More new construction apartments for millennials are coming to the Central Corridor pushing the count to nearly 900-apartments under construction or planned.
CORTEX, growth at Washington University Medical Center and IKEA are driving the new developments.
More apartment construction coming to area near SLU
17 hours ago • By Tim Bryant
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A four-story apartment building planned for West Pine Boulevard is the latest residential project to pop up in St. Louis’ rapidly developing tech corridor.
Cornerstone Development, of Clayton, plans to build the apartments on the former site of ACI Plastics in the 3900 block of West Pine. ACI, a distributor and maker of plastic sheet products and owned by former Mayor Jim Conway, moved last year to a larger facility at 3001 Spruce Street.
Sam Chimento, a Cornerstone founder, said demolition should begin in late March of ACI’s 1950s factory and smaller adjacent buildings. The apartment building’s final design is being tweaked, but Cornerstone hopes to finish the $11 million project in the spring of 2016.
Replacing the ACI buildings will be 77 market-rate apartments, Chimento said. Unlike some other recently built apartments in the area, Cornerstone’s project of 38 one-bedroom, 34 two-bedroom and five three-bedroom units will be aimed at luring more than undergraduates at nearby St. Louis University.
Noting the finite supply of SLU undergrads, Chimento said the Cornerstone project should also appeal to graduate students, SLU staff and people who work at companies in the burgeoning Cortex technology district.
“We think Cortex is a driver,” Chimento said.
Within the Cortex district is the Ikea furniture store under construction at Forest Park and Vandeventer avenues. The site of the store, scheduled to open this fall, is less than three blocks from the Cornerstone site.
Chimento said rising rents in the Central West End neighborhood support construction of new apartments, which he said are better than those in the area’s small 80- and 90-year-old buildings. Any new apartments in the corridor from SLU west to Kingshighway should be successful, he added.
Underway near the Cornerstone project are The Standard, a student-oriented apartment project, and Gerhart Lofts, aimed at young professionals. Opened last year is Laclede Lofts, also aimed at young professionals as well as students. Those projects and others have recently added more than 400 apartments to the area.
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