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More news - Bottle District finally coming online?!?!

Clayco withdraws contractor application for Ball Park Village
By Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair and Jake Wagman
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/19/2007

Clayco has pulled its application to be general contractor on the Ballpark Village project, days after the Post-Dispatch reported that the company had taken an expanded role in another high-profile downtown development, the Bottle District.

"We just have our hands full. We had to pick one or the other," said Bob Clark, president and chief executive of the Clayton-based firm. "We have the chance to have an equity position in Bottle District and be a part of the development team."

Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. is the Ballpark Village developer.

Clark said the Ballpark Village and Bottle District projects would compete with each other for tenants. Advertisement

The Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday that Clayco assumed a more-prominent role in the Bottle District in recent weeks after the departure of a co-

developer, Charlotte, N.C.-based Ghazi Co. The lead developer is Dan McGuire, president of McGuire Moving & Storage Co. of St. Louis.

Clayco, which was the project manager on the construction of the new Busch Stadium, also is involved in a partnership to develop NorthPark, a 550-acre mixed-use office and industrial project under way near Lambert Field.

"We felt compelled to be very clear with Cordish that we didn't see ourselves as contenders for the (Ballpark Village) job anymore," Clark said.

Chase Martin, Cordish's director of development for Ballpark Village, said his company is interviewing several contractors for the project. He said Cordish is looking at hiring one firm to be general contractor or several companies that could share the responsibility.

He played down the significance of Clayco dropping out.

"When you have a project of this size and scale, it's typical to have contractors coming late in the process, or dropping out early," Martin said.

Martin also said Ballpark Village is on track to open on time.

"We have hit our goals and are moving forward accordingly," he said.

Cordish is seeking to build six blocks of signature restaurants, specialty stores, entertainment venues and offices on the crater of land that was the site of old Busch Stadium. Cordish, which has built similar projects around the country, is a partner with the Cardinals organization, which owns the land.

Though the team has yet to break ground — or even announce a date for groundbreaking — the Cardinals are hoping to have the project open by midsummer 2009, when Busch will play host to the

Major League All-Star Game.

In February, the city's Board of Aldermen backed providing up to $115 million in tax subsidies to the project. The state Department of Economic Development, which also must approve parts of the incentive package, is reviewing the proposal.

After the department reviews the incentives, the deal will go to the Missouri Development Finance Board for final approval. A spokesman for the Economic Development Department said this week that staff there are still looking at the project. He did not know when it would be submitted to the finance board, which is chaired by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

Plans for the $290 million Bottle District call for a 16-acre mixed-use project that could include a high-rise condominium tower as well as retail and office space.