HAZELWOOD, Mo. — Developers plan to fill out half of the old St. Louis Mills Mall with a business park. It’s expected to bring up to 600 employees to the facility that’s being turned into the new PowerPlex athletic complex.
Four years ago, PowerPlex made the splash to turn the abandoned mall into a complex that would house basketball, volleyball, baseball and more athletic events. Developer Dan Buck said the new partnership with ICP will bring constant cash flow to the area.
“It will be 12-14 hours a day of non-stop action, taking what was a dormant mall into something special,” Buck said. “We now have a great daytime driver with ICP bringing 50% of the front campus being business parks. They can support during lunch and happy hours.”
According to a press release from developers, the addition of ICP to the development means the sports development will be more compact, but still offer all the fields in the original plan.
Buck said the renovation costs $60 million. When complete, he said it will bring in anywhere between $50-$75 million annually. There’s plenty of room for both business and ball on the 1.5 million square foot campus.
"The Powerplex is still one of the largest complexes coming to our region and one of the top 10 in the U.S.,” Buck said. "For amateur sports, you usually get in the car three times a day to feed and entertain kids. Here, everything is centralized on one campus to drive go-karts and go on the amusement parks. A one-of-a-kind experience in a top sports venue in the country.”
Hazelwood City Manger Matthew Zimmerman is excited to create more revenue in town.
"The lost revenue that we were accruing (at the old mall), sales were in the 100's of millions of dollars 10 years ago,” Zimmerman said. “Now, there's very few sales down there anymore. It will generate additional revenue to the city, as well as the other taxing districts to the area. This will help share the cost burden as new tax dollars come into the community."
Buck said the project is expected to be completed by next summer except for the stadium. He expects the business park and ball fields to be complexly full within two years.
According to the press release, the complex will include :
- 6 Turfed Ballfields for baseball, softball, lacrosse, 7v7 flag football; includes a stadium
- 8 outdoor 5v5 soccer fields (third party development)
- 18 Court Volleyball Venue
- 7 Beach Volleyball Courts (5 indoors)
- Gymnastics Training Center
- Fitness and Athlete Training Center
- Pickleball Courts (4)
- NHL Ice Rink (Ice Zone)
- 84,000sf Event Center (Basketball – 8 courts, Dance, Cheerleading, Wresting, MMA,, etc.)
- 105,000 sf Amusement and Go-Kart Zone
- Golf Simulators Bar and Grill
- Micro-Brewery
- 12 Restaurants and Eateries
- Convenience store