with the timeline and investment Cullinan agreed to before the pandemic.
"We diligently pursued the project over the last year, despite the pandemic, as we really wanted to transform this property. The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the many uses envisioned for Iron Hill and, unfortunately, many of the prospective tenants are focused on rebuilding their existing business and not expanding," the company said in a statement. "The project we initially envisioned and the timeline for completing the project were greatly altered by COVID-19. We could not commit to meet the initial timeline we promised with such an unexpected interruption in new store openings and business expansions, which had a great financial impact on the project. We hate to walk away from the site as we were very committed to it getting developed."
The project on 14 acres at Grand Boulevard and Chouteau Avenue would have filled a gap in the city's booming Midtown neighborhood as well as bridge Saint Louis University's north and south campuses. SLU chose Cullinan as the developer for the site in March 2019 after issuing a request for proposals that brought in nine proposals.
Officials with SLU and the Midtown Redevelopment Corp., a Chapter 353 organization that's a joint venture between SLU and SSM Health that had authority to grant tax abatement for Iron Hill, did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the future of the SLU-owned property.
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