A newly-proposed $250-million waterfront project for St. Louis' upper north riverfront.
A lighthouse part of big project proposed for north city river site
December 25, 2015 12:15 am • By Tim Bryant
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A developer is proposing a hotel, stores, restaurants, condos, a marina and even a lighthouse next to the Mississippi River at St. Louis’ northern tip.
The 84-acre site on Riverview Drive north of Interstate 270 is the former North Shore Golf Course. The Great Flood of 1993 submerged the course in as much as 20 feet of water. Floodwater returned two years later and did more damage. North Shore never reopened.
Where golfers formerly chased the little white ball, developer Adam Hartig is planning Lighthouse St. Louis, a multiphase project that could eventually cost $250 million.
Included in the planned first phase is a gas station, convenience store, boat ramp, visitors’ center, restaurants, an event center, a hotel and a lighthouse perhaps 60 feet tall.
The $55 million first phase also would have a bike trail connection to the Great Rivers Greenway’s Riverfront Trail that crosses the Mississippi over the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.
Hartig said he hopes to begin construction next summer.
A later phase could include a marina, condos and a big-box retail store. Hartig said the entire project would be privately financed without public incentives or tax breaks.
All but about 11 acres of the site is in the city. The remainder, along Watkins Creek, is in St. Louis County. Hartig plans to leave that part of the site undeveloped.
Hartig, 30, leads Lighthouse Development LLC. He formerly worked in Columbia, Mo., for Maly Commercial Real Estate and The Kroenke Group. He said Rams owner Stan Kroenke has no role in Lighthouse St. Louis.
The development, with nearly a half-mile of riverfront, could be a hub for recreational activity, Hartig said. The site’s owner, Discovery Pier Landholdings LLC, spent years bringing in dirt to raise the property more than 10 feet and out of the 100-year flood plain.
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