ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — McBride Homes and J.H. Berra Construction Co. are looking to build 14 new houses in south St. Louis County on land that currently serves as an unused parking lot of Concord Church.
Elite Development, the joint collaboration of McBride and Berra, is proposing to build 14 detached townhouses on 3.06 acres at 13803 Tesson Ferry Road in a development called The Townes at Walden Ridge.
McBride and Berra have the property under contract from Concord Church, which is selling unused satellite parking that church officials built at the same time the current church building was constructed in 2000. At that time, the church intended to build a 400-person balcony in its sanctuary and under county zoning, had to provide enough parking to match. The balcony plan was scrapped, but the parking lot had already been built.
The church voted to sell the property prior to the Covid-19 pandemic at the suggestion of the senior pastor of six years, Rev. Rusty Wirt, along with the church’s leadership team.
“Our goal is to use this money to expand our ministry and to help people, so we’re excited about that,” Wirt said. “I would drive by that parking lot on my way home and just see it vacant over here and begin to imagine, what can we do with this? This is an underutilized asset. Could we liquidate it and do ministry?”
The property is under contract pending St. Louis County zoning. A videoconference public hearing on the project is slated for 7 p.m. Monday. The property is already zoned residential, but the developer is asking for a different residential classification in order to build a subdivision.
The homes at Walden Ridge would be the same style McBride is selling at its La Collina subdivision on the Hill, but with the price of lumber rising, McBride said it’s too early to give estimated sale prices on the homes.
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