Home » Featured »Planning & Design »Retail »St. Louis County »Suburban Sprawl »THF Realty Watch » Currently Reading:

THF Big Box vs. Planned Creve Coeur Downtown

This story caught my eye back in July:

THF Realty, a major developer of Walmarts and other big-box stores, is sniffing around the Orchard Lakes subdivision just north of Creve Coeur and near busy Olive Boulevard and Interstate 270.

A company representative met with subdivision trustees on June 3 to discuss a potential buyout of the entire subdivision, according to a subsequent letter from the trustees to subdivision homeowners. (STLToday)

Not surprising since vacant highway-adjacent parcels no longer exist. The subdivision of 256 single family homes is adjacent to I-270, extending more than half the distance from Olive to Page.

ABOVE: Blue box indicates Orchard Lakes, click to view map in Google Maps

THF Realty wants to make sure all those motorists driving on I-270 can see the generic big box development they are planning.

ABOVE: View of I-270 from Orchard Lakes subdivision

I knew where the subdivision was located but had never driven any of it’s streets, so last month I drove each street in the subdivision.

ABOVE: Orchard Lakes entrance sign

I grew up in a subdivision of similar vintage as Orchard Lakes. From a check of St. Louis County records these houses were built between 1961-66.   There is nothing particularly unique about the homes or the subdivision itself. With a few exceptions, all the homes looked well maintained. Many have newer windows and roofs.

The ranch houses of Orchard Lakes are typical of others from the period in the St. Louis region.

Few sidewalks exist in this subdivision, it’s not at all urban. Not rural either, decidedly suburban. There is no orchard, probably never was.

ABOVE: The only "lake" at Orchard Lakes is a decent pond at best.

There are lots of very nice mature trees though.

ABOVE: Leaving Orchard Lakes to the south the sign reads: Creve Coeur welcomes you.

Orchard Lakes is in unincorporated St. Louis County – barely. Creve Coeur has annexed commercial property along Olive Blvd but they didn’t want the adjacent residential areas. For a while now Creve Coeur has been planning to remake Olive & Ballas into their downtown.

In April 2002, the City of Creve Coeur adopted the Comprehensive Plan. Together, with the Pedestrian Plan and Design Guidelines, these plans set a standard for protecting community assets and strength- ening community character. Among the numerous recommendations made in the Comprehensive Plan are several for the Central Business District. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan recommends the creation of a downtown (or town center) in the vicinity of the Olive-New Ballas intersection. (Plan PDF)

Orchard Lakes is just north of their proposed downtown/central business district:

The strong real estate market in Creve Coeur is anticipated to continue to be a basis for strengthening residential areas while at the same time stimulating major reinvestment in aging or underutilized commercial areas.

Clearly Creve Coeur’s planners didn’t envision the surrounding residential getting replaced by high traffic big box. To a degree this is what Creve Coeur gets for incorporating only the commercial areas along Olive, but not the adjacent residential to the north. Will be interesting to see if either gets built.

– Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "11 comments" on this Article:

  1. Anonymous says:

    My money is on the big boxes in unincorporated St. Louis County, much like how retail took over residential at 141 & Manchester and at Gravois Bluffs. Creve Coeur has a better vision but faces horrendous traffic issues and no real plans to bring in public transit, leaving it gridlocked.

     
  2. JZ71 says:

    My money is on the big boxes in unincorporated St. Louis County, much like how retail took over residential at 141 & Manchester and at Gravois Bluffs. Creve Coeur has a better vision but faces horrendous traffic issues and no real plans to bring in public transit, leaving it gridlocked.

     
    • tpekren says:

      Unfotunately, I think you are placing the winning bet.  

      St. Louis county is not wining the race on anything as its multitude of muni’s and unincorporated areas has only encouraged bad planning and strip mall development mentality that seeks property by destroying more homes instead of making use of existing available space, such as undeveloped lots on Olive that won’t see office space for the concievable future nor should it see anymore.    

       
  3. I grew up in this subdivision. My parents bought in 1969 and my mom sold in 2005 when she was ready to go to a villa. We sold to the very first person who saw the house. It was a 4 bedroom ranch with a living room, dining room, family room, eat-in kitchen and a finished basement. It backed to the water company easement where my Dad would shoot golf balls instead of going to a driving range.

    My mom sold for around $215,000 at the peak of the market…and it was totally updated. This is not a blighted subdivision at all, and offers large range homes at affordable prices in Parkway Schools.It’s a wonderful subdivision where kids can ride their bikes in the middle of the street. We didn’t need sidewalks. We walked in the street. There isn’t much traffic even on the main entrances of the subdivision (one at Olive & 270 and one at Craig Rd). We were so close to the elementary school that I wasn’t even eligible to ride a bus back in the 70s. I was a ‘walker’. I would hate to see it destroyed for big box stores. 

    As a real estate agent, I know that there is always a demand for solid suburban subdivisions in good school districts that have easy access to highways and the city. This one hits all the major points many buyers want. 

     
  4. I grew up in this subdivision. My parents bought in 1969 and my mom sold in 2005 when she was ready to go to a villa. We sold to the very first person who saw the house. It was a 4 bedroom ranch with a living room, dining room, family room, eat-in kitchen and a finished basement. It backed to the water company easement where my Dad would shoot golf balls instead of going to a driving range.

    My mom sold for around $215,000 at the peak of the market…and it was totally updated. This is not a blighted subdivision at all, and offers large range homes at affordable prices in Parkway Schools.It’s a wonderful subdivision where kids can ride their bikes in the middle of the street. We didn’t need sidewalks. We walked in the street. There isn’t much traffic even on the main entrances of the subdivision (one at Olive & 270 and one at Craig Rd). We were so close to the elementary school that I wasn’t even eligible to ride a bus back in the 70s. I was a ‘walker’. I would hate to see it destroyed for big box stores. 

    As a real estate agent, I know that there is always a demand for solid suburban subdivisions in good school districts that have easy access to highways and the city. This one hits all the major points many buyers want. 

     
  5. Anonymous says:

    Unfotunately, I think you are placing the winning bet.  

    St. Louis county is not wining the race on anything as its multitude of muni’s and unincorporated areas has only encouraged bad planning and strip mall development mentality that seeks property by destroying more homes instead of making use of existing available space, such as undeveloped lots on Olive that won’t see office space for the concievable future nor should it see anymore.    

     
  6. Anonymous says:

    Unfotunately, I think you are placing the winning bet.  

    St. Louis county is not wining the race on anything as its multitude of muni’s and unincorporated areas has only encouraged bad planning and strip mall development mentality that seeks property by destroying more homes instead of making use of existing available space, such as undeveloped lots on Olive that won’t see office space for the concievable future nor should it see anymore.    

     
  7. Chris says:

    Terrifying; my god, what else do developers have planned?

     
  8. Chris says:

    Terrifying; my god, what else do developers have planned?

     
  9. Anonymous says:

    Shrewsbury – Kenrick Plaza to be replaced by a Super Walmart:  http://www.cityofshrewsbury.com/textonly.asp?Dept_ID=0&NavButton=0105&Main=01

     

Comment on this Article:

Advertisement



[custom-facebook-feed]

Archives

Categories

Advertisement


Subscribe